WALK EAST ON BEACON

US, 1952, 98 minutes, Black and white.
George Murphy, Finlay Currie, Virginia Gilmore, Karel Stepanek.
Directed by Alfred L. Werker.

A thriller of the early fifties, based on the files of the F.B.I. and Reader's Digest articles attributed to J. Edgar Hoover.

It is an interesting example of the anti-Communist cold war attitudes of the United states at the time and the use of the media to alert Americans and to cultivate patriotism. This anticommunism had its bad effect in the exaggerations of McCarthyism?. Arthur Miller's The Crucible shows another side to this spirit. The investigations into un-American activities were also part of the atmosphere of the time and. involved Hollywood personalities. Many companies produced anti-Communist films. This was one of the better ones and featured George Murphy later to become a senator. Other films of the time like this were I Was a Communist for the F.B.I. and Woman on Pier 13.

The film was produced by Louis de Rochemont, the producer of such semidocumentaries at the end of the war as The House on 92nd Street and Boomerang. The film uses a semidocumentary tone and a very moralising commentary.

Glory is given to J. Edgar Hoover and the need for collaboration with the F.B.I. In the aftermath of Watergate and the discrediting of some of Hoover's methods, the film by Larry Cohen, the Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover is an interesting viewpoint and a critique of the methods of the early fifties. However, the pace of the film helps it work as a thriller in its own right.

1. An interesting and entertaining thriller? Its semi-documentary tone, moralising? As a product of the cold war period, of Americanism, of anti-Communist times? Its reflecting the fifties?

2. How well did it use its semidocumentary aspects? The introduction of Hoover, the commentary and the tone of voice, the urgency? The presentation of the F.B.I. at work, their methods surveillance, Washington meetings etc.? The needs of the time? The viewpoint on communist infiltration and underground? The use of the detective
story techniques for involving audiences?

3. Black and white photography, Boston locations and the atmosphere of authenticity?

4. How plausible was the plot - from the files of the F.B.I., popularised at the time by Reader's Digest? The revelations about spying in the seventies and the uncovering of so much documentation? The other aspect of the fanaticism and the potential witch-hunting in the time? The credibility of the work of the F.B.I,, its personnel, their methods? The covers for Russian agents in the United States, their training, dedication?

5. The F.B.I. and its personnel as heroes of the film? Officer Reynolds, and his work? Belden and his supervision of the work? His relationship with Professor Kafer and his overall strategy?

6. The presentation of the communist underground? the surveillance on Robert Martin and his disappearance on the Polish ship, the interrogation of his wife? The leads on the sailor leaving the ship and his being followed? The discovery of the various members - and the audience's view of their work ? Alex and his control and anonymity, his pressurising the other agents? Millie and her cover at the photography shop, her various tasks and communiques? The married couple in Washington and their control? The flower seller and his communication system? The illustration of the couriers getting the microfilm through the various channels and on to a plane?

7. The presentation of the F.B.I. as heroes, the appropriateness of their methods, the setting up of the television monitor in the photographer's shop, the right to privacy and the invasion of privacy? Their holding on to information, their consultations, not arresting people immediately and following through leads? for instance going to the lip-reading school and gaining information? Collaboration with the Coastguard?

8. The background of European scientists working in America like professor Kafer, his skill, his collaboration with American scientists, his breakthroughs and the way these were communicated? The blackmail with his son in East Berlin? His collaboration with the FBI? His kidnap and rescue?

9. How well did the film portray the communist characters? how real did they seem? How necessary was this for the plausibility of the film and its warning to the American public?

10. The action sequences and audience interest and excitement the spy network in operation, the couriers, the kidnapping of the Professor the final chase?

11. How important is such propaganda and alerting of the public to the potential for espionage?