This early Elia Kazan picture centers around an increasingly desperate search for two criminals on the lam in New Orleans (played by Palance and Mostel), who, unbeknownst to them, have been infested with Bubonic plague. If health inspector Dr. Clint Reed (Widmark) and police captain Tom Warren (Douglas) don't nab their quarry fast, this killer plague will spread and put the whole country at risk.

This breathlessly exciting film is one of the best manhunt pictures ever made, with the plague twist adding an extra jolt of tension. Kazan’s peerless on-location shooting never obscures the terrific acting from the four central characters, comprising both hunters and hunted. Palance in particular is positively magnetic. Don’t miss this one.