On this day in movie history - Down Three Dark Streets (1954):

Down Three Dark Streets,

directed by Arnold Laven,

written by Gordon Gordon and Bernard C. Schonefeld,

based on the novel Case File: FBI by Mildred Gordon,

was released in the United States on September 3, 1954.
Music by Paul Sawtell.

Cast:
Broderick Crawford, Ruth Roman, Martha Hyer, Marisa Pavan, Max Showalter, Kenneth Tobey, Gene Reynolds, William Johnstone, Harlan Warde, Jay Adler, Claude Akins, Suzanne Alexander, Myra Marsh, Joe Basselt, William Schallert.

On this day in movie history - Naked Alibi (1954):

Naked Alibi,

directed by Jerry Hopper,

written by Lawrence Roman,

based on the story Cry Copper by J. Robert Bren and Gladys Atwater,

was released in the United States on September 2, 1954.
Music by Hans J. Salter and Frank Skinner.

Cast:
Sterling Hayden, Gloria Grahame, Gene Barry, Marcia Henderson, Max Showalter, Billy Chapin, Chuck Connors, Don Haggerty, Stuart Randall, Don Garrett, Richard Beach, Tol Avery, Paul Levitt, Fay Roope, Joseph Mell, John Alvin, Dee Carroll, Cheryll Clarke, Dick Crockett, Dean Cromer, John Daheim, Alan DeWitt, Herbert Ellis, Michael Fox, Phil Garris, Sol Gorss, Jo Ann Greer, Brett Halsey, Beverly Ruth Jordan, Byron Keith, Kenner G. Kemp, Mike Mahoney, Frank Marlowe, Barbara Marshall, Forbes Murray, Paul Newlan, William H. O'Brien, Kathleen O'Malley, Alan Paige, Eddie Parker, Byron Poindexter, Ray Quinn, Carlos Rivero, Robert Stevenson, Jack Stoney, Max Trumpower, Frank Wilcox, Lewis Wilson, Bud Wolfe.

Born on this day – Theresa Saldana:

Theresa Saldana

Actress

Activist

Writer

August 20, 1954 – June 6, 2016

Credits:

240-Robert (1979); All My Children (1970–2011); American Playhouse (1983); An Evening at the Improv (1992); Angel Town (1990); Batman Beyond (2001); Buck James (1988); Cagney & Lacey (1985); Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1994); Carlo's Wake (1999); CBS Schoolbreak Special (1987); Confessions of Crime (1991); Defiance (1980); Diagnosis Murder (1997); Double Revenge (1988); Falcon Crest (1988); Gang Warz (2004); Home Movies (1979); Hunter (1987); I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978); Illusion Infinity (1999); Jonny Quest Versus the Cyber Insects (1995); Law & Order (1995); MacGyver (1990); Martial Law (1998); Matlock (1986); New Kids on the Block (1990); Nothing Sacred (1997); Nunzio (1978); Nurse (1981); Of Men and Angels (1989); Raging Bull (1980); Ready to Run (2000); Rocco's Star (1983); Santa Barbara (1987); Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1983); Shameful Secrets (1993); She Woke Up Pregnant (1996); Simon & Simon (1986); Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (1980); T.J. Hooker (1983); Tales from the Darkside (1986); The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2017); The 51st Annual Golden Globe Awards (1994); The Bernie Mac Show (2003); The Chuck Woolery Show (1991); The Commish (1991–1996); The Dennis Miller Show (1992); The Evil That Men Do (1984); The Gangster Chronicles (1981); The Highwayman (1987); The Night Before (1988); The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest (1996–1997); The Twilight Zone / Segment: Dead Woman's Shoes (1985); Thrill Seekers (1999); Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story (1984); Werewolf (1987).

Born on this day – Felice Farina:

Felice Farina

Director

Writer

August 14, 1954 – September 18, 2023

Credits:

Affetti speciali (1989); Behind the Mountains (2023); Bidoni (1995); Castro (2016); Chi c'è c'è (1987); Condominio (1991); Conversazioni atomiche (2018); Di me cosa ne sai (2009); Do You See Me? (2014); Felipe ha gli occhi azzurri 2 (1993); Il caso Bozano (1996); Liczba doskonala (2022); Monicelli: La versione di Mario (2012); Nebbia in Val Padana (2000); Nostos: The Return (1989); Oscar per due (1998); Patria (2014); Sembra morto... ma è solo svenuto (1986); Senza freni (2003); Sposi (1988); Stazione di servizio (1989); Strade d'acqua (2009); The Evening Tree (2024); The Physics of Water (2009); Timekeeper (2022); Ultimo respiro (1992); Vedi Napoli e poi muori (2007).

Recommended reading - Find a Victim (1954):

Find a Victim (1954).
By Ross Macdonald.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0446358924
ISBN-13: 978-0446358927

Description:

The hitchhiker rose to his knees on the side of the dark road. When Archer stopped the car and got to him, he knew he was in for a ride – for this boy was dying of a gunshot wound. In a matter of hours, Archer would be suspected by the law, hired by a target-shooting trucking magnate, and propositioned by an adulterer’s wife. A hijacked load of hootch and a band of sinners are on the loose in the hills and desert around this nice Southern California town. So is this L.A. private eye, who keeps getting blood on his hands…

“[The] American private eye, immortalized by Hammett, refined by Chandler, brough to its zenith by Macdonald.” – New York Times Book Review.

A selection of the mysterious book club.

On this day in movie history - Human Desire (1954):

Human Desire,

directed by Fritz Lang,

written by Alfred Hayes,

based on the novel La Bête humaine by Émile Zola,

was released in the United States on August 6, 1954.

Cast:
Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford, Edgar Buchanan, Kathleen Case, Peggy Maley, Diane DeLaire, Grandon Rhodes, Benjie Bancroft, Paul Brinegar, Minta Durfee, Jean Engstrom, Victor Hugo Greene, Don C. Harvey, Carl Lee, John Maxwell, John Pickard, Dan Riss, Scott Seaton, Allen D. Sewall, Dan Seymour, Olan Soule, Hal Taggart, John Zaremba.

On this day in movie history - Pushover (1954):

Pushover,

directed by Richard Quine,

written by Roy Huggins,

was released in the United States on August 6, 1954.
Based on the novels The Night Watch by Thomas Walsh

and Rafferty by William S. Ballinger.
Music by Arthur Morton.

Cast:
Fred MacMurray, Philip Carey, Kim Novak, Dorothy Malone, E.G. Marshall, Allen Nourse, James Anderson, Joe Bailey, Tony Barrett, Walter Beaver, Richard Bryan, Robert Carson, Phil Chambers, Dick Crockett, John De Simone, Alan Dexter, Don C. Harvey, Anne Loos, Mort Mills, Ann Morriss, Paul Picerni, Murray Pollack, Paul Richards, Marion Ross, K.L. Smith, Robert Stevenson, Hal Taggart, John Tarangelo, Mel Welles, Jack Wilson.

On this day in movie history - On the Waterfront (1954):

On the Waterfront,

directed by Elia Kazan,

written by Budd Schulberg,

was released in the United States on July 28, 1954.
Inspired by the series of articles entitled Crime on the Waterfront by Malcolm Johnson,

published in the New York Sun from November–December, 1948.
Music by Leonard Bernstein.

Cast:
Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning, Leif Erickson, James Westerfield, Tony Galento, Tami Mauriello, John F. Hamilton, John Heldabrand, Rudy Bond, Don Blackman, Arthur Keegan, Abe Simon, Eva Marie Saint, Martin Balsam, Dan Bergin, Zachary Charles, Jere Delaney, Robert Downing, Michael V. Gazzo, Fred Gwynne, Thomas Handley, Anne Hegira, Pat Hingle, Katherine MacGregor, Barry Macollum, Tiger Joe Marsh, Edward McNally, Donnell O'Brien, Mike O'Dowd, Nehemiah Persoff, Johnny Seven.

On this day in movie history - Them! (1954):

Them!,

directed by Gordon Douglas,

written by Ted Sherdeman and Russell Hughes,

based on a story by George Worthing Yates,

was released in the United States on June 19, 1954.
Music by Bronislau Kaper.

Cast:
James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness, Onslow Stevens, Sean McClory, Chris Drake, Sandy Descher, Mary Alan Hokanson, Don Shelton, Fess Parker, Olin Howland, Leonard Nimoy, John Beradino, Willis Bouchey, Booth Colman, Richard Deacon, Lawrence Dobkin, Ann Doran, William Schallert, Douglas Spencer, Dub Taylor, Dorothy Green, Harry Wilson, Dick York, Jan Merlin, Walter Coy.

On this day in movie history - Blackout (1954):

Blackout,

aka Murder by Proxy,

directed by Terence Fisher,

written by Richard Landau,

based on the novel Murder by Proxy by Helen Nielsen,

was released in the United States on March 19, 1954.
Music by Ivor Slaney.

Cast:
Dane Clark, Belinda Lee, Betty Ann Davies, Eleanor Summerfield, Andrew Osborn, Harold Lang, Jill Melford, Alvys Maben, Michael Golden, Nora Gordon, Alfie Bass, Arnold Diamond, Norman Fisher, Ann Gow, Lindsay Hooper, Cleo Laine, Delphi Lawrence, Arthur Lovegrove, Joe Phelps, Olive Sloane.

On this day in movie history - Drive a Crooked Road (1954):

Drive a Crooked Road,

directed by William Keighley,

written by Blake Edwards and Richard Quine,

based on a story by James Benson Nablo,

was released in the United States on March 10, 1954.
Music by George Duning.

Cast:
Mickey Rooney, Dianne Foster, Kevin McCarthy, Jack Kelly, Harry Landers, Jerry Paris, Paul Picerni, Dick Crockett, Irene Bolton, John Close, Richard H. Cutting, John Damler, Linda Danson, Diana Dawson, Jean Engstrom, Mike Mahoney, Peggy Maley, Patrick Miller, Mort Mills, George Paul, Jeffrey Stone, Amzie Strickland, Howard Wright.