Border Incident

This 1949 film offers some mighty fine grit for the time period depicting the goings on of corruption involving Mexican farm workers and how they cross or are smuggled across the U.S. border. Early work from Ricardo Montalban is interesting but the real attraction here is Howard Da Silva who plays one mighty fine hood. The same year he received raves for his work in THE GREAT GATSBY and a few years earlier THE BLUE DAHLIA now more famous for the murder case dubbed after it. There is a torture scene in BORDER INCIDENT which will still make you wince even by modern standards and though the picture comes off as yet another piece of American propaganda it is well worth a look.