Panic No More

Actor Richard Widmark died this week. For some reason one imagined he was already dead, but, then again, he was 93 at his passing on Monday.

Widowed after 55 years of happy marriage, the actor remarried only nine years ago.

One was going to link to Widmark and co-star Barbara Bel Geddes capturing the realistic minor complexities of the relationship between man and wife in the film noirish thriller Panic In The Streets but archive.org is currently struggling under search engine and apparent spamming woes.

Panic features Widmark as a former Navy surgeon, now city health official chasing a vicious killer who has been exposed to plague.

It's an unusual example of Widmark's work in that he plays a good guy, a family man at that, but he imbues the role with an edgy, uncompromising and manipulative quality that makes his character the good side reflection of the sadistic dark side offered by Jack Palance, playing the kind of villain they usually cast Widmark as.

-- Nick