I was FBI man MC
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | I was FBI man MC |
| Original title | I Was a Communist for the FBI |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1951 |
| length | 83 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Gordon Douglas |
| script | Crane Wilbur |
| production | Bryan Foy |
| music | William Lava |
| camera | Edwin B. DuPar |
| cut | Folmar Blangsted |
| occupation | |
| |
Ich war FBI Mann MC (Original title: I Was a Communist for the FBI ) is a film by Gordon Douglas from 1951. It is influenced by the anti-communism of the early Cold War and propagates a red danger . The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary in 1952 .
action
Matt Cvetic joins the Communist Party in Pittsburgh out of patriotism in order to infiltrate it for the FBI . He now has to lead a double life, since only his immediate command officers are allowed to know about his role. According to the film, he rises over the years in the party to the right hand of the local party leader, but has to make personal sacrifices. According to the script, his wife and children turn away from him because of his alleged communist beliefs. Finally he exposes the communist activities before the committee for un-American activities .
background
The film was based on a series of articles published in the Saturday Evening Post under the name Matt Cvetics .
Matt Cvetic was actually a paid informant for the FBI who joined the Communist Party in February 1943 . Cvetic also testified in 1950 for several days before the Committee on Un-American Activities . In fact, he had never gotten above the lower echelons of the party. He had shared his job for the FBI with others, for example with his wife, a lover, family members. The articles in the Saturday Evening Post were published shortly after Cvetic testified to the Un-American Activities Committee. While he was still giving evidence, Cvetic had signed a contract with literary agents to market his story. The articles already downplayed Cvetic's personal problems with alcohol and women and exaggerated his prominence within the party. The film, in turn, increased this to accommodate the taste of the time during the McCarthy era .
While the film was released in the USA in May 1951, it was not released in West Germany until September 11, 1964. The newspaper of the GDR leadership Neues Deutschland assumed that this trend film had been taken out of the moth box with a view to the upcoming federal election .
Cvetic also published a book to benefit from its story. In addition to the film, there was the radio show I Was a Communist , broadcast in 78 episodes from 1952 to 1954 , which was based on the book by Matt Cvetic and was broadcast on over 600 radio stations. The broadcast was created without the cooperation of the FBI.
reception
The film is assigned to the film noir , more precisely the period of the semi-documentaries of the post-war period.
A contemporary review says the film shows the communist threat. The director would work a lot with tension and speed. The tension would come from the frequent near-exposure. Even a little romance is included with the communist teacher who is led back into the light by the main character. The lexicon of international film ranks from today's perspective I was FBI man MC as "strong black drawing tendency film of the McCarthy-time".
Web links
- I was FBI man MC in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- I was FBI Mann MC in the Lexicon of International Films
Individual evidence
- ^ A b I Was a Communist for the FBI , Variety, December 31, 1950.
- ^ A b c d Daniel J. Leab, Anti-Communism, the FBI, and Matt Cvetic: The Ups and Downs of a Professional Informer , The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography Vol. 115, No. 4 (October 1991), pp 535-581. ( JSTOR ).
- ↑ Publication dates on the IMDb .
- ^ Hetzfilm , Neues Deutschland from May 23, 1965.
- ↑ I was a Communist on Oldtimerradiodownloads.com.
- ↑ Robert Miklitsch: The Red and the Black: American Film Noir in the 1950s , University of Illinois Press, 2016. ISBN 9780252099120 .
- ↑ I was an FBI man MC In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 31, 2020 .