User Reviews

There's a "Third Man" look to the shadowy B&W photography of STOLEN IDENTITY, a thriller produced by Turhan Bey, ex-star of Universal pictures during the '40s. It's an expertly filmed tale of jealousy that leads to murder when a famous pianist (FRANCIS LEDERER) becomes overly possessive of his wife (JOAN CAMDEN) and is soon intent on carrying out a scheme to murder a man she's having an affair with.

A taxi-driver (DONALD BUKA) happens to be giving the woman's lover a lift to the hotel when he steps outside a moment to chat with a worker digging up the street. Lederer uses the sound of the drill to muffle the sound of the bullet he puts in the head of the passenger from outside the back of the car. When Buka returns to his cab, he finds a dead man in the passenger seat.

Enroute to report the murder to the police, he changes his mind and decides to switch identities with the dead man who has an American passport which means Buka could realize his ambition to return to the United States. The stolen identity plot becomes thicker when the man's girlfriend (Lederer's wife) shows up at the hotel to accuse Buka of impersonating the dead man.

It's the sort of plot movie-goers have probably seen countless times, but it gets a nice workout here, with plenty of tense scenes as Buka and Lederer's wife plan how to run from the authorities until a final confrontation with the murderer and the police.

It's extremely absorbing, well done and holds the interest throughout with some excellent atmospheric photography of Vienna that will remind most movie-goers of "The Third Man".

Well worth viewing.

Previous commentators have noted the similarity in appearance between this film and The Third Man, director Carol Reed's classic film noir starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten. This similarity strikes the viewer almost immediately. It is, indeed, high praise to be compared to Robert Krasker's academy award- winning cinematography in The Third Man.

The plot of Stolen Identity also has been delineated fairly accurately but in rather ordinary terms. I found it highly creative and entertaining. As common as the "Mistaken - or Stolen - Identity" device is in both theater and cinema, it is only a device and not to be mistaken for the plot, itself. Consequently, while the viewer may have seen this device "a thousand" times, the plot of Stolen Identity is full of surprises and twists based upon this device. It is the unexpected turns that make this film much fresher, more original and engrossing than a plot synopsis might convey. Stolen Identity doesn't rely on the kind of suspense that characterizes most film noire, because there is no real mystery here. Instead, it relies on constant, smaller surprises. In short, the Mistaken Identity device is rather common; but this plot is not.

Finally, although I was not familiar with the cast, I found the acting to be uniformly good, occasionally outstanding. I easily could have imagined other actors turning this film into a melodrama, with bombast, overblown gestures and obvious facial expressions. The acting is always more restrained and subtle. Donald Buka is especially restrained and credible, never "blowing his cover" with an obvious facial expression as we see too often in films that depend on the maintenance of subterfuge to sustain dramatic tension.

The only disappointment in this otherwise fine film was the very weak development of the love story sub-plot. As it stands, it seems like an afterthought - a mild surprise, in fact - tacked on to the end. Or perhaps during their shared ordeal, the actors simply couldn't convey a palpable level of chemistry that I could appreciate. This sub-plot should have been made more apparent as the story unfolded. All in all, I thought this film was a fine little gem, and I wondered why I had not seen it before. Try it, you'll like it.

Stolen Identity (1953)

You want to like this movie for a lot of reasons, one of them being the filming location, actual Austria (Vienna), which is announced at the opening credits. Most of it is at night over wet streets, with modernist architecture and signage mixing with that sense of Old Europe that can be enchanting. It also has an actress I really fell for in "The Captive City," filmed the year before, Joan Camden. It's about murder and fugitives from the law and a confusion about who is who (as the title suggests).

But it stumbles along, a compromise of many intentions. When it plays as a straight up suspense movie, we are captive, and impressed. But the actual events get muddled a little, the editing seems a bit off (running from abrupt to lingering on a scene too long). And Camden, in her role as the young wife of a concert pianist, hardly appears at all. On top of all this is large cast of secondary characters who are range from a hair awkward to a bit caricatured, all of them speaking in slightly compromised English (some Austrian German and subtitles would have been great, but not acceptable at the time).

Director Gunther von Fritsch isn't known in particular for any great accomplishments--he was Austrian, and helped pull together what is an Austrian production in most respects (officially the Austrian Transglobe-Film), but it is infused with American talent and is all in English. von Fritsch was involved as co-director on two interesting (American) films, "This is Cinerama" and "Curse of the Cat People."

All that said, the movie is different than the usual film noirs with the same visual feel. The hero is a bit of an ordinary chap, an American (played by Donald Buka) without papers in a foreign city brimming with assorted characters. And he gets a lucky break in his trying to get out of Vienna, but it's loaded with danger and utter mystery.

Camden, when she appears further in the movie, is at first a disappointment, having to take on a role that isn't naturally her own until later, when she is more genuine. Hang in there! The pianist is a rugged masculine type, Czech-Hungarian actor Francis Lederer, and he holds up the music scenes as much as the music itself. And it's all filmed nicely. So in all, you don't mind watching even if you wonder where the thrust of the plot goes at times.

Expect a fast cascade of interesting scenes, and situations that are really quite tense and dramatic. Many of the scenes are terrific in their use of light, deep shadows, and general photography. But don't expect it to fall together with the verve and elegance it could have had. And it almost became a romance, which would have lifted it considerably.

There's quite a lot going on in this complex thriller. Fairly quickly we realise that "Karen" (Joan Camden) is unhappily married to concert pianist "Claude" (Francis Lederer). Unfortunately, her maid isn't very trustworthy and so a note suggesting a rendezvous with a recently arrived American visitor ends up with her husband, who has no intention of letting her meet him. Amidst all these domestic machinations, local cabbie "Sponer" (Donald Luka) is dreaming of a emigrating to the USA. At this point, serendipity takes rather a menacing hand in the proceedings with "Buka" finding himself in possession of a corpse, an American passport and a plane ticket. Perhaps this is his chance to escape his drudgery? Before he can make too many plans however, "Karen" shows up at his (borrowed) hotel room expecting her friend, realises he's a fraud and with her husband using the police and virtually any means to keep her close we find quite a tight game of cat and mouse - and just a hint of romance - develops. It's quite a tightly delivered story with a decent amount of intrigue even though I felt the denouement felt a little rushed and flat. There isn't a star as such, a collection of competent B-listers do well enough with the script to keep this moving along for eighty minutes of Hogmanay celebrations that have just enough of a sense of mystery to be worth watching.

A suspense B&W film from 1953 filmed in Vienna. A taxi driver (Donald Buka)working without papers (a common problem at the time as the Soviets wanted to repatriate all eastern Europeans who had fled to Austria) gives a ride to a man who is murdered in the cab. Buka takes his papers and disposes of the body.

There is some good suspense and some good red herrings. The wife (Joan Camden) of a jealous pianist entwines in the plot. She is trying to escape from her husband (Francis Lederer). The man killed in the above mentioned taxi was her ticket to freedom--it was her husband who murdered him.

There are a lot of close calls that are fun. However, I wished for a different ending---but Hollywood must have had a hand in this---bad things aren't allowed to go unpunished.

As another reviewer stated...somewhat wooden but kind of neat as it was indeed filmed in Vienna and has local actors and scenery.

Entertaining. 4 or 5 stars.

When I hear about Turhan Bey, I remember the various movies (mostly B-pictures) he appeared in during the 40s and 50s. When I turned on "Stolen Identity" I was rather shocked to see that this actor produced this film. Interesting.

The story is about a murder. A very jealous and cold husband, Claude Manelli (Francis Lederer), has reason to be jealous as his wife is cheating on him. So, he murders the guy in some poor sap's cab. The cabbie, Toni (Donald Buka) is in a bind. He could tell the police-- and he even tries once. But he is an illegal alien and doesn't want to be deported. Plus, the dead man in his cab has a passport! On impulse, Toni steals the passport and assumes the dead man's identity. This is a problem...especially when the dead man's lover meets Toni!! What's next?

The best thing about the film is the originality of the plot. So much of it is new and unusual. Plus, the film ended very well and was very satisfying to watch. This is a real plus--especially since the film wasn't very expensive to make and has few big stars (Lederer being the biggest star in the cast). Well worth seeing.

For one thing, he produced this movie. It has the feel of later movies with international casts that are dubbed. The opening credits tell us it was filmed in Vienna.

Bey was a delight in the Universal adventure movies of the 1940s. He was also superb in a movie I saw maybe ten years ago but have never heard of since: "The Amazing Mr. X." Maybe it was Dr. X. I remember it as a thrilling and frightening movie.

This one is pretty wooden, unfortunately. The plot isn't easy to follow. When I got the hang of it, I was disappointed anyway.

Francis Lederer looks great as a concert pianist. He was a very handsome leading man ten or 15 years earlier. He never really caught on as a major star, though he should have.

This isn't terrible but it's pretty heavy going.

"Stolen Identity" was produced by none other than Turhan Bey and filmed in Vienna, his home town. It's loaded with dark atmosphere. The movie stars Francis Lederer, Donald Buka, and Joan Camden. Lederer is Claude Manelli, a well-known concert pianist who is married to Karen. She's miserable. She says she married him after knowing him one week and was happy - for one week.

She has planned to leave the country with one Mr. Mortimer. She is to meet him at his hotel.

Buka plays Toni Sponer, a man without a passport or a taxi license, who illegally drives a cab. He picks up Mortimer, but when he speaks to him and gets no answer, he realizes the man is dead and bloody. He tries to report the crime, but it's New Year's Eve and there is a lot going on. It finally occurs to him to take the man's identity and get rid of the body. Which he does.

When Karen sees that he's not Mortimer, she gets the police. But her husband convinces the police that she's delusional, and Buka is released. But is he? And what is really going on?

Very neat noir, well done and well acted by Lederer, one of my favorites, and Buka, a big Broadway actor whom I've seen in many roles but not in leads.

Post-war Vienna still looks like pretty much of a mess - I remember being told the roof of St. Stephen's church "burned up like paper" during the war. Still, it was great to see it.

Turhan Bey, who lived to be 90, was an actor turned photographer, producer. and back to actor again. I once needed to speak to a casting person who was on the phone - he put his hand over the receiver and said, "It's Turhan Bey. We're talking about Tyrone."

After the leading men returned from WW II, Bey knew his time was up and left Hollywood. returning to Vienna circa 1953, only to start a second acting career in 1993 in Hollywood. Interesting man.

I thought this was a good film and fun to watch.

Its a good film set in Vienna about a cab driver, Toni (Donald Buka), who steals a passenger's identity when the passenger is shot whilst sitting in the back of his cab. This gives him an identity as he is an illegal immigrant, but he needs to play out the role of the victim until he catches a flight to the U.S. with a ticket in the victim's name. Mrs Manelli (Joan Camden) rumbles him but she is accused of having mental problems by her husband, Claude (Francis Lederer), a concert pianist. As a result, Toni is let off the hook. Claude does not want to part from his wife, but she runs away from him. There are several plot twists and eventually both Toni and Mrs Manelli make a run for it together - they are both trying to escape from their lives in Vienna. There is a tense, exciting build-up to the finale. Are they going to get away.....??...

Unfortunately, the picture quality isn't fantastic and there is a line that runs down the middle of the picture for a while. The cast are all very good in their roles, especially Francis Lederer's portrayal of Claude. Also important to the story are Heinth (Manfred Inger) as the cab company owner, Marie (Inge Konradi) as Toni's hometown girlfriend and the inspector (Hermann Erhardt).

Its a good film.

Over the opening credits, a train delivers someone mysterious to Vienna. The mysterious American man sends a telegram to coolly attractive Joan Camden (as Karen), which is secretively picked up by her maid. The unhappy wife of successful concert pianist Francis Lederer (as Claude Manelli), Ms. Camden is expecting the telegram. Alas, it is intercepted and delivered to Mr. Lederer. He wants to keep his wife and believes getting rid of the mysterious man would prevent Camden from running away to the United States. Meanwhile, handsome immigrant Donald Buka (as Toni Sponer) finds an older friend drunk and agrees to drive his taxicab on New Year's Eve. Down-on-his-luck, Mr. Buka would like to go back to America, but he can't get a passport due to illegally selling cigarettes. Driving his drunk friend's taxi, Buka crosses paths with Lederer...

This relatively unknown classic was produced by actor Turhan Bey and is his only credit in that category. More active in other capacities, Gunther von Fritsch directed only four feature films, beginning with "Curse of the Cat People" (1944). He guides his cast and photographer Helmut Ashley very effectively. Nearly every camera shot and actor's gesture is substantive. The director fully engages during the long sequence wherein Buka loses track of his taxi passenger, from the construction worker and busy traffic to the drunken man with his balloon, then body disposal. Earlier, note the way best supporting actress-worthy Inge Konradi (as Marie) looks at Buka in their first scene together; she's not the leading lady, but we know she would like Buka to drive her cab. The minor flaw is an ending that reaches for something that really wasn't there.

********Stolen Identity (1953-04-03) Gunther von Fritsch ~ Donald Buka, Joan Camden, Francis Lederer, Inge Konradi

This is actually a great thriller, if you can follow all the turbulent quick turns and violent happenings in this intricate web of complications for a poor immigrant taxi driver who works without a licence and on New Year's Eve instead of an American passenger finds a dead corpse in his backseat. This leads to complications. He finds a great opportunity for himself in the situation, since he can simply get away out of the country by stealing the dead man's passport and identity, which doesn't prove too easy, however, since the dead man had a mistress waiting for him at the hotel, they were eloping together, but when she finds the taxi driver with her lover's identity she reacts of course, which leads to further complications. The mess leads into a labyrinth of with no end of troubles, and finally the lady's jealous husband, a famous concert pianist, catches up with them, which leads to further complications, as the jealous husband naturally acts like a fool.

As could be expected, the music is excellent throughout the whole film, you will be able to enjoy the best parts of Schumann's piano concerto, and that's just a sample of this whole symphonic film. The photo is dark and directly associating to Robert Krasker's famous photo in Carol Reed's "The Third Man", but you see nothing here of the political situation - just a few ruins. It is fast action all the way, so you had better fasten your seatbelts.