A simple story very well done. Blast of Silence follows a hit man in New York as he prepares to kill a mob boss.
The film is really an auteur project. Allen Barron was the writer, star and director. This film is no Citizen Kane but it is good. A low budget film from the early 1960's, it has good on location photography, editing and direction. The worst thing about Blast of Silence is an ongoing narration that is supposed to reveal the protagonist's motivations but is pretty lame.
I love films shot on location in New York City. It's fun to see what this city looked like fifty years ago. The black and white photography really contributes to the film's mood. It also has a nice sense of fatalism that runs through it.
Usually Criterion struggles to figure out what kind of cult films are worthy of a release. Stuff like The Blob and First Man into Space is not really worth anyone's time much less a Criterion deluxe DVD treatment. But this time Criterion found a small film that has some merit to it.
Probably the best thing Allen Barron ever worked on. He was mostly a television director shooting crap like Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island and Dynasty.
Still, Blast of Silence is a very good film.
77 minutes.
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