House On 92nd Street- Studio Classics [DVD]

The House on 92nd Street is directed by Henry Hathaway with a screenplay co-written by Jack Moffitt, Barré Lyndon and John Monks Jr, adapted from a story by Charles G. Booth. It stars William Eythe, Lloyd Nolan, Signe Hasso, Gene Lockhart and Leo G. Carroll. Music is by David Buttolph and photography Norbert Brodine.

"This story is adapted from cases in the espionage files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Produced with the F.B.I.'s complete co-operation, it could not be made public until the first Atomic Bomb was dropped on Japan"

Thought to be based around the FBI's real life Duquesne Spy Ring case of 1941/42, where 33 Nazi spies were captured and sentenced to more than 300 years in prison, The House on 92nd Street is undoubtedly a historically interesting artifact of note. It's also a film whose influence on the sub-genre of semi-documentary crime film's is not in question, in fact, it can be held up as the forerunner of film's such as The Naked City. Yet watching it now it just comes across as an advertisement for how good the FBI are, while the effects used are archaic and extremely hard to get excited about. The acting, too, is pretty average at best, where no amount of arguing that it adds realism can account for some plainly delivered set-ups. One or two intriguing moments aside, it's a basically executed film set around a very good story. While film noir fans should be aware that although it's frequently mentioned as part of the film noir universe, it's really not very noir at all.

A semi-sequel called The Street with No Name followed in 1948, with Lloyd Nolan reprising his role as Inspector Briggs, and that itself was reworked into House of Bamboo in 1955, where the setting was Tokyo. Both of these film's are considerably better than Hathaway's FBI propaganda piece. 4/10

"This story is adapted from the cases in the espionage files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Produced with the F.B.I.'s complete cooperation, it could not be made public until the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan." So reads the introduction. Despite 20th Century Fox marketing this DVD as a noir, it's just a pompous semi-documentary...a paean to the FBI. We're sitting in the church of J. Edgar Hoover and Hollywood has written the sermon and is leading the choir. For the first 20 minutes of this 87 minute movie we're taken on a tour of FBI resources, told of FBI dedication to fight spies..."vigilant, tireless, implacable"...and shown how FBI knowledge of German secret agents protected this nation, especially when it came to foiling Nazi plans to discover "Process 97" (the atomic bomb). If we're not grateful to the FBI by the time the story starts, we still have Reed Hadley's stentorian voice-over and a music score that's part soap opera, part grand opera to come to grips with.

Bill Dietrich (William Eythe), "a brilliant young student," is recruited in 1939 by the Nazi's in America to be a German agent just before he graduates. Dietrich immediately reports this to the FBI. They agree that he will take the offer and then, after training in Germany, become a double agent when the Nazis send him back to the States. When he arrives in New York, he joins a Nazi ring led by Elsa Gebhardt (Signe Hasso), a beautiful, icy blonde who owns a haute couture dress shop on 92nd Street. She rents the five story building, lives there and uses it as her cell's headquarters. Her cell seems to be made up of thugs, goons and manly women. Dietrich sets himself up as a contact point between Gebhardt's operation and Germany. All the while Dietrich is supplying the FBI with vital information about Gebhardt's activities. It's a dangerous game, particularly since Elsa and her team have not fully accepted Dietrich. At the same time, FBI agent George Briggs (Lloyd Nolan) is working with Dietrich to roll up the whole operation and to identify "Mr. Christopher," the unknown master spy behind everything. Then they realize that some of the information being readied for transmission to Germany has to do with the atomic bomb. The stakes now are huge. Not only must the Nazi ring be foiled and the plans kept from Germany, the traitor who is stealing the atomic secrets must be found and stopped. I can't tell you if the FBI is successful because I dislike spoilers.

The movie has such an air of self importance about it, like a collar with too much starch. It infects the actors, who give performances of either wooden, iron-jawed determination (the FBI) or wooden, sneering badness (the Nazi spies). William Eythe, a good-looking, sincere actor, is simply out of his depth as a resourceful double agent. Even Lloyd Nolan, who usually has a lot of crisp energy, is subdued by the need to always appear competent. More often than not we see him giving an order, then briskly marching out of the room, or giving an order and having the person he spoke to turn and briskly march out the room.

Three actors come up with two-and-a-half fine performances. Leo G. Carroll as Colonel Hammersohn, an aging German agent in New York, is a pleasure to watch. His character is crafty, cautious and always wears a wing collar and a Homburg. Carroll is first-rate in the part. Gene Lockhart is actually touching as a weak, chubby man with a great memory who breaks down when faced with the evidence of his crime. The half-point goes to Lydia St. Claire as Johanna Schmidt, the gestapo member of Elsa Gebhardt's cell. She's grim, gimlet-eyed and slaps around our hero with authority. It's a one-note performance but it's fun to watch.

DVD was sent as per posting date and no issues with DVD.
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