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NOIR, and so much more: I WAS A COMMUNIST FOR THE FBI

posted 8 years ago by papyrus beetle
4 replies | jump to latest

I am a fervid NOIR "completist" so I check off all the noirs I've seen in FILM NOIR-AN ENCYCLOPEDIC REFERENCE TO THE AMERICAN STYLE(the big "NOIR" BOOK)

This 1951 movie is excellent and fascinating---historically interesting too.

Frank Lovejoy (a loyal American) is the hapless and worried "noir" protagonist who finds his world spinning out of control.
Dorothy Hart is the surprise "Communist" that shocks him, and that he soon feels responsible for.
Konstantine Shayne (the book shop owner in VERTIGO) is one of the many Commies our hero has to deal with.

In the mix are a bunch of angry suspicious relatives and eager, fussy FBI agents who all combine to make Lovejoy's life a living hell during the film.
They all want to use him.
And he has very few "outs".
Commies or non-commies, Lovejoy is trapped by the people around him, and the undercover work he must do.

"We will bury you"-NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV

[–] mgtbltp 8 years ago

It's the one with Thomas Gomez right?, I haven't seen it for awhile. It was entertaining.

[–] darryl-tahirali 8 years ago

It was a radio series too, after the film had come out. I have one episode with Dana Andrews as Matt Cvetic. The emphasis was pretty black and white--or should I say, black and red?

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"The past is never dead. It isn't even past." -- William Faulkner

[–] retpo 8 years ago

Historically interesting is exactly right.

When I was a kid about eight to ten years old, in the early 50s there was a tenement house down the street where the tenant had meetings with a number of people. I can't remember how often these meetings occurred, but the neighbors were saying that he must be a communist.

About a few weeks later my father picks up the paper and there's our neighbor on the front page being praised for helping the FBI catch the communists at his meetings. He was A COMMUNIST FOR THE FBI!

[–] papyrus beetle 7 years ago

That is so interesting!
Thanks for your post....!
🐕

"We will bury you"-NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV