The Killer That Stalked New York

Infobox Film | name = The Killer That Stalked New York


caption = The Killer That Stalked New York one-sheet movie poster
director = Earl McEvoy
producer = Robert Cohn
writer = Milton Lehman (article)
Harry Essex
starring =Evelyn Keyes
Charles Korvin
William Bishop
Dorothy Malone
Lola Albright
music =Hans J. Salter
cinematography =Joseph F. Biroc
editing =
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = December 1, 1950 (U.S. release)
runtime = 79 min
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0042643

"The Killer That Stalked New York" is a 1950 black-and-white film noir starring Evelyn Keyes. The film, shot in a semi-documentary style, is about diamond smugglers who unknowingly start a smallpox outbreak in the New York City of 1947. It is based on the real threat of a smallpox epidemic in the city the previous year. The story is taken from a "Cosmopolitan" magazine article.

It was shot on location in New York City.

Plot

Arriving at New York City's Pennsylvania Station after a trip to Cuba, Sheila Bennet (Evelyn Keyes) realizes she's being followed by the authorities. She is bringing $50,000 worth of diamonds into the country. She mails the diamonds to her husband, Matt Krane (Charles Korvin), instead of carrying them around. She then tries to shake the Treasury agent following her.

Feeling sick, she checks into a hotel, then decides to see her husband. He is cheating on her with her sister, Francie (Lola Albright). Shelia nearly faints on the street, so a cop takes her to a local clinic. While there, she give a young girl a pin she likes and inadvertently infects her. Shelia is misdiagnosed as having a common cold and she leaves. When a doctor later checks on the little girl admitted to the hospital, she is found to have smallpox.

Meanwhile, after returning home and getting sicker, Matt attempts to take off with the diamonds when they finally arrive through the mail. Unfortunately for him, the fence cannot buy the diamonds because they are too hot. Matt will have to wait in the city for ten days for the cash. He has left Sheila and Francie, but he cannot leave New York.

City officials decide to vaccinate everyone in New York, but run out of the serum. This causes a panic in the city. Tracking the growing number of smallpox victims, agents realize that the disease carrier and the diamond smuggler are one and the same. However, Sheila continues to elude capture. Still unaware that she has smallpox, she returns to the doctor at the clinic to get more medicine. The doctor tries to talk her into turning herself in, but she shoots him in the shoulder and escapes.

Sheila confronts Francie, who kills herself due to Matt leaving her. This gives Sheila more reason to get revenge on him. Meanwhile, more and more smallpox victims are dying. Sheila eventually catches up with Matt, who falls from a skyscraper to his death. Afterwards, the woman goes to authorities and, before succumbing to the disease, provides them with a badly-needed list of those she contacted.

Cast

*Evelyn Keyes as Sheila Bennet
*Charles Korvin as Matt Krane
*William Bishop as Dr. Ben Wood
*Dorothy Malone as Alice Lorie
*Lola Albright as Francie Bennet
*Art Smith as Arnold Moss
*Whit Bissell as Sid Bennet
*Roy Roberts as the Mayor

ee also

*"Panic in the Streets", another 1950 film with a similar plot.