Kansas City Confidential

"The Crime That Shocked The Nation!"

1952 1h 40m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 151

Crime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An ex-convict sets out to uncover who framed him for an armored car robbery.

“The Crime That Shocked The Nation!”

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Cast

John Payne
Joe Rolfe
Coleen Gray
Helen Foster
Preston Foster
Tim Foster
Neville Brand
Boyd Kane
Lee Van Cleef
Tony Romano
Jack Elam
Pete Harris
Dona Drake
Teresa
Mario Siletti
Tomaso

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Phil Karlson
Writers: Harold Greene, Rowland Brown, George Bruce
Languages: English, Spanish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

74 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Phil Karlson, shot by George E. Diskant. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Paul Sawtell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Buddy Small shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

John Payne and Coleen Gray and Preston Foster carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The Crime That Shocked The Nation!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0044789 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Phil Karlson directs. George E. Diskant behind the camera. Paul Sawtell scores. Buddy Small cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

174 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
3Directed by Phil Karlson, shot by George E. Diskant. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Paul Sawtell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Buddy Small shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6John Payne and Coleen Gray and Preston Foster carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The Crime That Shocked The Nation!".
8IMDB entry: tt0044789 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 9 themes, including "florist", "armored car", "heist", "film noir".

The technical file

Cinematography: George E. Diskant
Original score: Paul Sawtell
Editing: Buddy Small
Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Kansas City Confidential (1952)

Also by

Phil Karlson

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-07-01
★ 8/10
Unlucky Joe And The Torn In Half Kings. Kansas City Confidential (AKA: The Secret Four) is directed by Phil Karlson and written by George Bruce and Harry Essex. It stars John Payne, Preston Foster, Coleen Gray, Neville Brand, Jack Elam and Lee Van Cleef. Music is by Paul Sawtell and cinematography by George E. Diskant. Plot sees four robbers hold up an armoured truck and get away with over a million dollars. Sadly for everyday and ordinary Joe Rolfe (Payne), he's set up and accused of being involved in the robbery. But he wont go down without a fight, and promptly calls upon his dark half to seek out the actual culprits himself. "In the police annals of Kansas City are written lurid chapters concerning the exploits of criminals apprehended and brought to punishment. But it is the purpose of this picture to expose the amazing operations of a man who conceived and executed a "perfect" crime, the true solution of which is "not" entered in "any" case history, and could well be entitled "Kansas City Confidential". Produced by Edward Small, Kansas City Confidential is believed to be the only film released out of Small's own Associated Players and Producers studio. Still, if you are going to only have one film on your studio résumé, you have to be thankful that it's a little cracker. More "B" movie grit than film noir flecked nastiness, Karlson's movie is lean, mean and structured with knowing skill by the director. From the tremendous tension fuelled opening of the heist planning and execution, through to the deadly payoff at the finale, film is awash with knuckle slappings, shifting identities and the turning of the protagonist's psychological make up. Were it not for one of "those" endings, and the telegraphing of optimism slightly shunting the pessimistic atmosphere out of the headlights, this would undoubtedly be far more revered and better known in film noir/crime movie circles. First thing to note of worth is the cast assembled for the picture. Payne was already leaving behind his formative acting years in family fare like Miracle On 34th Street and Footlight Serenade, reinventing himself as a dramatic actor in films such as The Crooked Way. He's a perfect fit for Joe Rolfe, an ex-con war veteran down on his luck, he has his every man qualities pummelled out of him by the police, so much so he has to turn bad to prove that he's good. The change is believable in Payne's hands, his face that of normality in the beginning, but latterly icy cold and untrustworthy. A trio of "B" movie stalwarts make up the thugs gallery, Jack Elam is sweaty and worm like, Lee Van Cleef is snake faced and pulsing bad attitude, while Neville Brand exudes borderline psychotic menace. Unfortunately Preston Foster as the "boss" man is not altogether convincing, but in a film where characters are not always what they seem, this doesn't hurt the film. Coleen Gray shows a nice pair of legs for the boys, but with Karlson not bothered about fleshing out the romantic and flirting aspects of her relationship with Payne, she exists only as a secondary cog between Payne and Foster's characters. This is no femme fatale character, sadly, no sir. Music is standard fare and Diskant's photography only fleetingly shows some noir flourishes. However, with two fists full of grit from which to punch, and some boldness in the narrative involving police brutality, Kansas City Confidential comes out as one of the better "B" ranked crime movies of the 50's. 8/10
CinemaSerf2022-09-11
★ 7/10
This is quite a clever, well paced crime-noir with a really rather good performance from John Payne as "Joe", a former soldier/ex-con who, whilst on his routine flower-delivery rounds - ends up getting framed for a massive armed robbery. Luckily for him, the police can't press charges - all the robbers wore masks - and so he decides to track down the thugs and claim a share of the cash for himself. You get where this is going early on, but when you see Jack Elam and Lee Van Cleef on the cast list, you know that you are in for a bumpy ride. There are plenty of crosses and double-crosses as he and the gang (none of whom know the identity of their criminal mastermind) try to get to Mexico and to the loot. It's a good end-to-end action adventure, with a taut, eery score from Paul Sawtell adding much to the sinister lighting effects that give this film a much better than average sense of suspense.