#428: BARON, Allen: Blast Of Silence (1961)

BARON, Allen (United States)

Blast Of Silence [1961]

Spine #428
DVD

Swift, brutal, and black-hearted, Allen Baron's New York City noir Blast of Silence is a sensational surprise. This low-budget, carefully crafted portrait of a hit man on assignment in Manhattan during Christmastime follows its stripped-down narrative with mechanical precision, yet also with an eye and ear for the oddball details of urban living and the imposing beauty of the city. At once visually ragged and artfully composed, and featuring rough, poetic narration performed by Lionel Stander, Blast of Silence is a stylish triumph.

77 minutes
Black & White

Monaural

1:33:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2008

Director/Writers

Narration written by Waldo Salt (Mel Davenport).

Allen Baron was 34 when he wrote and directed Blast of Silence.

The Film

“Before you hit the target in his little love nest, you have to know everything about the flat and the building, as well the architect who built it. You could have been an architect.”

“You’re relaxing now. Hands cold again. There’ll be a gun in them soon, and your mind’s running clear and cool. Expert. As an engineer designing a bridge. You could have been an engineer.”

**

Presumably, Baby Boy Frankie Bono (Baron) could have been anything he wanted to be. But what he became was a hit man. Baron throws in a few clues as to how his character attained this seedy profession — a rough Catholic school education; the mean streets of Cleveland — there’s not much back story — but we know this is an antisocial guy from the whiskey-soaked voice narration (examples above) of Lionel Stander (uncredited and blacklisted).

Baron keeps things moving and the NYC landscape of 1960 is beautifully preserved here. There are some great characters along for the ride (in particular, Big Ralph [Larry Tucker], in a meaty role of the middle man, who helps Frankie get a gun) — and some not so great, like the blah would-be girlfriend, Lori (Molly McCarthy).

The location scenes (presumably all stolen — that is, permitless) are vivid — Rockefeller Center, Harlem, the Village (including the famed Village Gate!), Staten Island Ferry, and the reeds of the Rockaways.

Not much to see here — a “B” made good after half a century in limbo.

Film Rating (0-60):

51

The Extras

The Booklet

Twelve-page booklet featuring an essay by Terrence Rafferty and a four-page graphic-novel adaptation of the film by acclaimed artist Sean Phillips (Criminal, Sleeper, Marvel Zombies).

“Allen Baron’s stark, moody Blast of Silence is a movie of many strange distinctions. It’s among the last of the true film noirs, those fatalistic black-and-white urban crime dramas that darkened the American screen so gloriously in the years after World War II … it’s among the very few works in the history of cinema to boast a voice-over narration in the second person. And it is, hands down, the best movie ever made about a common, important, and unjustly neglected American experience: the really bad business trip.”

The Phillips graphic novel is cool.

Commentary

None.

Requiem for a Killer: The Making of Blast of Silence

German doc on Baron’s career.

Rare on-set Polaroids

Rare and faded.

Photos of locations in 2008

Best extra, showing the locations then and now.

Extras Rating (0-40):

32

51 + 32 =

83

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