Michael O'Keefe Robert Wise directs this drama about crime in a small city. John Forsythe plays Jim Austin, a small town newspaper editor that is a crusader for all that is right, and is not afraid to fight what is wrong. A local private detective, Clyde Nelson(Hal K. Dawson), is working on a simple divorce case and uncovers something way more important. Nelson discovers a major gambling ring operating in the city. He believes that a small time mob boss Murray Sirak(Victor Sutherland) has his thumb on bookie joints that occupy almost every corner in town. Nelson brings this to Austin's attention, be doesn't put faith in the story until the detective is killed in a hit-and-run accident. Austin gets a somewhat cold shoulder when he goes to the police Chief(Ray Teal); its now up to him and his paper to rid the corruption and bring honest and respectable elements to his city. Other players: Joan Camden, Paul Brinegar, Ian Wolf and Martin Milner.

AudioFileZ In reviewing "The Captive City" one must acknowledge the great director Robert Wise. Wise will always be remembered for "The Sound of Music", "West Side Story", and "The Day the Earth Stood Still". But, for this viewer The Captive City fell through a crack as I'd never seen or heard of it. Until now, that was my loss…However, it's always a joy to find an old film in the noir vein with some "meat-on-the-bone", and this definitely qualifies.Following on the heels of the excellent sci-fi drama "The Day the Earth Stood Still" may have hurt this film in the annals of time a bit. I can't say that I know what it did to the box office at the time, but it certainly had slipped through my grasp in the intervening years. It certainly had a limited budget as evidenced by the "C-list" cast, yet John Forsythe puts forward an admirable lead that the good story was hung on. I couldn't find out for sure how the screenplay was concocted, but I definitely get the feeling it was a composite of real events occurring at the time in many places in a post-war USA. In other words: The Captive City was based on fact if dramatized. I'd say it did a good job of coming off as just that. It reminded me of "The Phenix City Story" in many ways as a town was in the midst of increasing graft whereby "the mob" wanted a bigger cut with more control. Something needed to be done as things began to take a murderous turn. Enter newspaper editor Jim Austin played by the aforementioned John Forsythe. Austin is contacted by a private investigator whose simple divorce case turned ugly when the woman who hired him estranged husband's associates apply pressure on him to back-off. The investigator contacts Austin since the police are part of the problem. He feels he must turn to the "power of the press" in hopes he can make public outcry turn against the criminal element. The only problem is that Jim Austin thinks he's living in an idyllic town and he initially thinks the investigator is a bit of a crackpot sensationalist. Just about the time Austin has a gnawing suspicion that he's wrongly pegged the man he is found dead with the cause being a hit and run accident complete with no witnesses. The story predictably from here as against large odds Austin pressures the police department for not having an interest in solving the case. Even if you've guessed the rest it doesn't matter too much because the movie moves along nicely and keeps the viewer interested.Wise has made a latter day excellent film noir drama with "The Captive City". The camera work is fantastic as it frames the subjects in a very involving and immediate way. Wise is one director with a wonderful eye for composition and he certainly chose correctly in using black and white in which to present it. You will not help but notice the depth of field in every shot, a technique learned from the great Orson Welles and augmented with the use of the special Hoag lenses whose focal length seemed to go on forever. Though not quite as overall involving as "The Phenix City Story" it is still quite good and highly recommended (in no way an embarrassment over half a century later). Wise was one of the finest directors of any time and even with a limited budget he proves it here. Also, of note is the introduction of young Martin Milner, who we would later come to love in the TV-series "Route 66" (reruns for me), as the Forsythe's staff photographer.

MartinHafer John Forsythe stars in this excellent crime drama directed by Robert Wise. Unlike most movies involving the mob, this one is quite a bit different, as you never actually get to see many of the crooks and the menace is much more implied than actual. This isn't bad, as it makes the film seem less predictable and more realistic.Forsythe is a newspaper owner in a small town where you'd never expect the mob. When a local private detective comes to Forstythe with stories of mobs and payoffs, the newspaperman can't believe it and only does a cursory investigation. But, when a bit later this detective is killed, Forstythe starts to wonder if there really is more to the story. Unfortunately for him, when he digs deeper, he puts his life on the line as well.Senator Kefauver (who made a name for himself crusading against organized crime) gives an epilogue in which he says the story is true. I'd really like to know more, though IMDb doesn't have any information about the case. If anyone can give me more info, I'd appreciate it.

RanchoTuVu John Forsythe plays a small city newspaper editor in this in this humorless depiction of corruption and vice in paranoid post WW2 America. At one point, after discovering that the chief of police (Ray Teal) is going to cave in to the mob, he's reduced to beseeching the town clergy, as if they could stop the incipient corruption taking place under their noses. With a couple of convincing murders to give the film a modicum of tension, most notable being that of private eye Clyde Nelson (Hal K Dawson) who gets backed into a dead end street and then smashed by a Buick (I believe), the picture manages to convey a diminished essence of the threat the poor town is facing. Mostly though, we're taken on a moral crusade, which in the end goes to a US Senate hearing chaired by Estes Kefauver, who tries to give the film some more weight with an epilogue in which he assures us that the real life editor is alive and a credit to his profession. Directed by Robert Wise, this is no "The Set Up", but a borderline trite piece of pro-government Hollywood propaganda which has as its main villain a Jewish insurance broker (Murray Searak played by Victor Sutherland) whose small time numbers racket gets taken over by the Mafia, who are doing the same thing in countless other endangered smallish American cities of 30,000 or so. Some effective photography and a brisk pace that goes nowhere tend to keep you watching all the way to the disappointing finish.