Despite its odd parallels to modern-day issues (possibly because, unlike the film's rather ludicrous ending, in real life a single crackdown can't stop an entire sub-industry of illegal immigrations), Border Incident is best enjoyed as precisely what it is: a hard-hitting, suspenseful thrill of a movie, a journey into darkness in which the heroes do enter with good intentions but, it must be remembered, escape far from unscathed.
In other words, it's best enjoyed as a prime example of film noir, as well as, to a lesser extent, one of the few instances of Hollywood filmmaking in the aftermath of the U.S. and Mexico's Good Neighbor Policy which by and large refrained from patronizing or dehumanizing its Latin American subjects. It might not be the most prototypical noir to be seen; but when the alternative is genre-juggling as expertly done as this, I'd call that a pretty even trade.
Along with most of the other films in our noir feature, Border Incident has just been reissued in volume three of Warner Home Video's Film Noir Classics Collection. The six-disc box set features five individually packaged films from the RKO and MGM vaults, with theatrical trailers and commentary tracks by film historians, as well as an additional, exclusive disc with a documentary (Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light) and five noir-inspired shorts from the 1940s MGM series "Crime Does Not Pay." As of this writing, the box set is the only format through which these films can currently be obtained.
by Zach Hoskins
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