At the turn of the century, Italian immigrants in this country were plagued by a tightly organized secret society of tribute-collecting racketeers called the "Black Hand." If the immigrants did not pay up regularly, terrorists often demolished their homes with deadly cigar-box bombs, or kidnapped and lectured their children.

The central them of this movie is the collective effort of the immigrants to break the power of the Black Hand. It is a theme that needs well-placed direction if it is to succeed. Unfortunately, the film falls short in this important respect. In some spots it bogs down so seriously that it becomes difficult to watch.

Probably the reason these lags are so obvious is that other sequences are highly exciting. The climax occurs when the hero . . . Gene Kelly . . . turns the tables on his Black Hand captors and single handedly wipes them out; here the film is particularly good.

Kelly, who usually plays dancing roles in techni-color musicals, does surprisingly well as the protagonist who vows to avenge his father's murder. J. Carroll Naish, who plays the police inspector who never forgets a face, is not particularly memorable himself. In a moving speech in criminal court, however, he presents the moral of the movie: immigrants must be made to understand that in a democracy the police protect and help the people rather than oppress them.