Leofwine_draca THE TURNING POINT is a typical film noir-styled crime thriller in which a couple of crusading guys attempt to clean up the city's criminal element but find themselves bogged down instead in corruption and ruthless slayings. William Holden is on fine form as the reporter with the bit between his teeth while Edmond O'Brien is even better as the prosecutor determined to bring down a kingpin. Surprisingly, this is a far from exciting little picture, too much bogged down in lengthy courtroom scenes and lacking suspense, particularly early in the picture. It dies pick up later on with Neville Brand perfectly cast as an assassin, but overall it's quite average.

gordonl56 THE TURNING POINT – 1952 I've been looking for this one for quite some time. I managed to dig up a watchable print and the wait was well worth it. The film is headlined by William Holden, Edmond O'Brien, Ed Begley and Alexis Smith. It features a crackling good screenplay by Warren Duff, taken from the book by Horace McCoy.A government commission comes to town to look into mob activities. The main focus of the investigation is local mob boss, Ed Begley. In charge of the commission is Edmond O'Brien. His aide is Alexis Smith. William Holden plays the big city newsman who thinks the commission is really a waste of time and money. He is also a long-time friend of O'Brien.O'Brien dives in trying to get the goods on mobster Begley and his main henchmen, Ted de Corsia and Danny Dayton. Someone keeps tipping off the mob to what O'Brien and the Police are up to. O'Brien's chief investigator happens to be his father, Police Detective, Tom Tully. The problem here is that Tully is also on Begley's payroll.Newspaperman Holden knows about Tully being on the take and confronts him on the matter. Holden gives him time to switch teams, or he will need to tell O'Brien about what his father really is. Tully decides to do the right thing and inform on the mob. The mob quickly figures this out and sets up a hit on Tully. They have a low level thug, Tony Barr ambush Tully and kill him. The mob then bumps off Barr to tie off any loose ends.This does not sit well with Holden who now throws in with O'Brien to help. He writes a series of attack articles highlighting the mob types' criminal activity. Needless to say the mob is not in the least amused. They call in an out of town hit-man, Neville Brand, to deal with Holden.There is a well-staged shoot out at a local boxing arena with Holden and Brand both getting the big adiós. By now witnesses have started to pop up against the mob. The whole house of cards comes crashing down with Begley and his bunch going for a long holiday on the State's dime.The entire cast and crew shine in this excellent production. One time Oscar nominated director, William Dieterle does good work on this one. He keeps a firm hand on notorious scene stealer's like de Corsia and O'Brien, not letting them go too far over the top. His other film noir include, DARK CITY, ROPE OF SAND and THE ACCUSED.Three time nominated, and one time Oscar winner, Lionel Lindon, handles the cinematography duties. His film work includes, THE BLUE DAHLIA, ALIAS NICK BEAL, QUICKSAND, THE SUN SETS AT DAWN, HELL'S ISLAND, THE BIG CAPER and the SCARLET HOUR.Look close and you will see Russell Johnson and Carolyn Jones in early unbilled roles.The screenplay was by noir veteran, Warren Duff. He did the story or screenplays for, THE FALLEN SPARROW, CHICAGO DEADLINE, A DANGEROUS PROFESSION, APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER and MAKE HASTE TO LIVE.This film features some of the best use of Los Angeles' Bunker Hill area I've seen in any production. I really love seeing these long gone areas of the City of Angels.

Robert J. Maxwell It's not easy to make 1952 Los Angeles look very interesting. A panoramic view shows mostly smog. But "The Turning Point" does its best and the location shooting is one of its most admirable features. Prominent use is made of the two-block long funicular railway that runs up from "Pond Street", meaning Hill and Olive Streets in L.A. The incline is lined on both sides with inexpensive clapboard housing that suggests "working class", and some scenes are shot in the doorways and apartments. It's all gone now, railway included, to make way for some bland and pitiless "redevelopment" in 1968. Everything in Los Angeles gives way to redevelopment when the property becomes valuable enough. Stores proudly announce, "Serving The Public Since 2012!" "Chinatown" gave us a picture postcard view of Los Angeles in 1937 and made the place look limitlessly livable.At any rate, cynical reporter William Holden and idealistic anti-crime crusader Edmund O'Brien both grew up in the same neighborhood of Central City or whatever Los Angeles is called here. (So did Ted de Corsia, a thug as usual, but not without principles for a change.) O'Brien is anxious to shut down the crooked gangster who runs the city, Ed Begley. I don't want to give away the entire plot but I guess I can say that Alexis Smith is the girl friend with the striking eyes, especially for a Canadian, who is O'Brien's girl friend but finds herself falling for the hard-bitten reporter. She doesn't have much else to do and is chiefly there to add some romantic drama to the story and to demonstrate that both Holden and O'Brien are heterosexual.Overall, it's rather routine but there are some interesting twists (the corruption reaches into O'Brien's own family) and some nicely done scenes. Aside from the hiding, shooting, and general mishigas on the funicular railway, the scene in which O'Brien rushes to the hospital after his friend Holden has been shot is understated. In a movie that was as corrupt as Central City, we'd expect O'Brien to dash into the hospital's reception room, only to be stopped by a doctor in white. "How -- how is he?", O'Brien would stutter. "I'm afraid we were too late," the doc replies sadly but philosophically. I won't describe how this familiar scene is handled here but it's better than you might think.Another memorable incident is the arrest of Ed Begley, who plays a much more delicate slime ball here than he did in "Twelve Angry Men". He pitches a few sliders here. He's sitting at a table playing cards with his gang under a single light bulb in what looks like a basement. Police sirens wail. The goons knock over their chairs as they run away, but Begley sits still, staring at his cards. A policeman's hand holding a pistol slowly enters the frame from the right. Begley slams down his hand, gets to his feet in a dignified way, looks at the cop, finishes off his drink, and exits towards the police. The scene isn't masterful, but William Dieterle has lifted it out of the ordinary.

Michael O'Keefe THE TURNING POINT is a crime drama based on Horace McCoy's novel Storm in the City. Crusading district attorney John Conroy(Edmond O'Brien)is tabbed to crack down on a powerful crime syndicate that is believed to have control of many of the city's leading citizens and officials. Conroy wants his father Matt(Tom Tully), a veteran cop,to be his lead investigator. Friend and hard nosed newspaper man, Jerry McKibbon(William Holden)has doubts John is the right choice for the assignment and during his own investigation discovers that Matt Conroy has been running around with local mobsters. Neil Eichelberger(Ed Begley)is believed to be the syndicate's kingpin and it will be a tall order to prove such. This film is directed by William Dieterle and has a supporting cast featuring: Alexis Smith, Don Porter, Ted de Corsia, Ray Teal and Neville Brand.