The Underworld Story is a 1950 American film noir crime film directed by Cy Endfield and starring Dan Duryea, Herbert Marshall, Gale Storm, Howard Da Silva and Michael O'Shea. Da Silva plays the loud-mouthed gangster Carl Durham, one of his last roles before becoming blacklisted. The newspaperman played by Duryea is similar in tone (a reporter that does anything for publicity for himself regardless of ethics) to Kirk Douglas in Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole (1951). This B-movie was shot in black and white by director Cy Endfield and cinematographer Stanley Cortez. Plot When big-city newspaper reporter Mike Reese (Duryea) writes and publishes a story (after breaking his promise to withhold it) that results in the murder of a state's witness against a local gang lord, he loses his job. He soon finds that no one else will hire him, so he extracts money from the drug lord (who is actually grateful for the story Reese published), moves to small-town Lakeville, and buys a half-interest in the newspaper, The Lakeville Sentinel. The newspaper is owned by Catherine Harris (Storm), who immediately has differences with Reese on how things should operate. Reese, trying to use the paper as a step up, latches onto a murder of a woman who happens to be the daughter-in-law of a newspaper magnate, his former employer. When a local black woman is suspected (revealed to the audience early as a scapegoat), Reese turns the story into a media circus, and soon his reporting is back in the spotlight again. Eventually, he finds himself having to decide if he will reform his opportunistic ways. The film is notable for the pejorative use of the word "nigger," though this is clearly dubbed, not what was originally filmed. Cast Dan Duryea as Mike Reese Herbert Marshall as E.J. Stanton Gale Storm as Catherine Harris Howard Da Silva as Carl Durham Michael O'Shea as District Attorney Ralph Munsey Mary Anderson as Molly Rankin Gar Moore as Clark Stanton Melville Cooper as Maj. Redford Frieda Inescort as Mrs. Eldridge Art Baker as Lt. Tilton Harry Shannon as George "Parky" Parker Alan Hale Jr. as Shaeffer Stephen Dunne as Chuck Lee Roland Winters as Stanley Becker Sue England as Helen Lewis L. Russell as Calvin Frances Chaney as Grace Stanley Blystone as Policeman (uncredited) Jack Mower as Diane Stewart's Father (uncredited) Edward Van Sloan as Minister at Funeral (uncredited) Production The