Finally back onscreen after being AWOL for almost twenty years, this brutal and breakneck hostage yarn is powered by arguably Edward G. Robinson’s most vicious performance. Gangster Vince Canelli (Eddie G.) makes a daring prison break on the day of his scheduled execution, holing up in a hideout with a group of horrified hostages. Who will survive? That’s pretty much it for the plot, but Fregonese’s vigorous direction and stark camerawork courtesy of the great Stanley Cortez (The Magnificent Ambersons), abet Robinson as he chews apart the scenery and his fellow cast members. One of Hollywood’s most refined gentlemen, Robinson had bid farewell to his snarling persona after Key Largo (1948), but his “gray listing” in the wake of the HUAC hearings led him to accept this role—in which he vents several years of anger and frustration. The harsh violence and bleak tone actually led to Black Tuesday being banned in certain parts of the country. Now this rarity is revived for NOIR CITY!