Noir Alley: Eddie Muller on Crime Wave (1954)

Crime Wave - (Original Trailer)

A reformed parolee is caught in the middle when a wounded former cellmate seeks him out for shelter in Crime Wave (1954).

Crime Wave (1954) -- (Movie Clip) That's Gershwin

Opening at what probably really is (as later reported on police radio) Maple Ave. in downtown LA, goons Morgan (Ned Young) and Hastings (Charles Buchinsky-later-Bronson) then Penny (Ted de Corsia) show up, making trouble for gas jockey Dub Taylor, in Crime Wave, 1954, starring Sterling Hayden.

Crime Wave (1954) -- (Movie Clip) Nobody Leaves You Alone

Sterling Hayden as LAPD Sgt. Sims, with de-facto nameless associates suggests they ring ex-con Lacey (Gene Nelson) for what is in fact his second appearance, still in bed with wife Ellen (Phyllis Kirk), when sure enough, San Quentin escapee Morgan (Ned Young), wounded in the gas station robbery, turns up, in Andre de Toth’s Crime Wave, 1954.

Crime Wave (1954) -- (Movie Clip) Chicken Feed

Little-to-no artifice from director Andre de Toth, with exteriors from LAPD then located inside City Hall, and the first spoken lines for Sterling Hayden as detective Sims, hearing from robbery victim Dub Taylor, then with police station denizens, Iris Adrian the girlfriend, Jack Woody the informer, in Crime Wave, 1954.