Though I received it a few days ago, I finally got around to watching New Orleans Uncensored (1955). This movie was made on the heels of the Subcommittee Investigating Waterfront Racketeering and Port Security, which continued the work of the United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce, better known as the Kefauver Committee, when vast corruption was unearthed in the port cities of New Jersey and New Orleans in the early 50s. While the ports of New Jersey received a damning report full of mob corruption by the subcommittee, New Orleans received the highest accolades from the committee, citing it as a shining example of one of the best ports of the country.
New Orleans Uncensored opens with an endorsement from Louisiana Senator Allen J. Ellender bragging about the security of New Orleans’ ports, claiming they are free of any waterfront racketeers. The whole movie is a “what if” scenario – what would happen if New Orleans had corruption at its docks – and sort of runs from there. There is a lot of overlap of local/unprofessional actors seen between here, New Orleans After Dark (1958), and Elia Kazan’s Panic in the Streets (1950) (which is easily the best of the three). The best cameo appearance in the film is easily Diamond Jim Moran, former bodyguard to Governor Huey Long, who was at that time a restaurateur who firmly had one foot planted in the underworld.
This very much reminded me of the “moral” noirs of the 1950s, like The Phenix City Story (1955), but not nearly as dark. You can sort of call New Orleans Uncensored a noir, but it would be noir at its very most bland and unimagined. The two standout performances are racketeer henchmen Deuce (Frankie Ray) and an always solid performance from the great Mike Mazurki as Big Mike (For those of you who haven’t seen Night and the City (1950), you are missing out).
The most laughable part of the film is where three waterfront officials are trying to figure out what’s going wrong with the docks in New Orleans, and one of them mentions racketeers. Another replies “Well, New Orleans doesn’t have racketeers.” And all three men look at each other dumbfounded that the virginal docks of New Orleans could be a breeding ground of corruption. The people of New Orleans not need to watch this movie to imagine a “what if” scenario – they were living it. Though the committee didn’t uncover during its June 24-26, 1953 enquiry, subsequent waterfront investigations, like UNIRAC (https://louisianamafia.wordpress.com...os-close-call/) , would uncover the obvious: New Orleans Mafia boss Carlos Marcello had influence over the docks in during the Committee’s investigation.
Overall, New Orleans Uncensored is a waste of time, only to be watched for the footage of the French Quarter from the 1950s.
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I'll be honest, I went into Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle with not much of an expectation, but was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed all the throwbacks to the original, and the updating from the board game to a video game. Though Jonathan Hyde will always be Van Pelt, Bobby Cannavale did a good job as the villain. Worth watching once to experience it, but like alot of video games, don't think I'll run through it again.
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