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Elia Kazan makes a concerted effort to be less ‘theatrical’ and more ‘cinematic’ with Panic in the Streets, a New Orleans thriller about a policeman and a doctor searching the streets for a killer infected with pneumonic plague. Richard Widmark plays the doctor and Paul Douglas plays the cop. They’re forced to work together and begrudgingly do so for a while, but they eventually come to respect each other, giving the movie a bit of a proto-‘buddy cop’ vibe. Both actors have their moments, but its Jack Palance who steals the show as the infected killer on the run. Palance has a commanding presence, towering over the rest of the cast with a stern face seemingly carved out of granite. Kazan gives the film a little extra verisamilitude by casting real doctors, cops and public servants in many of the peripheral roles. Barbara Bel Geddes (Vertigo, TV’s Dallas) is very good in the role of Widmark’s wife. One of the film’s best scenes is one in which she wants to comfort Widmark after an exhausting days’ search for the killer, but he keeps her at arm’s length for fear of infecting her. With Zero Mostel.

Academy Award: Best Story