Set in New York's "Little Italy," The Black Hand was one of the first crime thrillers to explore the terrorist tactics of the Mafia at a time when the criminal organization still had a low profile. Although the film begins at the turn of the century, it paints an accurate portrait of how the "Black Hand" organization preyed on immigrants and extorted money from them by threats of violence. Gene Kelly, in one of his rare non-musical roles, plays Johnny Columbo, a man determined to avenge the death of his father by the Mafia. By working with police inspector Louis Lorelli (J. Carrol Naish), Johnny attempts to bring crime boss Caesar Xavier Serpi (Marc Lawrence) to justice despite constant life-threatening situations.

The Black Hand was modeled on the real-life story of Joseph Petrosino, a New York City police lieutenant who traveled to Palermo, Italy, to investigate the Mafia. He was shot and killed by snipers on the evening of March 12, 1909 while waiting for an informant at the Garibaldi statue in downtown Palermo at Piazza Marina. The Louis Lorelli character is a stand-in for the real Petrosino in the film, but some aspects of the case are fictionalized. Regardless, the result is a taut suspense thriller that is greatly enhanced by Paul C. Vogel's cinematography, which captures the appropriate "film noir" look, and Albert Colombo's atmospheric music score.

Gene Kelly and J. Carrol Naish were so convincing at playing men of Italian descent in this film that audiences were fooled over their true ancestry. Kelly came from a line of Celts, and Naish was Irish despite the fact that he played Italians often and had a long-running radio series called "Life with Luigi." The majority of the other cast members in The Black Hand were Italian; foremost among them was Teresa Celli in the role of Isabella Gomboli. Despite her impressive performance, Celi's Hollywood career was brief and she would only make three more films before fading into obscurity.

Director: Richard Thorpe
Producer: William H. Wright
Screenplay: Luther Davis, Leo Townsend
Cinematography: Paul Vogel
Editor: Irvine Warburton
Music: Alberto Colombo
Cast: Gene Kelly (Johnny Columbo), J. Carrol Naish (Louis Lorelli), Teresa Celli (Isabella Gomboli), Frank Puglia (Carlo Saballera), Marc Lawrence (Caesar Xavier Serpi).
BW-93m. Closed captioning.

by Jeff Stafford