The Cinematheque

“Dark-humoured fun, with a moody Franz Waxman score and stunning 3D photography by John Alton.”

Leonard Maltin, Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide

The screen debut of Mickey Spillane’s bloodthirsty PI Mike Hammer just happens to also be one of the niche films noir produced in 3D! An adaptation of the eponymous pulp novel, this Christmastime whodunnit chronicles a vengeance-consumed Hammer (Biff Elliott) as he turns over NYC to locate the killer of his war buddy, an amputee whose offing in the opening-credit sequence exploits—with gimmicky glee—the ​“screen-shattering” innovations of ​“all-thrill 3Dimension!” (Marketing had a field day.) Producer Victor Saville, eager to cash in on the 3D craze, hired B‑movie journeyman John Alton to shoot the stereoscopic quickie. Alton, not yet the in-demand aesthete of noir classics like T‑Men and The Big Combo, manages to rescue the second-rate picture (stilted acting, production shortcuts) with the kind of dramatic chiaroscuro photography for which he’s legendary. Director Harry Essex is better known for another 3D novelty from 1953, It Came from Outer Space.

“John Alton’s cinematography is as always brilliant … Despite the fact that much of the novel’s sex and violence are here eliminated, the tone of its machismo sexuality remains.”

Robert Porfirio, Film Noir: The Encyclopedia

“What really makes I, the Jury a significant noir work is the 3D cinematography of John Alton, the undisputed master of light and shadow.”

Ray Zone, Noir City