La grande menace

The film's stark and scrumptious cinematography is why you should watch. George Robinson and Edward Colman do an absolutely fantastic job. Noir fans will appreciate the film's use of shadows to create a tense mood.

The plot will hold your interest: with the help of a U. S. government worker(s) top secret atomic research work is being stolen by a communist spy ring. FBI agents, with the aid of Scotland Yard, work against time to stop the theft.

Louis Hayward plays the Scotland Yard agent and Dennis O'Keefe is his FBI counterpart. The two have chemistry together.

There is a blandness, though, to much of the crime investigation procedural part of the film - which is extensive. There's no love interest for any of the main characters. In fact, there's only one female character in the film and she doesn't have any substantial speaking lines until late in the movie.

Dennis O'Keefe, (Daniel O'Hara) plays the role as a FBI Agent who is in charge of finding out how a Southern California atomic plant is having leaks of top secret plans and why one of their agents is killed trying to find out this important information. Scotty Grayson, (Louis Hayward) is a Scotland Yard Inspector who is also called into the FBI office and is working with Daniel O'Hara because he has some important information that can help to solve this case. Raymond Burr, (Krebs) plays the role as a communist who is a very dangerous man who will stop anyone trying to upset their plan to obtain this secret information. This picture is dealing with the Cold War period in history and the scientists in the atomic plant are all under investigation. This film is very entertaining and Dennis O'Keefe gave a great performance along with Raymond Burr just starting out his career and giving a great supporting role. Enjoy.

A communist spy ring infiltrates the top secret Lakeview Laboratory of Nuclear Physics. Dedicated FBI agent Daniel F. O'Hara works late into the night. He receives a call from fellow agent Jimmy Colton who is murdered before he could reveal his info about Lakeview. He is joined by Philip 'Scotty' Grayson from Scotland Yard in the investigation.

It's a G-man noir, standard police procedural. They're all in spiffy suit and tie and wearing their hats. They talk in that hardened police tone. It has the police narration. The plot is a straight investigation with the standard twists and turns. The story is ripped from the headlines. It's a well-made police noir.

Interesting docunoir about atomic/nuclear formulas being syphoned out of the Lakeview facility in the USA and finding their way into the iron curtain via the UK.

This is a very early example of FBI-Scotland Yard cooperation, showing the sophistication that already existed immediately after WWII, in spite of much more rudimentary spying technology than we have today. Amazing how sound was recorded on LPs, and 16 or 8mm cameras were used at stakeouts.

With Reed Haley as the narrator, the viewer gets the low-down on an intricate international operation to detect why fomulas are spirited out of the USA in art form -- paintings which, as agent O'Hara (O'Keefe) memorably points out, only suffer from having "too much red" in them.

As ever, O'Keefe is very convincing as an FBI agent, Hayward likewise as his Scotland Yard counterpart, and you can see that it is not the beginning of a beautiful friendship, but one that is already firmly in place.

Massey would have deserved a better part, and I found Onslow Stevens and Charles Evans very effective and chilling top villains. Allbritton is a beautiful woman, pity we see so little of her

Photography and action sequences top notch. Recommended.

Two things particularly drew me into seeing 'Walk a Crooked Mile'. One was the suitably foreboding title. The other was a nice concept in a genre that has always been a favourite, with many great films in it. Very interesting seeing Louis Hayward in a role never seen in this way before, or at least from my experience. The advertising is not much different from the advertising of other films in the genre or similar, but that didn't matter too much to me.

'Walk a Crooked Mile' is worth a viewing, even if in my view it isn't a must or a genre classic. For me, it was slightly above mixed feelings level. Really appreciated its pull no punches approach and was really surprised by how well Hayward came off, but also really wished that the ending was so much stronger than it turned out. There is a lot to like about 'Walk a Crooked Mile', but it is also a film that is fairly easy to criticise even when taking it for what it is (so not to expect high art).

It does have moments of stylish and moody photography and eerie lighting. The music is suitably ominous without over emphasising the mood. The direction is suitably assured and shows a command and understanding of the genre. Much of the script is fine, really liked its tautness and grit.

A tautness and grit that is present in the uncompromising and sometimes brutal storytelling, which has some nice tension and entertainment value. Its documentary noir style structure is fascinating and is handled very well, not gimmicky or too heavily used. Hayward is hard boiled yet also understated, nothing melodramatic. Dennis O'Keefe is even better and the two work very well together.

However, 'Walk a Crooked Mile' could have been more. The low budget does show at times in the sparse settings and some rushed looking transitions. Some of the dialogue over-explains a little too much, especially the overused narration.

Did wish too that the ending was less anaemic when it came to the suspense and that it was less predictable, that final decision is so cliched and tacked on to the point it jars and doesn't make sense.

Overall, decent. 6/10.