- Actors: James Stewart, Vera Miles, Murray Hamilton, Larry Pennell, Nick Adams
- Directors: Mervyn LeRoy
- Writers: Don Whitehead, John Twist, Richard L. Breen
- Producers: Mervyn LeRoy
- Format: Closed-captioned, Colour, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language English
- Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
- Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 1.77:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: Unrated (US MPAA rating. See details.)
- Studio: Warner Home Video
- DVD Release Date: 15 Aug 2006
- Run Time: 149 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B000FTCLQM
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 95,229 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Slice of Apple Pie,
By
This review is from: Fbi Story [DVD] [1959] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
I enjoyed this film, though, as another reviewer has noted, it is basically 1950's American propaganda. Made in 1959 in vibrant and lovely (sadly, by today's standards, unrealistic) 50's colour, it gives a narrative-driven outline of FBI history from the 20's through to the 50's, the focus moving from gangsters and Klan politics, through to espionage against or countering that of the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. I was interested to see how some places look quite different from the air or train today (eg, Rio de Janeiro, which looks lovely back then), while some (eg parts of New York City seen from the El) look not dissimilar at all. It is indeed easy to lampoon the film, as another reviewer notes, about how the knew a target would not be going to church because he was a communist! Not so, in fact, the KGB and GRU always recommended their illegals to attend the local church, both to get into American society quicker and because the mere fact that they went tended to show that they were harmless. Still, entertaining and a good way to spend a couple of hours (once or twice only lol)!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
And thank you, Mr Hoover!,
By
This review is from: Fbi Story [DVD] [1959] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
The FBI Story is a glossy greatest hits puff piece that works well as feelgood hokum until a sledgehammer last half hour that has aged incredibly badly and which probably seemed horribly out of date even in 1959 after films like Pickup on South Street. The first third focuses on the more admirably libertarian parts of the Bureau's history - fighting the KKK, protecting newly oil-rich Native Americans - before moving onto the likes of Dillinger, Ma Barker and Pretty Boy Floyd, with added family dramas along the way. Unfortunately, the last half hour is outrageous McCarthyesque propaganda, where democracy doesn't apply if you choose to vote for those impolite communists ("It was Sunday and he was a communist so we knew he wasn't going to church." is a typical line). But by then it's become clear that this is as much about J. Edgar Hoover's priorities and self-mythologizing as it is the organisation he ran, his claims about the Bureau being non-political and a joint organisation where no one individual is more important than the team at odds not just with history but with what we see onscreen. The end caption even credits him with `making this world of ours a much safer place.' Partially because he disapproved of Warner's choice of actor's politics, Hoover remains an offscreen divine presence, filmed in the same manner that Jesus Christ was pre-King of Kings, albeit with much more reverence. A voice on the phone, a shadow on the wall, an inspirational back of the head, his words are enough to hold Jimmy Stewart spellbound and persuade him to rip up his resignation while his praise leaves him so satisfied you almost expect him to light up a cigarette. And the final inspiring shots of Washington landmarks while a propeller hat plays a cracked version of Yankee Doodle Dandy... well, let's just say that the past is another country and leave it at that. Warner's Region 1 NTSC widescreen transfer is good, but the only extra is the original trailer.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Movie And Great Performances,
By
This review is from: Fbi Story [DVD] [1959] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
"The Fbi story" is a great fact based drama which stars the legendery James Stewart in the leading role as an Fbi agent, who fights everyone, including the klu kluk klan to the Nazis. J Edgar Hoover, who was ahead of the fbi at the time the movie was made chose James Stewart for the role. Because he thought James Stewart had a positive image and I personally think that no other actor could have done a better performance than him and it's probably one of his most underrated films. Their is also a great supporting cast including Vera Miles as James Stewart's wife and Murray Hamilton as Stewart's best friend. Even though the movie is on for a long time, their are many watchable sequences, especially the beginning when a mad man plants a bomb in a plane and also the scene when the fbi are trying to track down gangster John Dillinger, which Johnny Depp starred as him in "Public enemies". Also the film goes through Stewart's life from 1924 to the present day in 1959 and director Mervyn LeRoy makes the audience feel involved with Stewart's life, which we go through his ups and downs. If you are a fan of James Stewart like me, this underrated film is well worth watching and I hope you enjoy it.
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