I WAS A COMMUNIST FOR THE F.B.I.
Sog.: basato sulle esperienze di Matt Cvetic, raccontate a Pete Martin e pubblicate nel Saturday Evening Post; Scen.: Crane Wilbur; F.: Edwin B. DuPar; Mo.: Folmar Blangsted; Scgf.: Leo Kuter; Su.: Leslie G. Hewitt; Int.: Frank Lovejoy (Matt Cvetic), Dorothy Hart (Eve Merrick), Philip Carey (Mason), James Millican (Jim Blandon), Richard Webb (Ken Crow- ley), Konstantin Shayne (Gerhardt Eisler), Paul Picerni (Joe Cvetic), Roy Roberts (Father Novac), Eddie Norris (Harmon), Ron Hagerthy (Dick Cvetic), Hugh Sanders (Garson), Hope Kramer (Ruth Cvetic); Prod.: Bryan Foy per Warner Bros. 35mm. D.: 83’. Bn.
Film Notes
Among the great purveyors of Cold War B-films bearing no signs of involvement, Gordon Douglas (1909-1993) seems to have been a true soldier of faith, and a director whose faith made “better” films. He pioneered the genre in 1948 with Walk a Crooked Mile – the title refers to Commie heels incapable of walking straight – and made a quintessential contribution with I Was a Communist for the F.B.I. in 1951. Both are real films, fighting for the cause. They are sandwiched between two of the director’s best films, the extremely violent James Cagney film Kiss Tomorrow Good-Bye (1950) and Them! (1954), one of the best sci-fi films of the time.
I Was a Communist for F.B.I. is the true story of Matt Cvetic (Frank Lovejoy), who after 9 years in the Party becomes an informer; the film adds typical family values (motherly love; a brother’s desperation about the betrayal). Its imagery takes the spectator in medias res: the riots, discontent, and proximity of industrial trouble (the Pittsburgh steel mills) were all very much a part of real post-war life, with the recreation of known characters in the headlines (prominent Communist agent Gerhardt Eisler, the brother of composer Hanns, is played by Konstantin Shayne, the deranged Nazi from Welles’ The Stranger). All this made a timely impression – and the film was an Oscar nominee in the category of documentary! Let’s remember this detail as another sign of the derailed mindset of the times – even if the film attaches dutifully to the tradition initiated by producer Louis de Rochemont, while it on the other hand presents its views with the fascinating, cool anonymity that made Them! such a compelling film.
Peter von Bagh