Panic in the Streets

“This best and most neglected of Elia Kazan’s early features (1950) is an expert and taut thriller about a public health doctor (Richard Widmark) trying to find a gang of thieves, one of whom may be infected with bubonic plague. Filmed on location in New Orleans with a superb secondary cast: Paul Douglas, Barbara Bel Geddes, Jack Palance, and Zero Mostel. Scripted by Richard Murphy and Edward and Edna Anhalt; the Anhalts won an Oscar for their original story.” – Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader