Complete credited cast: | |||
Laraine Day | ... | Nan Collins | |
Robert Ryan | ... | Brad Collins | |
John Agar | ... | Don Lowry | |
Thomas Gomez | ... | Vanning | |
Janis Carter | ... | Christine Norman | |
Richard Rober | ... | Jim Travis | |
William Talman | ... | Bailey | |
Paul E. Burns | ... | J.T. Arnold | |
Paul Guilfoyle | ... | Ralston | |
G. Pat Collins | ... | Charles Dover | |
Fred Graham | ... | Grip Wilson | |
Harry Cheshire | ... | J. Francis Cornwall | |
Jack Stoney | ... | Garth |
Brad Collins, former stevedore, is rising fast in a shipping company when local communist agitators use his former Party affiliation to extort his help in stirring up trouble. When Brad resists, communist femme fatale Christine works through his brother-in-law Don. But Brad's new wife Nan sees that her husband and brother are under pressure; when she investigates on her own, party boss Vanning takes ruthless action. Written by Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
A film for Robert Ryan fans, for this shows how handsome he was. Fit and virile, and before smoking began to take its toll. He was 40 yrs old by the time he made this film. He got the chance to be something of a hero for a change. He does some pretty good acting, for him, and romantics everywhere will love the way he desperately tries to save his wife in dramatic scenes. This movie pushes home the paranoia of anti-communist views as it was in the 50's. People scoff at the fear of communism in todays climate, but things were different then. People have forgotten how men died because of communist spies. British soldiers and some Americans and Polish too, died at the hands of communist spies such as Guy Burgess, Kim Philby and Anthony Blunt. They mainly operated from Whitehall, London, and spilled secrets to Russian Communists in the 40's during the war. They leaked details of planned operations that got back to the Russians. When they started being discovered by the British and American Intelligence they fled to live in Russia and they died in the 70's. However, this film expresses a fear and nothing more than that of dark forces at work among men. Essentially a "B" movie but certainly adequate and worth a look for Robert Ryan alone, and probably as a history lesson for movie makers.