The bland narration and flag waving don't take up too much time but get the film off to a bland start and wrap things up with equal blandness. Inbetween the equally bland resolution and set up, director Gordon Douglas unleashes some nasty violence, an agent is shot in the heat right on screen, you see the blood spot hit his head, a nasty dead body here and there later on one scene obviously trimmed down of a dying man spitting blood out of his mouth. Unfortunately the 91 minutes pass pretty slowly in the, now boring, G man procedural details of how a recording device or a one way mirror works. Not the film's fault at the time but a dated dull element now. The one thing the film does do a decent job of is trying to keep you guessing about who the real spy is. Though you don't know unfortunately it's hard to care. Again time has removed the background needed. That background being that "RED" agents did steal the secrets of the Atomic Bomb and stole America's control of Atomic weapons. That was a big deal and helped kick off wild "red" fears. There were a number of "red scare" movies, this one holds up as credible and well made, but there isn't enough real drama or characterization in the writing to give it any real personality or interest, the good guys are pretty dully drawn and only competently acted. One scene stands out with a land lady that has both flag waving and some real drama to it. That, and the few moments of still somewhat shocking violence, still work. The rest is pretty dull. Well done but without enough flair to overcome being pretty forgettable. Lack of a music score help add to the leaden feel.
Review of Walk a Crooked Mile
