Peter Falk had agreed to act in Blast of Silence but withdrew from the project for the promise of "a few dollars a week and a bag of peanuts" acting in Twentieth Century Fox's Murder, Inc. (1960). The role of "Kid Twist" Reles made Falk's film career.

Blast of Silence's running narration was written by blacklisted screenwriter Waldo Salt, signing himself as "Mel Davenport."

For his services as a narrator, actor Lionel Stander offered Baron the choice of a $1,000 fee if his name was used and only $500 if the narration were anonymous. Baron opted for the cheaper price.

Going into production, Baron had $2,800 and a reel of film he had salvaged from the production Cuban Rebel Girls (1959), in which Baron had played a small part.

Baron's hope was to get into the can fifteen to twenty minutes of film that he could use to attract investors.

Baron and his crew agreed to use a raw film stock from Eastman Kodak provided they could "test" a reel. Baron used all of the test footage in Blast of Silence.

The entirety of Blast of Silence was filmed without permits. Only Lorrie's apartment was a set, mocked up in an unused midtown firehouse.

At one point during principal photography, Baron and his crew were stopped by officers of the New York Police Department, who suspected them of performing surveillance on the NYPD.

The storm seen in the film's climax is Hurricane Donna, which affected the entire eastern coast of the United States in September of 1960.

In addition to playing his death scene and performing his own death stunt, Allen Baron had to play one of the gunmen shooting at himself.

After shooting his death scene, Baron retired to Downey's for a steak dinner and by chance met the men who would finance Blast of Silence.

Once they had seen his footage, Alfred Crown and Dan Enright offered Baron $18,000 to finish the film.

Blast of Silence was completed and ready for exhibition two weeks too late for the Cannes Film Festival.

Universal-International acquired the film, which it distributed briefly in the summer of 1961 as a second feature.

In 1990, Blast of Silence was heralded at the Munich Film Festival.

That year, a West German TV crew followed Baron through a return to New York to visit the film's existing locations, and the ensuing documentary was titled Allen Doesn't Live Here.

In 2006, documentary filmmaker Robert Fischer repurposed that film as Requiem for a Killer: The Making of Blast of Silence.

In 2007, Blast of Silence was included in the esteemed Criterion Collection.

by Richard Harland Smith

Sources:
"Requiem for a Killer: The Making of Blast of Silence", Blast of Silence DVD