Director Henry Hathaway's 1945 film noir-ish thriller The House on 92nd Street employs documentary techniques to tell its unusually tense, then-timely story of an FBI agent who infiltrated a cell of Nazi spies operating out of New York during World War II. Thanks to unprecedented cooperation, the film features actual FBI surveillance footage interpolated into the story, which dramatized the work of U.S. government operatives with a minimum of sensationalism (and, in fact, utilized off-duty agents both in front of and behind the camera). William Eythe, generally known as a character actor, had a rare leading role as the loyal German-American pressed into service by FBI inspector Lloyd Nolan. Joining the spy ring led by Signe Hasso and Leo G. Carroll, he keeps track of its efforts to send information back to Hitler about the atomic bomb's construction. Brilliantly made and acted, this outstanding melodrama helped move Hollywood toward a more realistic type of thriller, while at the same time drawing on the noir tradition of shadowy, stylized cinematography. Presented with a handsome black-and-white transfer, DVD extras include an informative commentary track by film historian Eddie Muller. Highly recommended. [Note: also newly available in the “Fox Film Noir” series are Somewhere in the Night (1946) and Whirlpool (1949).] (E. Hulse)
The House on 92nd Street
Fox, 87 min., not rated, DVD: $14.98 Volume 20, Issue 6
The House on 92nd Street
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