I Married a Communist (film)
| I Married a Communist | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Robert Stevenson |
| Produced by | Jack J. Gross |
| Screenplay by | Robert Hardy Andrews Charles Grayson |
| Story by | George W. George George F. Slavin |
| Starring | Laraine Day Robert Ryan John Agar |
| Music by | Leigh Harline |
| Cinematography | Nicholas Musuraca |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures Inc. |
| Release date(s) | October 8, 1949 |
| Running time | 73 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
I Married a Communist is a 1949 film drama produced by RKO Radio Pictures. Due to audience resistance to the title, RKO re-released the film as The Woman on Pier 13 and Beautiful But Dangerous.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Brad Collins (Ryan), a San Francisco shipping executive (real name Frank Johnson) newly married after a brief courtship, had been involved with Communism in New York while a stevedore during the Depression. Shortly after returning home following their honeymoon, the couple meet Christine Norman (Janis Carter), an old flame of Collins, whose wife Nan Lowry Collins (Laraine Day) takes an instant dislike to.
Collins becomes the target of a Communist cell and its leader, Vanning (Thomas Gomez), who orders the murder of an alleged FBI informer drowned after a brief interrogation. After threatening to reveal Collins' responsibility for a murder as well as his communist past, Vanning orders the executive to sabotage the shipping industry in the San Francisco Bay by resisting union demands in a labor dispute. He claims it is impossible to leave the Communist Party. Meanwhile Norman, bitter over Collins earlier rejection, is ordered to become closer to his brother-in-law Don Lowry (Agar) by indoctrinating him with their (communist) world view. Norman though genuinely falls in love with Lowry, with Vanning claiming that she is not meant to be so emotional.
A friend of Collins and former boyfriend of Nan, union leader Jim Travers (Richard Rober) cannot understand why Collins has become unreasonable to deal with. Travers is concerned about the possibility of the small number of commnunists in the union being able to take it over, and suspects Norman of being a communist, or at least a fellow traveler. He discusses this with Lowry who is a new colleague. Lowry denies Norman's politics, apparently still free of communist ideology, or an awareness of where his, by now, future wife's friend's are coming from politically. She confesses when confronted, but after Lowry rejects her she shows him a photograph of herself with Collins/Johnson and reveals his communist past. Vanning interrupts them. Angry with Christine for breaking orders, she was supposed to be in Seattle for another two days on her day job as a photographer, he tries to lean on Lowry because he is now able to expose the influence the party has regained over Collins.
Lowry travels to the Collin's residence to inform them of what he has learned, but is run over by a car driven by the communist hit man J.T Arnold (Paul E. Burns) who had observed the earlier killing with Collins. Nan previously informed by Norman that her brother is in danger, tries to convince her husband that Lowry's killing was not an accident. He pretends to be unconvinced. Confronting Christine, Nan is told of her husband's past, and Christine (falsely, though he was with Arnold) informs her that Bailey (William Talman) was probably responsible for Lowry's death. Preparing a suicide note, Christine is interrupted by Vanning, who thinks this is a good solution, but wishes to keep politics out of it, and destroys her confession of communist involvement. It is unclear if she does commit suicide, or whether she is thrown out of the high window.
Intent on revenge, Nan befriends Bailey at the fairground where he has legitimate employment, and goes off with him. The hit man is saved when she is identified, and Nan is kidnapped and taken to the hidden local communist headquarters in Arnold's warehouse. Collins tracks his wife down to this location, and by threatening Arnold with a gun, is able to gain admittance. In a shootout, Bailey and Vanning are killed, and Collins fatally injured. In his last moments Nan says she still loves him.
[edit] Cast
- Laraine Day as Nan Lowry Collins
- Robert Ryan as Brad Collins, aka Frank Johnson
- John Agar as Don Lowry
- Thomas Gomez as Vanning
- Janis Carter as Christine Norman
- Richard Rober as Jim Travers
- William Talman as Bailey, younger henchman
[edit] Production
RKO chief Howard Hughes offered the script to directors as a test of their patriotism.[1] Thirteen directors, starting with Joseph Losey, turned down the film before it was finally made under the British director Robert Stevenson.
[edit] Reaction
Most reviews find the film to be a clear attempt at anti-communist Cold War propaganda.[citation needed] British critic Tom Milne in the Time Out Film Guide notes: "The sterling cast can make no headway against cartoon characters, a fatuous script that defies belief, and an enveloping sense of hysteria. Nick Musuraca's noir-ish camerawork, mercifully, is stunning."[2]
[edit] Parody
The film was parodied as I Married an Abolitionist in the 2004 mockumentary C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America.
[edit] References
- ^ "Joseph Losey's Remembrance of Things Past--From Howard Hughes to the F.B.I.". moviecrazed.com. http://www.moviecrazed.com/outpast/losey.html.
- ^ "I Married a Communist (1949) Movie Review". Time Out New York (timeout.com). http://www.timeout.com/film/75883.html.; Time Out Film Guide 2009, 2008, p502
[edit] External links
- I Married a Communist at the Internet Movie Database
- I Married a Communist at the TCM Movie Database
