Stolen Identity

Stolen Identity (1953)

You want to like this movie for a lot of reasons, one of them being the filming location, actual Austria (Vienna), which is announced at the opening credits. Most of it is at night over wet streets, with modernist architecture and signage mixing with that sense of Old Europe that can be enchanting. It also has an actress I really fell for in "The Captive City," filmed the year before, Joan Camden. It's about murder and fugitives from the law and a confusion about who is who (as the title suggests).

But it stumbles along, a compromise of many intentions. When it plays as a straight up suspense movie, we are captive, and impressed. But the actual events get muddled a little, the editing seems a bit off (running from abrupt to lingering on a scene too long). And Camden, in her role as the young wife of a concert pianist, hardly appears at all. On top of all this is large cast of secondary characters who are range from a hair awkward to a bit caricatured, all of them speaking in slightly compromised English (some Austrian German and subtitles would have been great, but not acceptable at the time).

Director Gunther von Fritsch isn't known in particular for any great accomplishments--he was Austrian, and helped pull together what is an Austrian production in most respects (officially the Austrian Transglobe-Film), but it is infused with American talent and is all in English. von Fritsch was involved as co-director on two interesting (American) films, "This is Cinerama" and "Curse of the Cat People."

All that said, the movie is different than the usual film noirs with the same visual feel. The hero is a bit of an ordinary chap, an American (played by Donald Buka) without papers in a foreign city brimming with assorted characters. And he gets a lucky break in his trying to get out of Vienna, but it's loaded with danger and utter mystery.

Camden, when she appears further in the movie, is at first a disappointment, having to take on a role that isn't naturally her own until later, when she is more genuine. Hang in there! The pianist is a rugged masculine type, Czech-Hungarian actor Francis Lederer, and he holds up the music scenes as much as the music itself. And it's all filmed nicely. So in all, you don't mind watching even if you wonder where the thrust of the plot goes at times.

Expect a fast cascade of interesting scenes, and situations that are really quite tense and dramatic. Many of the scenes are terrific in their use of light, deep shadows, and general photography. But don't expect it to fall together with the verve and elegance it could have had. And it almost became a romance, which would have lifted it considerably.

There's quite a lot going on in this complex thriller. Fairly quickly we realise that "Karen" (Joan Camden) is unhappily married to concert pianist "Claude" (Francis Lederer). Unfortunately, her maid isn't very trustworthy and so a note suggesting a rendezvous with a recently arrived American visitor ends up with her husband, who has no intention of letting her meet him. Amidst all these domestic machinations, local cabbie "Sponer" (Donald Luka) is dreaming of a emigrating to the USA. At this point, serendipity takes rather a menacing hand in the proceedings with "Buka" finding himself in possession of a corpse, an American passport and a plane ticket. Perhaps this is his chance to escape his drudgery? Before he can make too many plans however, "Karen" shows up at his (borrowed) hotel room expecting her friend, realises he's a fraud and with her husband using the police and virtually any means to keep her close we find quite a tight game of cat and mouse - and just a hint of romance - develops. It's quite a tightly delivered story with a decent amount of intrigue even though I felt the denouement felt a little rushed and flat. There isn't a star as such, a collection of competent B-listers do well enough with the script to keep this moving along for eighty minutes of Hogmanay celebrations that have just enough of a sense of mystery to be worth watching.

This is actually a great thriller, if you can follow all the turbulent quick turns and violent happenings in this intricate web of complications for a poor immigrant taxi driver who works without a licence and on New Year's Eve instead of an American passenger finds a dead corpse in his backseat. This leads to complications. He finds a great opportunity for himself in the situation, since he can simply get away out of the country by stealing the dead man's passport and identity, which doesn't prove too easy, however, since the dead man had a mistress waiting for him at the hotel, they were eloping together, but when she finds the taxi driver with her lover's identity she reacts of course, which leads to further complications. The mess leads into a labyrinth of with no end of troubles, and finally the lady's jealous husband, a famous concert pianist, catches up with them, which leads to further complications, as the jealous husband naturally acts like a fool.

As could be expected, the music is excellent throughout the whole film, you will be able to enjoy the best parts of Schumann's piano concerto, and that's just a sample of this whole symphonic film. The photo is dark and directly associating to Robert Krasker's famous photo in Carol Reed's "The Third Man", but you see nothing here of the political situation - just a few ruins. It is fast action all the way, so you had better fasten your seatbelts.

Over the opening credits, a train delivers someone mysterious to Vienna. The mysterious American man sends a telegram to coolly attractive Joan Camden (as Karen), which is secretively picked up by her maid. The unhappy wife of successful concert pianist Francis Lederer (as Claude Manelli), Ms. Camden is expecting the telegram. Alas, it is intercepted and delivered to Mr. Lederer. He wants to keep his wife and believes getting rid of the mysterious man would prevent Camden from running away to the United States. Meanwhile, handsome immigrant Donald Buka (as Toni Sponer) finds an older friend drunk and agrees to drive his taxicab on New Year's Eve. Down-on-his-luck, Mr. Buka would like to go back to America, but he can't get a passport due to illegally selling cigarettes. Driving his drunk friend's taxi, Buka crosses paths with Lederer...

This relatively unknown classic was produced by actor Turhan Bey and is his only credit in that category. More active in other capacities, Gunther von Fritsch directed only four feature films, beginning with "Curse of the Cat People" (1944). He guides his cast and photographer Helmut Ashley very effectively. Nearly every camera shot and actor's gesture is substantive. The director fully engages during the long sequence wherein Buka loses track of his taxi passenger, from the construction worker and busy traffic to the drunken man with his balloon, then body disposal. Earlier, note the way best supporting actress-worthy Inge Konradi (as Marie) looks at Buka in their first scene together; she's not the leading lady, but we know she would like Buka to drive her cab. The minor flaw is an ending that reaches for something that really wasn't there.

********Stolen Identity (1953-04-03) Gunther von Fritsch ~ Donald Buka, Joan Camden, Francis Lederer, Inge Konradi

When I hear about Turhan Bey, I remember the various movies (mostly B-pictures) he appeared in during the 40s and 50s. When I turned on "Stolen Identity" I was rather shocked to see that this actor produced this film. Interesting.

The story is about a murder. A very jealous and cold husband, Claude Manelli (Francis Lederer), has reason to be jealous as his wife is cheating on him. So, he murders the guy in some poor sap's cab. The cabbie, Toni (Donald Buka) is in a bind. He could tell the police-- and he even tries once. But he is an illegal alien and doesn't want to be deported. Plus, the dead man in his cab has a passport! On impulse, Toni steals the passport and assumes the dead man's identity. This is a problem...especially when the dead man's lover meets Toni!! What's next?

The best thing about the film is the originality of the plot. So much of it is new and unusual. Plus, the film ended very well and was very satisfying to watch. This is a real plus--especially since the film wasn't very expensive to make and has few big stars (Lederer being the biggest star in the cast). Well worth seeing.