In the crossfire

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Movie
German title In the crossfire
Original title Crossfire
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1947
length 88 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Edward Dmytryk
script John Paxton
production Dore Schary
music Roy Webb
camera J. Roy Hunt
cut Harry W. Gerstad
occupation

Im Kreuzfeuer is an American crime film from the film noir era . Edward Dmytryk directed the film, the screenplay of which is based on the novel The Brick Foxhole by Richard Brooks , who is also known as the director , in 1947. The film premiered on television in Germany. The ZDF first broadcast it on February 5, 1973.

action

A man is beaten so badly by two other men in a Washington apartment that he dies of his injuries. Miss Lewis finds the body and notifies the police. Captain Finlay questions the woman.

Miss Lewis and the dead man, Joseph Samuels, are sitting in a bar drinking together. Three soldiers are present, one of whom Samuels invites Corporal Mitchell home. The woman goes home because she was poured down in the bar and wanted to change, but is surprised that Samuels does not answer a call from her and makes her way to him. At the door she meets Sergeant Montgomery, who tells her that he is looking for Mitchell. He, Mitchell and another friend, Floyd Bowers, were in Samuel's apartment. Mitchell left earlier but wanted to come back quickly. He also found Mitchell's wallet in the apartment.

To find out the whereabouts of Mitchell, Finlay questions his best friend Sergeant Keeley. Keeley tells Finlay that Mitchell is suffering from depression and has become estranged from his wife, Mary. Finlay interrogates Montgomery again, who describes Samuels as a “fraudulent Jew”. He also said that on the way to Samuel's apartment. Meanwhile, Keeley sends his people out to find Mitchell. Mitchell is found. He is aware of the suspicions against him and flees to a cinema with Keeley. There he tells his version of what happened in a flashback.

When he accepted Samuels' invitation and was in his apartment, Montgomery and Bowers also came there and started an argument with Samuels. Meanwhile Mitchell left the apartment and met the taxi driver Ginny Tremaine, who invited him to her home, where he was to wait for her. There he met a strange man who first pretended to be Ginny's husband, but then revoked it. The man irritated Mitchell and eventually went back to his hotel.

After Mitchell finishes his story, Keeley tells him that his wife, Mary, is in town and wants to see him. Meanwhile, in an apartment, Montgomery urges Bowers to confirm Montgomery's version. When Keeley and another soldier knock on the door, Montgomery goes into hiding. Bowers tells Keeley that he called his friend Leroy, who was also at the bar. When Keeley and his companion leave Bowers, a mad Montgomery comes out of hiding and strangles Bowers.

When Finlay questions Keeley about the murder of Bowers, he learns from the taxi driver Ginny, who could be an alibi for Mitchell. Keeley is now released and looks for Mary, Mitchell's wife, to lead her to the cinema where Mitchell is hiding. Mary assures her husband that she will contact the taxi driver for his relief. She and Finlay go to Ginny's apartment, but neither Ginny nor the strange man can provide an alibi for Mitchell. The disappointed Finlay asks Montgomery again. Montgomery becomes suspicious because he has a motive through hating Jews. Finlay convinces the anxious Leroy, who was tracked down by Keeley, to set a trap for Montgomery. Leroy tells the suspect that he spoke to Bowers before he died and that he now knows everything. Montgomery should pay him hush money. Leroy hands Montgomery a slip of paper with an address that contains the correct street name but the wrong house number. However, Montgomery enters the right house and comes across Finlay, who tells him that only the murderer, who must have been there earlier, can know the right house. In a panic, Montgomery runs out of the building and is shot by Finlay.

Reviews

“As part of a brilliantly played and excellently staged crime film, director Dmytryk publicly denounced the anti-Semitism that also occurs in America for the first time; he makes the reprehensibility and injustice of this form of racial hatred clear through clear, logical arguments. The film condenses into a plea against any kind of discrimination. "

- Lexicon of international film

"The explosive topic - hatred of Jews in the US Army - helped the film to receive a special price in Cannes and director Edward Dmytryk to a place on the blacklist of the communist hunter McCarthy."

- Cinema

“An important piece of anti-racist opinion that keeps the link between film noir and political background until just before the finale. Wrongly underestimated and only now rediscovered. "

- Reinhard Bradatsch : allesfilm.com

Awards

Prices

Nominations

background

The RKO Pictures production had a budget of $ 250,000. The film grossed $ 1.3 million in the United States. In the novel on which the film is based, discrimination against homosexuals was denounced. At the time of filming, however, due to the Hays Code in Hollywood, this was a taboo subject and therefore not filmable. In order to be able to do this, the scriptwriters then took up the topic of anti-Semitism. Filming only lasted 20 days because director Dmytryk decided not to illuminate the set. In this way, the budget could be adhered to and shot faster, which can also be seen in the fact that the film came out three and a half months earlier than the thematically similarly designed film Tabu der Righte by Elia Kazan .

For Gloria Grahame, who called the role of Ginny as her favorite role, it was the fifth appearance in a movie. For George Cooper it was the film debut, for William Edward Phipps the second film role. The later Tarzan and Old Shatterhand actor Lex Barker was in front of the camera for the sixth time, but was only mentioned in the credits for the second time. Since the film was dubbed a few years after the great Karl May wave, it had the dubbing voice of Gert Günther Hoffmann here again (and for the last time).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In the crossfire. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ In the crossfire . Cinema.de
  3. ↑ Film review Im Kreuzfeuer . ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.allesfilm.com
  4. ^ Crossfire (1947) - Box office / business