City Of Fear (1959)

A convict (Vince Edwards) breaks out of prison taking with him what he thinks is a canister of heroin but, in fact, is a lethal radioactive powder that is not only killing him slowly but those who come into contact with him and the canister. This low budget paranoia potboiler, directed by Irving Lerner (ROYAL HUNT OF THE SUN), follows in the footsteps of such better films as PANIC IN THE STREETS and KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK in its depiction of a city health department and the police attempting to track down a carrier of a deadly substance (it's a virus in PANIC and KILLER) before an entire city is contaminated. Shot on the streets of Los Angeles and its environs which lends it an authenticity, it's fairly gripping but it suffers from a pedestrian script (one of the writers, Steven Ritch, plays a doctor in the film) and some amateurish acting, the worst offender being Sherwood Price as a caricature hophead. The film's faux documentary look is courtesy of Oscar winner Lucien Ballard (Kubrick's THE KILLING) and the film features an early scoring effort by the great Jerry Goldsmith which gives no indication of the film scoring master he would later evolve into. With John Archer, Patricia Blair, Lyle Talbot and Kathie Browne.