The Whip Hand (1951)

Matt Corbin, a vacationing magazine writer, takes a fishing trip to Minnesota, and stumbles across a lake in which all the fish have mysteriously died. The locals are tight-lipped about it,... See full summary »

Director:

William Cameron Menzies

Writers:

George Bricker (screen play), Frank L. Moss (screen play)

Stars:

Carla Balenda, Elliott Reid, Edgar Barrier

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Carla Balenda	...	Janet Keller
Elliott Reid	...	Matt Corbin
Edgar Barrier	...	Dr. Edward Keller
Raymond Burr	...	Steve Loomis
Otto Waldis	...	Dr. Wilhelm Bucholtz
Michael Steele	...	Chick
Lurene Tuttle	...	Molly Loomis
Peter Brocco	...	Nate Garr
Lewis Martin	...	Peterson
Frank Darien	...	Luther Adams
Olive Carey	...	Mabel Turner

Storyline

Matt Corbin, a vacationing magazine writer, takes a fishing trip to Minnesota, and stumbles across a lake in which all the fish have mysteriously died. The locals are tight-lipped about it, but Corbin learns that a group of former-Nazis-turned-Communists have purchased a lodge on an island in the middle of the fish-killing lake, and have built some kind of laboratory. Never one to pass up a chance to sell a story to a magazine, Matt decides to investigate. His only ally is Janet Keller, the sister of the local doctor who has been caught up in whatever those nefarious Commie-Nazis are up to. What they are up to, with Soviet financing, is the development of diseases to use in bacteriological warfare against the United States, starting right there in Minnesota.

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Plot Keywords:

laboratory | minnesota | island | fishing | writer | 

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Taglines:

DEATH-GERM PLOT MENACES MILLIONS! [all caps]

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 October 1951 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Enemy Within

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was originally shot with the bad guys conducting the germ warfare experiments as Nazis (which is why many of the characters have German names). However, producer Howard Hughes had a change of heart and decided that Communists were more of a menace than crazed Nazi scientists (it was also the height of the McCarthy "Red Scare" era) and ordered extensive re-shooting, with the villains now becoming former Nazis but current Communists.

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Goofs

When the Soviet officer is delivering his lecture in the opening sequence in the Kremlin, the wall map showing North America is, of course, written in Russian. However, the map shows Mexico written (transliterated from Cyrillic) as 'MEKSIKO", when in fact, in Russian the country's name is rendered 'MEKSIKA", ending with an "a".

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Quotes

[first lines]
Matt Corbin: Guess I'm a little lost. I thought this was the road to Winnoga.
Guard: Back a mile and take the other fork.

User Reviews

A town filled to the brim with Commie-Nazis!

It's odd that I would give a propaganda film like this such a high score, but despite the odd plot the film IS very entertaining and tense and is still well worth seeing.

Matt Corbin (Elliott Reid) is a reporter for a news magazine. When he arrives in a small town in rural Minnesota, his reporter senses start tingling because things just don't add up there. Despite always being known as a great place to fish, all the fish are dead. And, despite there being no local industry or jobs, folks have moved INTO the town despite the crash of the fishing industry. And, finally, there is a compound nearby that is guarded like Fort Knox! Clearly something is going on here...and little does Corbin know that it's actually a base for germ warfare run by Commie-Nazis!! Why they didn't build it in the good 'ol USSR, I have no idea!

The plot is silly...but the sign of a good film is taking a ridiculous idea and making it seem possible and engaging. So don't worry that it's filled with mostly no-name actors and is a relatively low-budget picture, it's surprisingly good.