This FBI docu-drama propaganda film (much like the films, "The Street With No Name" and "T-Men") is barely noir, but it's a real attention-grabber because it is done in such a gripping, realistic manner.
Made not too long after WWII, you can still feel the dark paranoia of the Nazi fifth columnists - this itself makes it noir. Crime, as we now know it, is barely existent in the film. The crimes being committed here are of the subversive pro-Goebbels variety, at that time - alive and well in New York City.
The film is ridden with outdated FBI methods (two-way mirrors, microfilm, etc.); so keep that in mind, and the very end is pretty ridiculous too, but try and play along.
Not a bad performance in the film but no stand-outs either. Definitely worth watching as both a period piece and a sell-out to J. Edgar Hoover (who is hunting something other than Commies for once).
Thus were the times.
Made not too long after WWII, you can still feel the dark paranoia of the Nazi fifth columnists - this itself makes it noir. Crime, as we now know it, is barely existent in the film. The crimes being committed here are of the subversive pro-Goebbels variety, at that time - alive and well in New York City.
The film is ridden with outdated FBI methods (two-way mirrors, microfilm, etc.); so keep that in mind, and the very end is pretty ridiculous too, but try and play along.
Not a bad performance in the film but no stand-outs either. Definitely worth watching as both a period piece and a sell-out to J. Edgar Hoover (who is hunting something other than Commies for once).
Thus were the times.