Rent Walk a Crooked Mile (1948)

Terrific - Walk a Crooked Mile review by sb

FILM & REVIEW Cracking little Cold War espionage/noir hybrid. Someone is stealing atomic secrets from a US lab in LA and passing them to a Communist cell. The stolen formula is hidden in a painting that is then shipped to London and onto Moscow. Only a handful of scientists know the formula but which one is it and how is the transfer done. FBI agent O’Hara (O’Keefe) is assisted by Scotland Yard detective Grayson (Hayward) are on the case but are at first baffled as to how the top security is being evaded. Various suspects are identified but they all end-up dead to cover the real traitors tracks… It’s very cleverly done with great use of San Francisco locations with car chases and shootouts along the way - plus a splendid Raymond Burr as a goatee bearded heavy. It makes great use of available science with hidden camera’s , UV lights , and all manner of lab based forensics The only minor grumble is overuse of the sonorous noir voice over which gets annoying after a while but overall very good…4/5

Documentary Noir. - Walk a Crooked Mile review by Steve

After WWII the bad guys in Hollywood spy films changed overnight from the Nazis to the Communists. And with HUAC now putting liberals on the witness stand and worse, the FBI encouraged the dream factory to produce propaganda justifying the rightness of their cause. This is about dirty Reds stealing US nuclear secrets.  

And they are as unscrupulous as they could be, even rubbing out their own operatives when expendable. The west is completely virtuous. There is neither the moral equivalence of John Le Carre's Circus nor the action set pieces of James Bond. This is a procedural docu-noir in the contemporary style, shot on location in San Francisco.

Representing the FBI there's Dennis O'Keefe as a red blooded all American agent. Does he hate Commies! For Scotland Yard, Louis Hayward is more of a thoughtful analyst. And they make a good double act. This is a low budget crime feature and for all the motifs of social realism, it's just hokum, shot quickly and without finesse.

But it is a good thriller, however manipulative. Gordon Douglas tells the story well with a light touch and there are some effective dramatic crescendos. Like when a Russian immigrant takes a bullet for her new country. Regardless of how the viewer feels about the political polemics, it's a punchy B-picture with likeable leads.