THE HOUSE ON CARROLL STREET

US, 1986, 97 minutes, Colour.
Kelly Mc Gillis, Jeff Daniels, Mandy Patinkin, Jessica Tandy.
Directed by Peter Yates.

The House on Carroll Street has an interesting basis: the smuggling of Nazi war criminals into the United States in 1951, especially by people involved in the right-wing and the UnAmerican? activities inquiry. The screenplay was written by Walter Bernstein, himself a victim of the black list in the '50s, author of the film The Front, with Woody Allen. Direction is by Peter Yates who has made some good thrillers, including Eyewitness (The Janitor) and Suspect. The cast is arresting with Kelly McGillis? as the heroine, Jeff Daniels as the F.B.I. man and Mandy Patinkin sinister as the right-wing villain. Jessica Tandy has a good supporting role.

However, while the film is enjoyable while on screen, though seemingly a bit farfetched, it does not hold up so well in retrospect. It attempts realism of 1951, but the spirit of the heroine and her adventures are more in the spirit of John Buchan's Richard Hannay and such stories as The 39 Steps. This doesn't seem to combine well to make a persuasive thriller. The climax v in Grand Central Station is reminiscent of Buchan's climax on Big Ben in The 39 Steps.

Enjoyable, but an opportunity missed.

1. A piece of Americana? the atmosphere of the '50s? American thriller?

2. Plausibility of the plot and characters, the events, behaviour, treatment?

3. New York city and the period, the streets, Carroll Street, the houses, Grand Central Station? Musical score?

4. The political atmosphere of the time: unAmerican activities, the hounding of the left, questions of civil liberties, the right-wing and the exercise of power, senators and political ambition? Nazis, war criminals, migration?

5. Kelly McGillis? as Emily (called after Emily Dickinson): in herself, her work at Life Magazine, the unAmerican hearings, her withholding evidence, the advice of her lawyer, the interrogation by Selwyn? her being sacked from her job for prudence sake? Her arriving early for the job application, the lady hiring her to read? Her skill at reading? The F.B.1. pursuing her? State Department surveillance and files? Personal self-sacrifice? Her curiosity about the young man that she met in the street, overhearing the conversation next door, seeing Selwyn? Her curiosity, getting the young man to talk on the street, ingratiating herself, discovery of the names, the beginnings of the plot? The man's appeal to her for help, their escape, going into the theatre, disrupting the play, his death at the theatre door? The names in his pocket? The F.B.I. and their pursuit, comment? Her giving information? Her reading companion and using the binoculars to search the empty house? Going into the house, the confrontation, her being saved by Mike? Names and addresses, their going to the wharf, the migrants coming off the boat, following them to the wedding, Emily overhearing everything, being taken, going to Selwyn? His talking, her return home, the explosion? once again saved by Mike? At his place? The decision to go to the 6 o'clock train, at the station, caught in the carriage, the chase, the heights, Selwyn's confrontation, his death? Friendship with Mike, support, her saying they were not compatible, leading her own life? Heroine?

6. The plot, Selwyn and the hearings, his ambitions, reassuring the ambitious senator, contacts with the Nazis, the names from the tombstones, the irony of Jewish names for Nazis, the deaths, the stabbed man , the pursuit of Emily, his talk with her and blaming her for the deaths, the station, the melodramatic chase, his fall?

7. Mike and the F.B.I., his awkwardness, from the mid-west, working with his partner, following Emily and her refusal to answer questions, saving her in the house, and the investigation of the murder, working out with his partner the information about the boat, going to the wedding, the dancing, his research and finding the photos of the Nazi doctors, saving Emily from the explosion, his going back to Idaho?

8. The F.B.I. and their role, surveillance?

9. The war criminals, Nazi background, experimentation during the war, official permission to come, dead persons' names, their alleged contribution to post-war America? Selwyn's fascist ideas of America and World War III?

10. Jessica Tandy as the old lady, hiring Emily, helping her in the surveillance of the house?

11. Old-fashioned heroics, liberal-minded heroines, the evil right? Working well for 195P In the perspective of the '80s?