"Port of New York" is the sort of film noir picture I like. It's tough, violent and very exciting...and it does this with a small budget and mostly no-name actors. The only 'big' actor is Yul Brynner but this was his first film and he was hardly a star.The film begins in a semi-documentary style--with a narrator and film footage of a drug dealer being murdered and the discovery of a box of pharmaceuticals that is instead filled with sand. Federal agents get involved and the trail eventually leads to a very tough criminal boss (Brynner) who doesn't mind leaving a long trail of dead bodies.What I loved about the film was how heartless it was. Folks are murdered in cold blood--nothing pretty about this. Brutal and tough...as well as well written and exciting throughout. Despite its being a cheap film there is nothing second-rate about it!

Good gritty docu-drama of the procedural sort made popular by The Naked City (1948). Here we follow a Customs agent (Rober) and a Treasury agent (Brady) as they track down a gang of narcotics smugglers headed by a hirsute Yul Brynner in his first film. Unlike most docu- dramas of the period, this one is not overly diverted by procedure. Instead, the drama plays out in pretty tense fashion. Happily, the rather complex storyline is fashioned smoothly by director Benedek, despite the many segues. Then too, the live shots of New York are especially revealing to a non-New Yorker like myself, even if they are decades old.The faces in the movie also furnish a boost. There're the three gimlet-eyed hard cases (Challee, Stevens, Kellogg), the exotic looking Brynner, and the two meek-looking fall-guys (Blake, Carter), while Rober and Brady are appropriately clean-cut and strong-jawed. Brynner, of course, is particularly notable for his effortless accent and Euro-Asian appearance. The latter seems appropriate for a time when the Cold War was heating up. Thus Hollywood's lauding law enforcement at a tense time comes as no surprise.Except for Brynner and a couple jarring scenes as when Brynner turns on the disloyal Stevens, there's nothing particularly memorable here. Just solid entertainment done in highly competent fashion.

Before Laslo Benedek made "The Wild One" with Marlon Brando, he made "Port of New York" with Yul Brynner. This concise crime thriller about heroin traffic is taut, one of the many that appeared after the Production Code Administration amended its rules to allow for the use of narcotics in movies. The break out movie that made movies like "Port of New York" possible was the Dick Powell thriller "To the Ends of the Earth." Billed as another excerpt from Government files, "Port of New York" concerns an investigation by Customs agents working with the Bureau of Narcotics. When a box of narcotics is found filled with sand and a purser aboard the ship vanishes without a trace, the agents start snooping around and a pretty young woman, Toni Cardell (K.T. Stevens), offers to help them. Before she can help them, her suave boyfriend Paul strangled her. Later, the agents get another lead involving a nightclub performer, Dolly Carney (Arthur Blake), who is arrested when a messenger shows up with a box of pure heroin. Our heroes follow another lead that ends up with one of the, Waters, getting a bullet in the back and being dumped in the ocean. The Bureau of Narcotics agent is predictably determined to finish the case. Jim Flannery (Richard Rober)impersonates a go-between and meets evil drug lord Yul Brynner. Naturally, complications arise and the sagacious Vicola steers clear of the appointed rendezvous to exchange $200 grand for the heroin. The drug gangsters are appropriately ruthless and kill without a qualm. This was Yul Brynner's film debut and he delivers a terrific performance, savoring each line of dialogue. Look carefully and you will spot future "Laredo" television star Neville Brand as one of Brynner's henchmen.

The location-filmed PORT of NEW YORK garnered more attention years after its release in 1949; because of the debut of Yul Brynner. In his first film role, Brynner plays Paul Vicola, an arrogant and ruthless narcotics smuggler operating from a yacht in the harbor. Drugs would be smuggled from ships entering the Port of New York and Vicola would make sure the couriers would meet a casual death. Mickey Waters(Scott Brady)and Jim Flannery(Richard Rober)are government agents trying to get a handle on how the smuggling ring functions. Dolly Carney(Arthur Blake)claims to be getting out of the business when he is arrested. His girlfriend Toni(K.T. Stevens)is frightened enough to try and blow the whistle on the dope deals. The hard-hitting Brady deservedly is the star of this B&W crime flick. Brynner displayed enough not to go unnoticed.