Port of New York (film)
Port of New York is a 1949 American film noir/crime film directed by László Benedek with cinematography by George E. Diskant and shot in semidocumentary style. The film is notable for being Yul Brynner's first film appearance, and he had not yet begun shaving his head. The film, which is very similar to "T-Men" (1947), was shot on location in New York City. Plot. The film narrated by Chet Huntley (future NBC nightly newscaster) tells the story of two federal agents, one from Customs and one from Narcotics, out to stop the  distribution of an opium shipment stolen in the Port of New York by drug dealers. The leader of the drug dealers is the suave Paul Vicola (Brynner). Customs agent Waters and FBI agent Flannery jointly investigate the pure opium shipment that goes missing on the S.S. Florentine. The purser was murdered. Toni Cardell was a passenger on the ship and girlfriend of drug dealer Paul Vicola. Because she played a part in the smuggling, she is upset about the murder and wants out. When Vicola refuses to stake her for a new life elsewhere, Toni calls the police to become  an informant. She makes a brief interview on a subway platform with Flannery to plan another meeting, but Vicola garrotes her before she can complete her plans. She had a train reservation so police search all the lockers at Penn railroad station and find a parcel of opium drugs. They stake out the locker and follow the pick-up man to a nightclub. Comic Dolly Carney, the recipient, discloses under police pressure his contact, Leo Stasser, at North River Yacht, a local marina. Carney's friend, a dancer at the nightclub named Lili Long, observed his arrest by Waters and  Flannery, and, on a tip from the nightclub owner, goes to Vicola for help. Waters and Flannery stake out Stasser at his harbor marina. Waters slips in, under cover, by working on a boat there. That night, they search Stasser's office and find he has all the lab supplies ready to cut the "junk." Flannery also finds a message from a G.W. Wyley about the drug deal. Stasser and his men return and find Waters, but Flannery escapes. The next day Waters is found floating dead in the bay. Stasser bails Carney out of jail. Intending to silence him , Stasser throws Carney out the window of the comic's high-rise apartment. The police arrest Wyley on his flight layover in Chicago; Flannery then assumes the identity of Wyley, arriving at La Guardia as scheduled to complete the drug deal. As the deal proceeds on Vicola's yacht, Lili Long comes to him again to find out why Carney would have killed himself. She exposes Flannery as a cop, and a shootout starts. The Coast Guard is following the yacht, and Vicola and his drug gangsters are caught. The narrator states that "justice is served". Reception. Critical response. The  film critic of "The Austin Chronicle" generally liked the film, writing, Film critic Dennis Schwartz retrospectively gave the film a mixed review, writing,