"Blast of Silence": Not Merry NY Noir

A Hitman's Hate, a cult classic. 1961

For many of us, it is not the season to be jolly. Even for those who celebrate Christmas, there's shopping stress and anxiety about mandatory family reunions. Those who grew up on the Judeo side of the Judeo-Christian tracks may have memories being left out of the "joy." Many others suffer from being SAD, as in seasonal affective disorder: according to the Johns Hopkins website, "Less sunlight and shorter days are thought to be linked to a chemical change in the brain and may be part of the cause of SAD."

And some of us are just sad, because that's our nature.

I've got a movie for us. Blast of Silence, a 1961 low-budget ($200,000) release directed by Allen Baron, is part of the Criterion channel's "Holiday Noir" collection. This tight and efficient, 77 minute, black and white film is about Frank "Frankie" Bono, a professional killer from Cleveland hired to murder a mobster between Christmas and New Year's. It was shot on the streets of New York, bedecked in boughs of holly, troughs of f…