Joe Smith, American

I saw this movie when I was 9 at our local movie theatre on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles, CA. It was just a bit after we had entered WWII, and all of us kids at Logan Street School were out checking on the planes that flew overhead to make sure they weren't Jap or Nazi(Politically incorrect now, but the usage then) I remember Robert Young being kidnapped by Nazi spies and what impressed my friends and myself the most, was his leading the FBI back to their hideout while being blindfolded. A real great propaganda film of the day.

Joe Smith, American is a bit more than flag waving film, typical of the times back in 1942. It's quite the sociological treatise of its time and rates quite a bit more than most propaganda film, B film that it was.

Robert Young's character of Joe Smith is your average American who probably got some help from the New Deal and now that America is mobilizing for war has landed himself a nice job in the defense industry. Which makes him of interest to enemy agents as we shall see.

One of the things that really got me was that one of the questions that was asked of him as he's being grilled by security people is his religious views. Young replies that he doesn't go to church regularly, but hastens to assure these people that he does send his kid young Darryl Hickman to Sunday School and he does believe in God. The security people beam their approval at him. The idea that someone who is of atheist or agnostic or even freethinking views is a security risk is something we'd see later on in full force during the McCarthy era.

Anyway he gets cleared to work on installing a new kind of bombsight into the planes and then one night some enemy agents kidnap and force him under torture to tell about the bombsight. When the agents go to kill him they make the bad mistake of not killing him in the hideout, but take him by car to wherever they're planning dispose of him. Young makes a daring escape and the police get involved in a hunt for the perpetrators.

The out and out flag waving is kept to a minimum, but when young Darryl Hickman tells Young about Nathan Hale whom he learned about in school it's clear that the message of the film is that there might come a day when we could be called on to make a sacrifice like Nathan Hale, even your average Joe Smith, American.

The film was released in February of 1942 and must have been rushed into production after Pearl Harbor. Marsha Hunt plays Young's wife and if you look carefully you will spot Ava Gardner in an unbilled non-speaking part.

Young who played the ultimate average man in Father Knows Best a decade later on television is perfectly suited for the role of Joe Smith, American. He could be any one of us.

There are lots of movies you can point to and assume they were Robert Young's audition for Father Knows Best, and when Joe Smith, American starts, it seems like it could fall into that category. Robert is a happy family man, a hard worker, and as devoted to making his wife happy as he is to teaching his son good values.

However, Robert gets a promotion and takes part in secret government plans to help out the factory during wartime. One night, he gets kidnapped, beaten, and tortured to try and extract government secrets. This is not your average Father Knows Best episode.

If you're looking for two movies out of Robert's career to make you say, "I didn't know he had it in him!" then rent The Wet Parade and Joe Smith, American. There's a common phrase we at The Rag like to say about performances snubbed by The Academy, "What does it take?" While that phrase certainly applies to Robert's performance in this film, there's another phrase that also applies. Here at The Rag, we happily brag that the actors and actresses honored with awards and nominations "couldn't have been any better." This high praise is well-earned. Rent it for a very heavy, very raw, Rag-nominated performance by Robert Young.

This one came so Early after Pearl Harbor that it can be seen more as a Rousing Call to Arms and is often Mislabeled a Propaganda Piece.

It is also so "In Your Face" and Unambiguous in its Flag Waving that it actually seems Refreshing because it is so Honest.

Everything here is Quintessential "Americana". The Title, Married Couple with Child in Suburbia, the Pledge of Allegiance (without "Under God" by the way), the Nathan Hale Story, the Factory, References to Church Going and Sunday School, Home Mortgages, the Kid's Writing Tablet, and more.

It's Surprising Robert Young didn't ask His Wife to Pass the Apple Pie when They Gather for a "Father's Day" Dinner.

Taken at Face Value (and that's all there is) it is a Good Thriller with a Brutal Torture Scene, made Tolerable by Flashbacks of more Americana and a Patriotic Voice inside Joe's Head telling Him to "Keep a Secret" for His Family's and Country's sake.

Viewed Today it can seem to Drag its Message Heavy and Long, but it all Works as an Interesting Time Capsule, circa 1942 America through the Eyes of an Average "Joe".

This is an exceptionally well-written and directed B-film from MGM directed in crisp, tense style by RICHARD THORPE.

ROBERT YOUNG is at his most affable best as a typical young man of the '40s era who is sought by the government to work on plans for a new bomb-sight design which he must keep top secret. Spies kidnap him and it's while he's being held hostage that he forces himself to remember how he met his wife (MARSHA HUNT) and there are a series of homespun scenes with Young and his son, DARRYL HICKMAN.

But even though loaded with flashbacks, Thorpe keeps the action and suspense alive by cutting back and forth between those scenes and clips of his brutal torture by the spies. Fortunately, he keeps his wits about him and is able to recall various things about the hiding place and his captors that help the FBI capture them in the end. A clever series of incidents leads to the manner in which he's able to lead them to the hideout.

Well done in crisp style with Robert Young and Marsha Hunt making an attractive pair in the leading roles. Darryl Hickman is effective as the son who has a secret of his own that he's unwilling to tell.

Well worth watching as a bit of American propaganda at the outset of WWII.