von Zell as Mr. Morrison (uncredited) Oleg Cassini as Oleg (uncredited) Background Where the Sidewalk Ends is the last film that Otto Preminger would make as a director-for-hire for Twentieth Century Fox in the 1940s. The series includes Laura, which also stars Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews, Whirlpool (starring Tierney), as well as Fallen Angel and Daisy Kenyon (both starring Andrews). Where the Sidewalk Ends was primarily shot on a studio set, but the filmmakers also shot a few scenes at actual New York City locations. Reception Critical response Most critics compare the film unfavorably to Preminger's earlier film Laura, which used much of the same talent. According to film writers, this film, a grittier noir, does succeed in showing a darker side of police similar to the film noirs that follow it. The New York Times film critic, Bosley Crowther, while thinking the script was too far-fetched, liked the way the dialogue was written, and the acting as well. He wrote, "...the plausibility of the script by Ben Hecht, an old hand with station houses and sleazy underworldlings, is open to question on several counts. Not so, however, his pungent dialogue and unfolding of the plot, which Otto Preminger, who guided the same stars through Laura several seasons back, has taken to like a duck to water and kept clipping along crisply till the fadeout." The staff at Variety magazine praised the direction of the film. They wrote, "Otto Preminger, director, does an excellent job of pacing the story and of building sympathy for Andrews." Harrison's Reports called the film "one of the most taut and absorbing crime melodramas produced in many a moon," with "exceptionally good" dialogue. John McCarten of The New Yorker, however, only deemed it to be "a fair-to-middling-melodrama." Preservation The Academy Film Archive preserved Where the Sidewalk Ends in 2004. References External links Streaming audio Where the Sidewalk Ends "Night Cry", radio adaptation of original source material for Suspense show—1948 1950 films 1950 crime drama films 1950s thriller films 20th Century Fox films American black-and-white films Fictional portrayals of the New York City Police Department Films about the New York City Police Department Film noir Films based on American novels Films directed by Otto Preminger Films scored by Cyril J. Mockridge Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City American police detective films American crime drama films Films with screenplays by