Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Brilliant and touching

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

*** This review may contain spoilers *** It isn't a film-noir, more of a Drama or Thriller.The Killer That Stalked New York (1950) plays off as some turgid 1950's health department warning to the citizens of America that smallpox is on the loose. It starts off with a rough-voiced narrator giving us the goods on some dame who smuggled in diamonds from Cuba. Well, it seems she picked up something else, the smallpox. She visits many places and then starts an epidemic in Manhattan. The health department, staffed by idiots it seems and cantankerous old men who complain constantly, are trying to send flatfoot health department investigators to find out where it started from, I don't know why. Plus they want to inoculate each and every person in the five boroughs. These folks were geniuses.One interesting thing is for architecture buffs to look out for the ambiance, it was filmed both in New York City and Los Angeles, California. She arrives to the Pennsylvania Station (1910–63) in Manhattan, but the interiors don't look anything like it. it was probably a station in Los Angeles.Put in a pestiferous T-man (treasury agent) looking for the dame and a few stupid comments from gawkers and this makes for an even worse picture.They add some crime element to the film, with the dame who smuggled in diamonds from Cuba and her husband who double-crossed her. There's plenty of sanctimonious narration from the rough-voiced narrator and those 1950's "thank you" to all the departments involved ending credits.In all, it's really not that good, Panic in the Streets (1950) directed by Elia Kazan with Richard Widmark and Jack Palance, which had a similar story, did it much better.You'll recognize plenty of faces from TV and film.

Pretty hard to mix noir with a smallpox epidemic, but ace screenwriter Essex makes a go of it. That's thanks to weaving gem smuggler Sheila's (Keyes) personal story with the other thing she smuggled in, namely smallpox. So, as she travels around New York, so does the disease, causing a major urban crisis. As a result, we watch her get sicker and sicker chasing after a faithless boyfriend (Korvin); at the same time, the city comes more and more unglued chasing after her.I love those nighttime street shots of Manhattan. Cameraman Biroc does an eye-catching job translating those into a noirish atmosphere that hangs like a death shroud over the city. How appropriate. And catch that great supporting cast of one familiar face after another adding a ton of character color. I'm just sorry the gorgeous Dorothy Malone wasn't given more to do than follow Dr. Wood (Bishop) around with a hypodermic needle. Then too, I hope glamour girl Keyes was paid double because she sure looks a wreck by movie's end.Mark this one down as one more entry in the 1950's paranoia race. If it's not the Russian commies or some radioactive mutant or hideous space aliens, it's a deadly pandemic that threatened us all. It's a wonder we geezers survived. But that's okay, because the paranoia makes for exciting movie fare, including this nifty number. Meanwhile, I'm off to where else- - to get vaccinated, of course.

Evelyn Keyes is a diamond smuggler who smuggles in death in the form of smallpox in "The Killer that Stalked New York," a 1950 noir also starring Charles Korvin, William Bishop, Jim Backus, Dorothy Malone, Lola Albright, and Ludwig Donath.Keyes plays Sheila Bennet, who mails diamonds back to her cheating husband (Korvin) from Cuba, and then returns to him in New York. Unfortunately, he's involved with Sheila's sister (Albright), so he sends her to a hotel. Feeling ill, she seeks medical care from a doctor (Bishop). In the waiting room, she meets a little girl who later develops smallpox. Sheila was incorrectly diagnosed and is now spreading the disease all over town while the city attempts to find the carrier.This is a kind of B version of "Panic in the Streets" and not as good, but it is an effective noir with a fine performance by Keyes as a desperate woman with a will to keep going no matter what.Though Keyes was good-looking and talented, her off-screen exploits with the men in her life, as well as her opinions of Hollywood, are more well-known than her film roles, which were mostly in B movies. The great irony of her career is that she's best known for her smallest role, Suellen O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind." "The Killer that Stalked New York" is a good showcase of her abilities.

This is a B-movie from Columbia that is part of a two-film DVD under the auspices of "Bad Girl" movies. However, this one really isn't a film noir movie despite coming from the noir era. Instead, it's a story about a crazy lady who is very sick with smallpox but is so intent on revenge that she allows herself to infect many others--necessitating a city-wide vaccination program. There really isn't that much more to it than that.The script is pretty good, but not as taut or exciting as it might have been. The acting isn't bad, but once again isn't all that spectacular. All in all, it's a pretty good film but it isn't one I'd rush to see. A very competent film and nothing much more.