NOTES: William Keighley, Best Director of 1948, for The Street With No Name. - Photoplay Magazine Gold Medal Ward.
Locations: Los Angeles, California; Washington, D.C.
Filming completed: 7 March 1948.
Re-made in 1955 as House of Bamboo.
COMMENT: Semi-documentary adapted from actual FBI files, shot, wherever possible, in the actual locations and using as many as possible of the actual FBI personnel - so says the Foreword.
Of course, when it is boiled down, very few members of the FBI are actually employed in the film, except in newsreel-like shots of the laboratory and fingerprint filing department. Louis DeRochemont didn't produce this one, so it seems likely that a great many of the dialogue scenes were lensed in the studio. One tell-tale evidence of this is the quality of the photography - immaculately smooth and polished with attractively glossy blacks and deep contrasts in what seem to be the studio scenes, whereas the photography is much more rough and ready in what are obviously actual location exteriors (the Center City streets, the ferry terminal). One exception is the climax in the factory (it certainly looks like an actual factory), which is beautifully photographed with noirish, deep-etched, atmospheric lighting.
Another clue is that Keighley's direction tends to be more meticulous, more stylish and more polished than other Fox semi-documentary productions like Boomerang and House on 92nd Street.
Yet another clue is that the script is more obviously an entertainment subject than a straight documentary recreation of actual events. Take the business of disguising the police informant for instance and then pointing a blatantly obvious finger at the police chief, glasses glinting evilly and face twitching with exaggerated nervousness, as he races off to make telephone calls at important points in the plot. What a cop-out when it is revealed he is not the person responsible and no attempt whatever is made to explain his previous odd behavior and irrational mannerisms!
While Reed Hadley still handles the narration, the film is only a semi-documentary on the surface. But who cares? Two thrilling action scenes will thrill the fans, and Widmark's followers will not be disappointed.
COMMENT: Semi-documentary adapted from actual FBI files, shot, wherever possible, in the actual locations and using as many as possible of the actual FBI personnel - so says the Foreword.
Of course, when it is boiled down, very few members of the FBI are actually employed in the film, except in newsreel-like shots of the laboratory and fingerprint filing department. Louis DeRochemont didn't produce this one, so it seems likely that a great many of the dialogue scenes were lensed in the studio. One tell-tale evidence of this is the quality of the photography - immaculately smooth and polished with attractively glossy blacks and deep contrasts in what seem to be the studio scenes, whereas the photography is much more rough and ready in what are obviously actual location exteriors (the Center City streets, the ferry terminal). One exception is the climax in the factory (it certainly looks like an actual factory), which is beautifully photographed with noirish, deep-etched, atmospheric lighting.
Another clue is that Keighley's direction tends to be more meticulous, more stylish and more polished than other Fox semi-documentary productions like Boomerang and House on 92nd Street.
Yet another clue is that the script is more obviously an entertainment subject than a straight documentary recreation of actual events. Take the business of disguising the police informant for instance and then pointing a blatantly obvious finger at the police chief, glasses glinting evilly and face twitching with exaggerated nervousness, as he races off to make telephone calls at important points in the plot. What a cop-out when it is revealed he is not the person responsible and no attempt whatever is made to explain his previous odd behavior and irrational mannerisms!
While Reed Hadley still handles the narration, the film is only a semi-documentary on the surface. But who cares? Two thrilling action scenes will thrill the fans, and Widmark's followers will not be disappointed.