The Mob is directed by Robert Parish and adapted to screenplay by William Bowers from the novel written by Ferguson Findley. It stars Broderick Crawford, Betty Buehler, Richard Kiley, Otto Hulett, Matt Crowley, Neville Brand, Ernest Borgnine and Jean Alexander. Music is by George Duning and cinematography by Joseph Walker.

Cop Johnny Damico (Crawford) is fooled by a mob killer during the slaying of a witness and is chastised by his superiors. Sent undercover to infiltrate the waterfront organisation to flush out the killer, Damico faces danger at every turn.

He's a cop who is hell bent on atoning for what could basically be a career ruining error. It's this core essence that really oils the pistons of this tough and under seen slice of crime cinema. Awash with characters so shifty it's hard to locate a moral compass in the mix, director Robert Parrish (Cry Danger) takes a standard under cover plot and elevates it to a riveting tale of corruption, paranoia and the search for redemption at any cost.

William Bowers' script positively pings with the sort of dialogue you could cut a joint of beef with, with most of it spat from the mouth of the excellent Crawford. No matter what the situation, what the danger, Damico has a quip or a put down to always exude a calm and carefree menace, he literally is a sardonic miserablist who is unflappable. It's a wonderful characterisation that's helped enormously by a screenplay that contains some surprises, with a nifty plot line standing out that sees Damico hired by the mob to enact a hit on himself! Wonderful.

Parrish keeps the atmosphere side of things on the boil, always ensuring that Damico could be snuffed out at any moment, while Walker's (The Velvet Touch) photography is tight to the plotting. Around Crawford are a raft of familiar faces from film noir, with the villain roll call considerably boosted by Borgine and Brand. From the quite excellent opening murder played out in the nighttime rain, story unfolds in a whirl of sarcasm, set-ups, machismo, stand-offs and mobster machinations. The Mob, under seen and under valued, add it to your "to see lists", especially if you be a fan of Brod Crawford. 8/10

After Broderick Crawford won his Oscar for All the King's Men, Columbia Pictures put him into a potboiler called Cargo to Capetown. AFter that he did the second role that is identified with him on screen in Born Yesterday. After that one, Harry Cohn once again gave him a potboiler noir about a police lieutenant going undercover to clean up the docks.

In the beginning of the film Crawford happens to be on the scene of a murder and when the actual killer flashes a badge at him, Crawford lets him go. Turns out the deceased was a key witness in a mob investigation.

Instead of hanging him out to dry with Internal Affairs which would be what really would happen as all devoted watchers of NYPD Blue know, Crawford is assigned to go undercover to ferret out the mysterious boss of the rackets plaguing the docks.

Call me picky, but I would think the last guy they would send undercover would be another material witness to a homicide. Yet that's what happens here.

The premise is so dumb, I can't give this film a higher rating. But in fact The Mob is blessed with an incredible cast of name players just starting out. Neville Brand, Richard Kiley, Ernest Borgnine, even an easily recognizable Charles Bronson who has only one line of dialog are all in this film. Fifteen years later this cast would have cost Columbia Pictures a small fortune and wouldn't be wasted on a black and white B film, souped up for Broderick Crawford.

If you're expecting On the Waterfront, don't be looking at this film.

THE MOB is a fine little slice of film noir which stars Broderick Crawford in the best performance I've seen him give. He plays a cop who goes undercover as a dock worker to bring down a crime boss, uncovering murder and corruption along the way. Shades of ON THE WATERFRONT in the setting and photography, although this film predates that one. It's an enlivened little picture thanks to a cracking script full of great tough-guy dialogue and the like, and when you get a cast to make it work, it really works. Look out for a youthful Ernest Borgnine as a baddie and Neville Brand in his usual heavy performance. Despite his size, Crawford delivers an energetic turn and holds his own with the best of them, making this film above average for the genre.