Celebrated for its innovative use of location shooting, Panic in the Streets is among the best of the semidocumentary films produced by Fox after WWII and also one of Kazan’s most gripping and fast-paced films. Richard Widmark is the Army doctor brought in to lead a furious manhunt through the streets of New Orleans, chasing after a treacherous criminal—played by a startlingly young Jack Palance—who is infected with the plague. Kazan masterfully orchestrates a counterpoint of intense action sequences and tender domestic scenes while also contrasting the nocturnal mood and shadows of film noir against the sober, documentary feel of the police procedural film.