The Fearmakers (1958)

Director:

Jacques Tourneur

Writers:

Elliot West (screenplay), Chris Appley (screenplay),

Stars:

Dana Andrews, Dick Foran, Marilee Earle

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Dana Andrews	...	Alan Eaton
Dick Foran	...	Jim McGinnis
Marilee Earle	...	Lorraine Dennis
Veda Ann Borg	...	Vivian Loder
Kelly Thordsen	...	Harold 'Hal' Loder
Roy Gordon	...	Sen. Walder
Joel Marston	...	Rodney Hillyer
Dennis Moore	...	Army Doctor
Oliver Blake	...	Dr. Gregory Jessup
Janet Brandt	...	Walder's Secretary
Fran Andrade	...	TWA Stewardess
Mel Tormé	...	Barney Bond
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Fortier	...	Col. Buchane (scenes deleted)

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

cold war | based on novel

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Taglines:

Masters of FEAR! Masters of INTRIGUE! Merchants of MURDER!

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Genres:

Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

October 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die Angstmacher

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pacemaker

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Goofs

Shadow of boom mic visible when Alan Eaton (Dana Andrews) falls back against the window blinds in his office.

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Quotes

Alan Eaton: You know, Lorraine, you're not only very kind... you're very lovely.
Lorraine Dennis: [Breaking into a big smile] I thought you'd *never* notice!

User Reviews

Can you believe: The Velvet Fog as Comintern agent?

The Fearmakers stands as one of the stragglers in the Red-Scare cycle, which ran from the late 1940s pretty much until 1962, when John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate blew it to smithereens. (The studios, running scared, churned them out but the public shunned them in droves.) This one benefits from the talents of director Jacques Tourneur (The Cat People, Out of the Past) and noir icon Dana Andrews; it also features a young Mel Torme as a pusillanimous lackey who relies too much on stage business (mopping his brow, fiddling with his glasses). The movie is somewhat elevated, too, by working with themes that resonate today: How polls and focus groups can be manipulated by well-heeled special interest lobbies -- how, in fact, they can be made to say absolutely anything. Here, it's the disarmament movement, viewed of course as nothing more than a Commie plot. Inevitably, The Fearmakers degenerates into stereotypes as simple as Veda Ann Borg's big round puss.