THE
BLACK HAND
1950.....93
minutes
Gene Kelly, J. Carrol Naish, Teresa Celli
Gene
Kelly as an Italian-American attorney? Once you get past this,
the rest of Black Hand ought to go down easy. This expose of
organized crime is set in New York's "Little Italy"
the late 19th century. The various Italian immigrant merchants
find themselves at the mercy of the Black Hand, a group which
extorts money upon threat of death. Seeking vengeance for the
mob-dictated murder of his father, Kelly tries to gather evidence
against the Black Hand. He is frustrated in his efforts until
he teams with Italian/American police inspector J. Carroll Naish.
Though Naish is murdered while assembling evidence, he is able
to mail his findings to Kelly, who, after beating crime boss
Marc Lawrence to a bloody pulp, delivers the guilty parties
to the authorities. In the real-life incidents upon which this
film is based, it was the Mafia, not the Black Hand, who functioned
as the villain.
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