PANIC IN THE STREETS

US, 1950, 92 minutes, Black and white.
Richard Widmark, Paul Douglas, Barbara Bel Geddes, Zero Mostel, Jack Palance.
Directed by Elia Kazan.

Panic in the Streets is effective Kazan social drama of 1950, although it is not as effective as earlier films like Boomerang and Gentleman's Agreement, or later ones like On the Waterfront. The film is a thriller, about illegal entrants into New Orleans and a criminal chase film. But it also raises questions of local administration, the threat of New Orleans being contaminated by plague and the role of the police, the medical advisers and the mayor and his councillors. The story is given the Fox black and white tough treatment and the hero is typical Widmark strength and perseverance.

1. Was this merely a thriller or was there a message in the film?

2. Was this a typical American city that was presented to us? Was the society the kind of society you would find anywhere?

3. Were the gangsters typical of those found in our cities? How do you explain these criminals?

4. What did the film show of immigration problems, illegality, the consequences of doing anything illegal the wider repercussions than expected, people's unwillingness to involve themselves, their fear of telling the truth, the need to avoid official trouble?

5. Is plague a real possibility in our modern cities?

6. Who has the responsibility to eradicate plague?

7. Is it better for the media to spread this news to alert people or is it in the public interest to suppress this kind of news to avoid panic?

8. Did you like the hero - as a man, as a husband and father, as an ordinary citizen, as a specialist playing a hunch, as an expert giving advice?

9. Was the hero built up as an ordinary citizen doing his duty? Was this the purpose for the scenes of his home life?

10. Were the police and city authorities bound to believe his opinion? What was their responsibility?

11. Were the police presented accurately in the film? Well?

12. How shrewd were the gangsters in realising that something big had been brought into the country?

13. Was the final chase effective? Why?

14. Was the film pessimistic or optimistic about society? was it a morale-booster?

16. Is it too far-fetched to see the plague-stricken men as analogous to gangsters in society so that the film is something of a social parable or allegory? Why?