Black Hand

Plot synopsis:
The film opens in 1900 as Roberto Colombo, an Italian-American attorney living in the Little Italy section of New York City, is killed by gangsters as he meets with a police officer to give information about an attempt to extort money from him. His widow and son return to Italy where his widow dies. In 1908, his son Giovanni Colombo (Gene Kelly) returns to New York City, determined to conduct a vendetta against the men who killed his father. He meets up with childhood friend Isabella Gomboli (Teresa Celli) and police detective Louis Lorelli (J. Carrol Naish), both of whom try to dissuade him.
After the man that Giovanni Colombo had hoped would tell him about his father's killers is murdered, Giovanni and Isabella work to rally people in Little Italy against the Black Hand racket, but that movement is dealt a set-back when Giovanni is attacked and his leg is broken. Recovering from his injury, Giovanni decides to study law as his father had, with the help of Isabella, with whom he has fallen in love. But when Lorelli shows them evidence uncovered after a bombing of a local store, Giovanni puts his studies on hold to help track down the perpetrators. The trial that results comes to nothing when a key witness is intimidated and refuses to testify, but the defendant is ultimately deported when police in Naples identify him as a fugitive from justice there.
Following the deportation, Lorelli travels to Italy to examine photographs of Italian criminals at large, in an attempt to identify other New York City gangsters that could be deported to Italy. He is attacked and killed in Italy, but only after he has mailed a list with the results of his research back to Giovanni in New York City. In an attempt to prevent this list from getting to authorities, gangsters kidnap Isabella's young brother. Giovanni is captured trying to save the boy, and reveals to the gangsters where they can find the list after they threaten to cripple the boy. After the gangsters get the list and the boy is released, Giovanni escapes and saves the list by igniting a bomb that he finds in the gangsters' hideout.

Tags: revenge, murder

Review:
The hoods operated in the heavily Italian immigrant neighborhoods in New York City were made up from of gang of ruthless thugs from the old country who used intimidation kidnapping and murder to extort the local population by paying them protection money.Roberto Columbo,Peter Brocco, had just about had it from the shake-downs he was subjected to and goes, secretly, to see a local police official to give evidence against the Black Hand.
Eight years later Roberto's son Johnny, Gene Kelly,now 22 is back from Italy, after he and his mother fled for their lives to escape the Black Hand,seeking revenge for his fathers murder.
Early organized crime Hollywood movie that actually uses the word "Mafia" in it long before it became commonplace in the American public's vocabulary.
In fact the far more famous and highly acclaimed Academy Award winning movie "The Godfather", which was released some 22 years later in 1972, doesn't mention the word even once.
Falling in love with his childhood sweetheart Isbellla Gomboli, Teresa Celli, Johnny realizes that he'll put her and her young eight year old brother Rudi, Jimmy Ragano, lives in jeopardy by trying to use violence against the shake-down artists and kidnappers of the Black Hand.
Getting nowhere with no one willing to testify against them and even getting worked over by the Black Hand for trying to put them out of business, and behind bars, Johnny comes up with a legal technicality that's air tight.
It would b enough to put the Black Hand members, who all have Italian criminal records, on a boat back to Italy and a long stretch in an Italian prison.
Taking a long vacation from the New York Police Department Inspector Lorelli goes to Italy to amass information on the New York based Black Hand members and mail it back, to a secret post office box, to Johhny who's now a lawyer for the NYC Justice Department but he's murdered by local mobsters.
It's now up to Johnny to get the information that the late Inspector Lorelli sent him to the courts but the Black Hand struck first by kidnapping Isbella's young brother Rudi and holding him hostage until Johnny reveals where the post office box is and gives them the key to open it.
Johnny now has to choose between Rudi's life and the end of the dreaded Black Hand who murdered his father.
Lorelli's Italian police criminal records on him and his fellow hoods.
"Black Hand" is much better then most crime movies made at that time that has to do with criminal organizations like the Mafia by not having the usual formalized Hollywood plot-line.
The film doesn't have everything and everyone in it being either all good or all bad but a little, or a lot, bit of both..
With its scenes of extortion and murder in the Italian-American community of Manhattan's Lower East Side at the turn of the century, The Black Hand inevitably calls to mind the flashbacks to young Vito Corleone's start in The Godfather, Part II.
Eight years after the murder of his father, an Italian immigrant, for daring to oppose the criminal organization called The Black Hand (the script also calls it The Mafia and The Comorra), young Gene Kelly returns to New York to pursue his vendetta.
Among the movie's admirable points are the thoughtful, rather restrained script and foreboding nightscapes, both in New York and Naples, which lend the film a noirish tinge (as do a couple of adroitly staged moments of suspense).
The Black Hand shows signs of an interesting and ambitious production that nonetheless falls somewhat short of what it might have been..
Black Hand (1950)Sandwiched between his many superb musicals, this straight up drama has Gene Kelly playing an Italian returning home to find out who murdered his father years before.
It's very well made—crisp writing and editing, excellent acting, and a kind of mise-en-scene that seems about right for bustling New York.The pressure Italian mobsters press onto their own neighborhood Italian store owners and merchants is terrible and maddening, of course, and here we are made to feel it as directly as a movie can manage.
Carol Naish, playing the police detective who eventually goes to Italy to find evidence, and the store owner (whose name I can't find in a hurry).
Oddly, both Naish and Kelly are Irish-Americans playing Italians in early 20th Century New York.
The plot is a bit forced, as this kind of large social-issue movie usually ends up doing.
The mob (known as the Black Hand) is making life miserable for average folk, and whenever one resists, they end up dying or almost.
But somebody has to do something about this, so between the cops (some Italian, some not) and the heroics of one individual (played by Kelly), the thugs are brought down one little notch.
But if you go along with inevitable victory of the little guy over the forces of evil, you'll see a really finely made drama with terrific acting (Kelly is no slouch and Naish is brilliant) and excellent filming (almost inevitable in lat 1940s American cinema).
When he enlists the help of detective Louis Lorelli things begin to happen and the mob responds harshly.Gene Kelly in an off type role as Johnny is a slight stretch (it begs for Richard Conti) but convincing enough.
Carroll Naish as intrepid detective Lorelli though that runs away with the film.
center stage and noble given his career as a venal and craven weakling in many of his films hanging on the edge of scenes, ready to pounce on someone's misfortune.Workman like director Richard Thorpe more than once allows his scenes to drag in spots but cinematographer Paul Vogels excellent camera work fills the suspense lapses with excellently lit exteriors and some nice subtle tracking work.
There are Lang like moments as well with Thorpe eschewing suspense music in favor of silence and ambient noise to heighten scenes but his poor pacing and moments of incredulity prevent the film from reaching full potential.
There is certainly more ugly truth to be found in the film Black Hand that deals with the same topic of the Mafia as the more sophisticated violently romantic Godfather films.
Gene Kelly was a perfectly good dramatic actor(e.g Inherit the Wind,Seagulls Over Sorrento)but it is not good casting asking him to play an earnest young Italian American intent on avenging the death of his father at the hands of New York gang the Black Hand He tries the legal route,aided by a veteran Italian-American cop,played in another bizarre piece of casting by J Carroll Naish,before resorting to a physical confrontation with the bad guys The movie moves briskly and will satisfy those looking for an afternoon's diversion in front of the TV but the acting does not quite pass muster and the bad guys never seem all thar much of a threat Good direction though with some well handled action scenes.
It's in black and white, involves Gene Kelly in a strictly dramatic role, has low production values, and is rarely shown and never publicized.
There are clearly good guys here, and clearly bad guys, and a couple of guys squeezed in the middle.Two questions are raised that have little to do with the Black Hand.
Kelly, curly haired and wearing dark make up, looks the part, although he sounds like a Mid-Westerner rather than an Italian immigrant to New York.
Carrol Naish, an Irishman from New York, is also made to look swarthy and gives what is for him a modulated performance.
"The Black Hand" doesn't go this far, but is an effective suspension of realism and stylization.
There are three kinds of phoniness here: (1) the plot that pits good against evil; (2) the substitution of non-Italian actors for Italian characters; and (3) the use of studio sound stages as substitutes for real locations.
Plot--As a youngster Johnny Columbo vows to crack the criminal organization in New York's Little Italy, the Black Hand, after they've murdered his father.
Black Hand typifies the noirish themes that came to dominate the period that Schary's former studio RKO specialized in.Looks like actor Kelly was also hoping to expand his range into the new period.
The movie itself creates some suspense even though director Thorpe films in impersonal style.
Remarkable only for the presence of Gene Kelly, this decidedly no-dancing 1949 drama purports to tell how a New York Mafia protection racket was smashed in the early 1900s.
Kelly appears to have made it in between On the Town and Summer Stock, and possibly welcomed the chance to do some serious acting, though this never was his forte, and there are moments when you half expect him to start hoofing and warbling!Kelly plays the part of a young man whose Italian father has been killed by the Black Hand gang years before, and is seeking revenge, initially by direct action with a knife, but later by legal means, though at the end of the day he has to use the knife any way.
J Carrol Naish has a major role as an Italian-American detective, and a little romantic interest for Kelly is provided by Teresa Celli..
Being a big fan of crime/gangster/mafia movies the Black Hand title really got my attention.Having never watched a musical from beginning to end it was a downer to see the main star was Gene Kelly.Gene Kelly?
The singing in the rain person?That much about him is known to me only because of his exhibit at the movie land wax museum in Buena Park.He's OK in this movie,J.C.Naish is better but the production gives the most entertainment.The Italian neighborhood street scenes do give the viewer the impression that's actually what they are seeing.Many of the lesser players are Italien and are used well to portray an Italien community.A favorite scene is the run down bar where poor hard working men go to have a drink and sing,the private conversation between Johnny Colombo(Kelly) and the bartender there seems so realistic.The overall dark look of this movie reminds of the TV show "the untouchables" which I enjoyed very much,this movie is a notch above that show.
There may not be one real strong performance in the movie but many small quality contributions come together to be entertaining.Amongst all the beautiful Italian language and culture there is a scene in an Italien home where an adult reminds a child to speak English.In another movie a similar scene was repeated.Although not Italien I find it strange to treat the speaking of that language as doing something wrong,it seems to be a reflection of life.Sometimes I speak or listen to more than five languages a day but no Italien,such a sad lose..
I would never expect to see him playing an Italian who comes back from the old country to avenge the death of his father.
Carrol Naish, as a police detective who figures out a way to beat the mob.Of interest as the predecessor to the films that we all love today about the Mafia..
I like this movie because it takes us back in time and we get to see how the start-up was for people who came to America and why.
In the movie, one guy points out to another that speaking English and Italian is all the edge you need to make it rich in this country at that time.
There is another similar film with Ernest Borgnine call Pay or Die that covers the same subject matter and is entertaining as well.
Gene Kelly who speaks a decent Italian in the film at least and J.
Black Hand came about when Gene Kelly asked Louis B.
According to the Citadel film series book The Films Of Gene Kelly, Mayer was inclined to give it to him because Kelly was coming off big hits like On The Town and Take Me Out To The Ballgame and Summer Stock, all of which more than returned their money.
Without Kelly's name Black Hand would have been a nice, but routine gangster film set in Little Italy in the ragtime years of the last century.
It came from MGM's B picture unit so a whole lot of money wasn't spent on it.Kelly plays a young kid who saw his father stand up to the Black Hand in America and be killed for it.
Carrol Naish who Kelly joins forces with.Although Kelly gets star billing, it's really Naish that carries the film although he's killed three quarters of the way into the story.
His character is based on the real life Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino who had a biographical film of his own ten years later in Pay Or Die where Ernest Borgnine starred.
Naish was Hollywood's all purpose ethnic, good at every kind of nationality with every dialect you can imagine.Oddly enough Kelly really has no handle on how to deal with the Black Hand, they're beating him up and besting him at every turn until the very end when a stroke of luck that nearly kills him causes the tables to be turned.
But you have to watch the film to see exactly what.Black Hand was a decent routine costume noir for lack of a better term as it is not set in the present day.
Sandwiched between On the Town and Summer Stock, this film represented a radical change of vehicle for Gene Kelly.
The script is exciting too (we like the character of the bodyguard assigned to Naish), although it is not as well constructed as the later version, Pay Or Die (which starred Ernest Borgnine in the Naish role).
Kelly is capable enough in a fight and reasonably convincing as an Italian.
J. Carroll Naish plays without his usual hammy mannerisms and Teresa Celli is also impressive in what transpired to be her first and only starring role.
Black Hand also marks the only film appearance of stage actress Eleonora Mendelssohn, a former star for producer Max Reinhardt in Berlin and a great-great-granddaughter of composer Felix Mendelssohn.All in all, suspenseful, well-produced entertainment.
The 'Black Hand' was an extortion racket used by the mafia and other forms of organized crime.
Apparently, it was pretty much eliminated in the US by the 1920s, as negative publicity and increased police action had a serious effect on this practice.This film begins with an Italian-American standing up to the Black Hand and assisting the police.
The dead man's son grows up and makes it his life work to defeat these forces of darkness--it's vendetta time.
This grown up man is played by Gene Kelly--a very, very peculiar choice by the studio.
Now I am not saying it was a bad choice--just very odd.After Kelly returns to America years later, things haven't changed that much.
The Black Hand is still rampant and people are still afraid to talk or stand up to them.
Much of the film consists of Kelly trying to organize the neighborhood against these thugs.
Imagine seeing Gene Kelly throwing knives, killing people, slugging and vowing a vendetta in a film!!
This film is a curiosity because of the casting of the main role, Johnny Columbo, played by Gene Kelly, an talented actor better known for his contribution to musicals, and for direction.
A seldom film these days, "Black Hand", is at best a crime picture about the turn of the century mafia groups that preyed on decent folks eking a life in their adopted country.Directed by Richard Thorpe, and with a screen play by Luther Davis, the picture presents an urban drama in which a powerful organized machinery wrecks havoc among Italians.
Johnny Columbo had seen his own father killed a the hand of a criminal element that had a lot of power and seeks to avenge his father, as well as to expose the bandits that controlled the extortion and crime.Gene Kelly does what he could in a role that asked a lot of him in a dramatic way.
J. Carrol Naish, a wonderful character actor, is seen as Louis Lorelli, a police detective who wants to help the community, only to become a target for the mafiosi that wanted him out of the picture."Black Hand" offers a glimpse of the mafia in action during those early days..
And I must admit that this movie is very similar to Richard Wilson's PAY OR DIE about mafia, the real one, the genuine organisation at the turn of the century, shot with very realism.
The story is very close to PAY OR DIE, made ten years later, starring Ernest Borgnine, a real masterpiece.That's all I wanted to point out about this one.
Marvelous Gene Kelly 1950 vehicle where he returns from Italy years after his father was killed in America and he and his mother had gone back home following the slaying.With his mother now dead, Kelly returns to seek revenge on those underworld figures, The Black Hand, who killed him.The film shows the reluctance of the community to wipe out this group for fear of certain retaliation.
No one seems to be safe with this group around.J. Carrol Naish is terrific as the police inspector who is dedicated to the eradication of the Black Hand.
He meets his end in Italy while searching out criminal lists there.A study of the culture of Italians who came to America, hard working and dedicated to fulfilling the American dream and the obstacles they faced from organized crime.
For example: roughly sixty years before this film came out, a certain Irish-American police captain was murdered along the New Orleans waterfront while investigating certain crimes attributed to the Sicilian immigrants working there.
The local citizenry were so enraged, they actually stormed the jail house where the arrested suspects were being held and lynched them there (almost leading to war between America and Italy)!Much more recently, the Old School Mafia in Sicily, itself, has taken to murdering police officers and judges, who won't kowtow to them, more often than they used to.Gene Kelly is surprisingly adept at playing just such a public servant.