THE FBI STORY
US, 1959, 142 minutes, Colour.
James Stewart, Vera Miles, Murray Hamilton.
Directed by Mervyn Le Roy.
The F.B.I. Story is a very patriotic praise of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and its founder-director J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover himself makes an appearance. The film wisely has James Stewart, one of the pillars of American cinema, as the embodiment of the American spirit.
The film is based on a book by Don Whitehead, outlining the history of the Bureau and giving cases through the decades which illustrate the work that it did. The film is interesting - though the confidence in the American spirit is somewhat shattered by American experiences since the '50s. The direction is by Mervyn Le Roy who began films at Warner Brothers with gangster thrillers in the '30s, moved to M.G.M. and made classy human dramas, especially with Greer Garson: Blossom in the Dust, Random Harvest, Madame Curie, and in the '50s went back to Warner Brothers for some, seemingly overblown, dramas and musicals - Sunrise at Campobello, A Majority of One, Gypsy.
1. The impact of this history of the F.B.I. as an American dream? Action and adventure?
2. The portrait of the United States? The status of J. Edgar Hoover in his tine? With the passing of the decades? The aims of the F.B.I. - to be free of politics etc.? The love of justice, the idealism and self-sacrifice?
3. Production values, colour photography, the range of locations? The atmosphere of authenticity? The style of the voice-over and lecture? Max Steiner's score?
4. The prologue, the establishing of the casebook style? The superimposition of the face and the plane crash? The reconstruction by the investigation? The F.B.I. office? Insurance? Jack Graham and his background? The tool kit, the explosives? Images of hell and inferno? The competence of the F.B.I. in solving the mystery?
5. The contrast with Knoxville, the heat, the south, questions of voting rights? Harry, Sam and the list of crimes?
6. James Stewart as Chip Hardesty? His status in giving the lecture, embodying the F.B.I. and its spirit? The library, the encounters with Lucy and the proposal, the wedding, the honeymoon: the rain, the tent? His being called to Washington? The pep talk? His suggestions? The background of his family life: baby, hospital, the three children, Oklahoma? The growing discouragement? His wife losing her baby and not being able to have any more? The consolation - and the folksy touch? The attack? His wife's reaction to situations? Oklahoma as a hellhole? Wanting to move the kids? The Christmas play? The Yankee Doodle hat? Visiting the folks? The argument about quitting or not? The seasons? The separation? The Easter eggs? The reading of the letter? The stealing, lotion? The photo? Jenny's speech? Michael going to the marines? World War Two? The wedding and the receiving of the telegram? Michael's death? The Yankee Doodle Dandy background and the Iwo Jima statue ending? Chip Hardesty's career and his family life blending with the spirit of the United States from the '20s to the '40s?
7. The episode of the Ku Klux Klan? Against the Bill of Rights, anti-Semitic? No witnesses? The murder, Craig and the fire, their being caught?
8. The background of Oklahoma and the oil discoveries, Indian money and the salesman exploiters, the baths and the phones? The silly side of the exploitation? The killing of the Indians, the exploding house, the casket-seller, the Marshall and the officials? McCutcheon? The women fighting, the hucksters? The Indian killed, who bought the car? Hardesty investigating Mc Cutcheon?
9. The '30s and the gangsters? Cancers, Pretty Boy Floyd, the massacre, the F.B.I. being armed, Baby Face Nelson? The pros and cons of carrying guns? The training? Nelson? Sam shot? His dying speech? Shane and George left? The minister and the speech?
10. Audiences knowing the story of Dillinger and Anna Sage? The woman in the red dress? The captures or deaths of Nelson, Floyd, Machine- Gun Kelly.. Ma Barker?
11. Hardesty and Washington. the crime lab, his working in the office?
12. The transition to the '40s with World War Two, the Nazis. the impact of Pearl Harbor. the arrest of aliens? Training new men? The demonstrations? Sam Crandle and his sense of failure?
13. South America. George and the radio, the outpost, the Federales? The guide? The escape, the explosions, the bridge, deaths?
14. The '50s and international communism? Espionage? The coin and the microfilm? The F.B.I. and tailing people? The spies on the trains? Yankee Stadium? Chip gaining control of the office? The tribute by Hoover? The importance of the background of anti-communism of the '50s?
15. An interesting story? A piece of Americana?
