The city of a thousand dangers

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Movie
German title The city of a thousand dangers
Original title The Atomic City
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1952
length 85 minutes
Rod
Director Jerry Hopper
script Sydney Boehm
production Joseph Sistrom
music Leith Stevens
camera Charles Lang
cut Archie Marshek
occupation

The City of a Thousand Dangers (Original title: The Atomic City ) is an American thriller from 1952 , which was produced by Paramount Pictures . The main roles were played by Gene Barry , Lydia Clarke and Michael Moore . Directed by Jerry Hopper .

action

Frank Addison lives with his wife Martha in Los Alamos , where he works as a physicist on a secret project . The couple has a son named Tommy who takes his school class on a trip to a party in Santa Fe and disappears there during a raffle drawing.

The Addisons then received a telegram informing them that their son had been kidnapped. They are also forbidden from talking to others about the kidnapping. When Tommy's class teacher Ellen Haskell informs the Addisons about his disappearance, Frank complies with the written request for silence and claims that he picked up his son from the party without giving notice.

Ellen becomes suspicious and reports the incident to her friend, FBI agent Russ Farley. Together with his colleague Harold Mann, he begins to shadow the Addisons. When Frank receives instructions in another message to steal secret documents from the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory, he wants to make the kidnapping public. However, his wife Martha fears for her son's life and can dissuade him from his plan. Frank therefore complies with the written request and steals the documents.

Frank hands the documents over to an intermediary, petty criminal David Rogers. He then goes to a baseball game, where he is shadowed by FBI agents and surveillance cameras. After the game, Rogers gets into his car, which then explodes and kills him. However, despite the surveillance, he previously managed to pass the documents on to someone else during the game. During a subsequent inspection of the surveillance cameras, however, the communist Donald Clark can be identified, who had disguised himself as a seller at a hot dog stand.

Meanwhile, under the direction of the physicist Dr. Peter Rassett was brought to an Indian ruin in New Mexico and kept hidden there. Dr. Rassett studies the document delivered by Frank Addison and realizes that it is just a forgery. He then orders the killing of the cub, but it can escape and hide in a cave.

The decisive clue about the kidnappers' whereabouts comes from the Fenton family vacationing in New Mexico, whose son discovers Tommy's lost lottery ticket from the Santa Fe festival while visiting the ruins. FBI officers surround the building and are able to arrest Rassett after his accomplices were killed in a previous shootout. Tommy is found and returns to his family.

reception

At the 1953 Academy Awards , The City of a Thousand Dangers was nominated for Best Screenplay .

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised The City of a Thousand Dangers for its exciting plot and the good acting of the cast. He particularly emphasized the appearance of Lee Aaker at the end of the film.

Hal Erickson of Rotten Tomatoes described The City of a Thousand Dangers as "already out of date when it appeared". However, he praised the melodrama and tension towards the end of the film.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. 'The Atomic City,' Low-Budget, High-Voltage Paramount Film, Opens at the Mayfair. In: The New York Times. May 2, 1952, accessed May 21, 2017 .
  2. ^ The Atomic City (1952). In: rottentomatoes.com. Accessed May 21, 2017 .