THE WOMAN ON PIER 13 (I MARRIED A COMMUNIST))
US, 1949, 73 minutes, Black and white garden is
Robert Ryan, Laraine Day, John Agar, Thomas Gómez, Janis Carter, Richard Rober.
Directed by Robert Stevenson.
The Woman on Pier 13 was made in the atmosphere of wariness of communism, the establishing of the Iron Curtain in 1948, and the house of un-American activities interrogations of the period. This led to the blacklist and later to the Mc Carthy hearings.
The film takes a stand on communism, seeing the Communist Party as having developed into a totalitarian organisation, working outside the law, using violence, undermining the status quo – in this case on the wharves and with big companies.
Robert Ryan plays a successful businessman who has come up through the ranks and through the unions but who is revealed to have been a formidable former member of the Communist Party when young. He comes up against a former lover, Christine (Janis Carter) who is jealous and wants to undermine him .She is controlled by a ruthless leader, Vanning (Thomas Gómez) who blackmails Ryan into taking expenses at meetings against the unions and against his companies. Also in the picture is Ryan’s wife, Nan ( Laraine Day), and also her brother, David (John Agar). Christine falls in love with David and he with her, enabling her to brainwashing him with ultimate dire results.
The film plays like something of a film noir. It was directed by Robert Stevenson who began his career in England with such films as Sanders of the River, Tom Brown Schooldays, but moved to the United States at in the 40s with popular films ranging from Jane Eyre to To the Ends of the Earth. He started to work with the Disney studios in the 1950s and made 19 films for Disney, including Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Blackbeard’s Ghost. He worked exclusively for Disney from 1960 until the late 1970s.
1. An anti-Communist film noir of the late 1940s? Its place in the anti-Communist attitudes of the United States at the time? Un- American hearings, later the Mc Carthy enquiries and the blacklist?
2. American patriotism at the time? Anti- Communist fears? The role of the unions? The roles of big companies? The infiltration of Communist ideas into the unions?
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3. Black-and-white photography, brief running time, the elements of the thriller?
4. The American cities, wharves and unions, companies and business offices? The musical score?
5. Brad, marrying Nan, the honeymoon, in love? His background, work within the unions, being accepted into business corporations, his diplomatic role, fostering friendly relationships?
6. The revelation about his past life, Frank Johnson, the meeting with Vanning, the interrogation, the threats, the blackmail, the death and Frank’s involvement, the ruining of his career?
7. Vanning , his hold over Brad, Brad and his changing tack, sabotaging the discussions? On edge? His not telling Nan? Her reaction, concern?
8. David, the younger brother, getting a job, meeting Christine, falling in love, her hold over him, brainwashing, his speeches and the Communist line, Vanning and his organising his death? Jim and his past with Nan, working for the unions, his not understanding Brad’s change?
9. Christine, the magazine, talking with Nan and Brad, the revelation of the past, the Communist affiliations, her setting her sight on David, wanting to transform him, falling in love, their being together, resisting the criticism of Brad and Nan? Her going to Seattle, Vanning and his hold over her, her reaction to David’s death, the arranged suicide?
10. The killers, the fair at the pier, then going, her cosying up to the killer, going out, getting information, Vanning finding out, taking her to the pier? Brad, his concern, Christine’s death, tracking down Nan?
11. The confrontations, the shootings, like a gangster thriller? Brad and Nan, using their wits, Brad injured? The truth? the future?
