The Street with No Name 🇺🇸 (Bezejmenná ulice)

Richard Widmark had already imprinted himself on the audience’s memory with his first film role as a violent psychopath with a devilish laugh in the noir Kiss of Death (1947). Widmark’s portrayal of the villain in The Street with No Name, the head of an organized gang Alec Stiles, borrows much from Tommy Udo’s iconic image. A crude misogynist advocating the motto “never trust a dame” and suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, he is always one step ahead of the FBI agents who are after him. The Street with No Name belongs to the category of docu-noirs that emphasized the work of criminologists in the post-war era – here specifically the FBI investigators on whose files the film’s script is based (there is even a statement by J. Edgar Hoover in the prologue). While the documentary camera gives a glimpse inside the federal bureau and its modern investigative techniques in the opening section, the film still features a distinctive expressive noir aesthetic that culminates in the final night chase.

Jana Bébarová

The film is screened in cooperation with the U.S. Embassy in Prague.