Blast of Silence (USA, 1961) 77 min B&W DIR: Allen Baron. SCR: Allen Baron, Waldo Salt. PROD-DOP: Merrill Brody. MUSIC: Meyer Kupferman. CAST: Allen Baron, Larry Tucker, Molly McCarthy, Lionel Stander (narration). (5 Minutes To Live)
This long-lost film noir, made just at the end of the classic American Film Noir period, released by Universal, features unknown actors, particularly its star, also co-writer and director Allen Baron, as a hit man who is contracted to wipe out a capo just around the Christmas season. (Now that’s perverse!)
The subjective narration in the second person (“you”, as if referring to the hit man) is probably the most pessimistic voiceover in noir history. The voice always comments on Baron’s desire to be alone, his ability to find love only by renting it, and how fate always plays cruel jokes on him. This subconscious talk helps us understand how this character operates both in life and in his profession. This individual is so socially introverted, that his efforts at romance with a woman end up in a near-rape.
This “beatnik noir”, with great, authentic seedy street locations, and lots of bongo drumming on the soundtrack, works also because the characterizations are so unusual, even for a noir picture. Larry Tucker, a big sweating man, is an unconventional second lead, as Baron’s friend and gun salesman, who blackmails him after finding out that the gun is to make a hit on someone slightly higher profile. Baron’s ill-chosen ways of taking charge of the situation leads to more heartbreak.
This very simply plotted, however deeply psychological noir is the Daughter of Horror for its genre. It unfolds like a sweaty dream, set in a lonely, dark world in which fate governs one’s next path. Highly, highly recommended.
Originally published in Vol. #1, Issue #16. The source for this review was a bootleg by 5 Minutes To Live. Blast of Silence has since been legitimately released by Criterion!
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.