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Tarfumes.com - The House on 92nd Street (Fox Film Noir)
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List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $13.49
Your Save: $ 1.49 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Starring: William Eythe, Lloyd Nolan, Signe Hasso, Gene Lockhart, Leo G. Carroll
Directed By: Henry Hathaway
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0024543191094
Format: Black & White
Label: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2005-09-06
Running Time: 87
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: 1945-09-10
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Editorial Reviews:
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A stentorian narrator tells us that the USA was flooded with Nazi spies in 1939-41. One such tries to recruit college grad Bill Dietrich, who becomes a double agent for the FBI. While Bill trains in Hamburg, a street-accident victim proves to have been spying on atom-bomb secrets; conveniently, Dietrich is assigned to the New York spy ring stealing these secrets. Can he track down the mysterious "Christopher" before his ruthless associates unmask and kill him?
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: spy movie
Comment: This was an enjoyable recounting of an actual spying event. I enjoyed the mixture of documentary footage. The ending was interesting. It was amusing to see how old time equipment was used in protecting the US.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The House on 92nd Street
Comment: Narrated in semi-documentary style and produced by "March of Time" newsreel creator Louis de Rochemont, Hathaway's intriguing WWII espionage thriller helped set in motion the semi-documentary vogue, featuring gritty on-location shooting and stories based on actual cases. Combining extant footage of German spies, a cast of unfamiliar stage actors and real-life FBI agents, and Reed Hadley's stern voiceover, "House" certainly has a true-to-life feel. But it's the tightly paced action and atmospheric, spy vs. spy suspense that turned this noir nail-biter into a bona fide box-office hit.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Saving Atomic Secrets
Comment: This story is adapted from cases in the FBI files. The scenes are from actual places in most cases. The FBI started building up its personnel in 1939. They checked all mail to suspected German agents, and filmed everyone who visited their Embassy in Washington. They learned they were recruiting Americans as agents. One of them, William Dietrich, started working for the FBI. A German agent had an accident (fell or pushed?) And his belongings were given to the FBI. Cryptanalysts deciphered a message about "Process 97", the top secret scientific research project of WW II.
Double agent Dietrich returned to America. His microfilmed type authorization was quickly forged to allow him more powers. Dietrich visited the house on 92nd Street (the Yorkville area) and presented himself to Elsa Gephardt. (His authority was questioned as it was against Standard Operating Procedures.) The film shows surveillance in those days: conversations are recorded on phonograph records. (The story about re-transmitted radio messages implies the Germans had no records of Dietrich's telegraphy style.) There is a meeting where a drunk talks too much; they take care of him so he will tell no tales. There is an important message about "Process 97". This leads the FBI to investigate hundreds of people at that secret site. The guilty parties are discovered and their contacts identified. But a new message from Hamburg provided the original authorization! Dietrich's cover is blown. Elsa Gephardt uses scopolamine to get Dietrich to talk. The FBI arrives in time to stop and arrest them. There is a surprise in the identification of "Mr. Christopher". [Would that disguise really fool observers?] The ironic ending seems weak. The secret of "Process 97" was kept. No known examples of enemy sabotage occurred during WW II. The FBI did a perfect job.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Transfer
Comment: This is a very clean transfer of the movie. It is well worthwhile to upgrade from the VHS version or to view for the first time. The movie, itself, is a good example of its genre--a period WWII spy thriller that weaves in historical fact. See, for instance, the book "The Game Of The Foxes" by Ladislas Farago.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A reverential look at the FBI versus Nazi spies, with a sly performance by Leo G. Carroll
Comment: "This story is adapted from the cases in the espionage files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Produced with the F.B.I.'s complete cooperation, it could not be made public until the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan." So reads the introduction. Despite 20th Century Fox marketing this DVD as a noir, it's just a pompous semi-documentary...a paean to the FBI. We're sitting in the church of J. Edgar Hoover and Hollywood has written the sermon and is leading the choir. For the first 20 minutes of this 87 minute movie we're taken on a tour of FBI resources, told of FBI dedication to fight spies..."vigilant, tireless, implacable"...and shown how FBI knowledge of German secret agents protected this nation, especially when it came to foiling Nazi plans to discover "Process 97" (the atomic bomb). If we're not grateful to the FBI by the time the story starts, we still have Reed Hadley's stentorian voice-over and a music score that's part soap opera, part grand opera to come to grips with.
Bill Dietrich (William Eythe), "a brilliant young student," is recruited in 1939 by the Nazi's in America to be a German agent just before he graduates. Dietrich immediately reports this to the FBI. They agree that he will take the offer and then, after training in Germany, become a double agent when the Nazis send him back to the States. When he arrives in New York, he joins a Nazi ring led by Elsa Gebhardt (Signe Hasso), a beautiful, icy blonde who owns a haute couture dress shop on 92nd Street. She rents the five story building, lives there and uses it as her cell's headquarters. Her cell seems to be made up of thugs, goons and manly women. Dietrich sets himself up as a contact point between Gebhardt's operation and Germany. All the while Dietrich is supplying the FBI with vital information about Gebhardt's activities. It's a dangerous game, particularly since Elsa and her team have not fully accepted Dietrich. At the same time, FBI agent George Briggs (Lloyd Nolan) is working with Dietrich to roll up the whole operation and to identify "Mr. Christopher," the unknown master spy behind everything. Then they realize that some of the information being readied for transmission to Germany has to do with the atomic bomb. The stakes now are huge. Not only must the Nazi ring be foiled and the plans kept from Germany, the traitor who is stealing the atomic secrets must be found and stopped. I can't tell you if the FBI is successful because I dislike spoilers.
The movie has such an air of self importance about it, like a collar with too much starch. It infects the actors, who give performances of either wooden, iron-jawed determination (the FBI) or wooden, sneering badness (the Nazi spies). William Eythe, a good-looking, sincere actor, is simply out of his depth as a resourceful double agent. Even Lloyd Nolan, who usually has a lot of crisp energy, is subdued by the need to always appear competent. More often than not we see him giving an order, then briskly marching out of the room, or giving an order and having the person he spoke to turn and briskly march out the room.
Three actors come up with two-and-a-half fine performances. Leo G. Carroll as Colonel Hammersohn, an aging German agent in New York, is a pleasure to watch. His character is crafty, cautious and always wears a wing collar and a Homburg. Carroll is first-rate in the part. Gene Lockhart is actually touching as a weak, chubby man with a great memory who breaks down when faced with the evidence of his crime. The half-point goes to Lydia St. Claire as Johanna Schmidt, the gestapo member of Elsa Gebhardt's cell. She's grim, gimlet-eyed and slaps around our hero with authority. It's a one-note performance but it's fun to watch.
The DVD has a fine looking transfer. Much of the film was shot on location in New York and this provides a good deal of what interest there is. There's a commentary I didn't listen to from Eddie Muller, billed as a film noir historian.
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