Lo schiavo della violenza

Caution: there is a sickening amount of propaganda in this film.

Another caution: this a below-average time filler.

However, if you love film noir like I do, then this film is a must-see.

There is some good lighting in the exterior shots and no matter how average a film is (this is about a 6 on a 1-10 scale); if Robert Ryan and Laraine Day are in it, it's going to scream "noir". And Ryan does a good job here, but has a bad script to work with. The subject of the film is way out of date; yet, it's still an intriguing time machine.

As I recall, this film is very short (maybe 62-67 minutes long?) and thus, isn't listed in most film guides. I had no idea what I was getting into when I watched it the first time. Don't miss it if you like film noir/crime types.

THE WOMAN ON PIER 13 is probably the most anti-Communist film that came out of Hollywood. It seems to have been made purely by Howard Hughes in order to score political points, and the original title (I MARRIED A COMMUNIST) is telling in itself. That it nevertheless turns out to be an atmospheric little film noir all by itself is a testament to the director, who lifts laughable source material out of the gutter.

The film's setting is familiar from ON THE WATERFRONT, except this time the threat doesn't come from gangsters but rather secret Communists who use murder and extortion to achieve their aims. Robert Ryan is typically dependable as the conflicted hero, but it's the heavies who work really well here: a debuting William Talman, a larger-than-life Thomas Gomez. The real star, though, is director Robert Stevenson (of Orson Welles's JANE EYRE), who brings the murky waterways to life and makes the film look as good as it can get.

A film for Robert Ryan fans, for this shows how handsome he was. Fit and virile, and before smoking began to take its toll. He was 40 yrs old by the time he made this film. He got the chance to be something of a hero for a change. He does some pretty good acting, for him, and romantics everywhere will love the way he desperately tries to save his wife in dramatic scenes. This movie pushes home the paranoia of anti-communist views as it was in the 50's. People scoff at the fear of communism in todays climate, but things were different then. People have forgotten how men died because of communist spies. British soldiers and some Americans and Polish too, died at the hands of communist spies such as Guy Burgess, Kim Philby and Anthony Blunt. They mainly operated from Whitehall, London, and spilled secrets to Russian Communists in the 40's during the war. They leaked details of planned operations that got back to the Russians. When they started being discovered by the British and American Intelligence they fled to live in Russia and they died in the 70's. However, this film expresses a fear and nothing more than that of dark forces at work among men. Essentially a "B" movie but certainly adequate and worth a look for Robert Ryan alone, and probably as a history lesson for movie makers.

The Woman on Pier 13 (AKA: I Married a Communist) is directed by Robert Stevenson and collectively written by Charles Grayson, Robert Hardy Andrews, George W. George and George F. Slavin. It stars Robert Ryan, Laraine Day, John Agar, Thomas Gomez, Janis Carter, Richard Rober and William Talman. Music is by Leigh Harline and cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca.

Brad Collins (Ryan) was a one time member of the communist party. Now married and thriving in business, his world is turned upside down when the CPUSA come to seek him out for influential favours.

It wasn't easy for director Stevenson, what with RKO mogul Howard Hughes interfering as he forced home his anti-communist slant, so much so the whole pic comes off as an almost there type of piece. Casting aside that it's all a bit daft these days, with its red hysteria leanings (though it serves as a most interesting social document of the era), there's a number of tight scenes and enough moody atmospherics to keep this out of basement hell.

Characterisations are rich in noir traditions, a protag whose past is back to bite him, a slinky femme fatale, a dutiful wife in the dark, and villains of substance. Be it Gomez's weasel Commie boss stomping around like a malevolent tyrant or Talman's fairground working hit- man for hire, the latter with a dress code as mirthful as it is strangely unnerving, the baddies offer up some sort of balance in a screenplay that's not sure where it ideally stands. The violence hits hard, with shocking deaths, and in good dark noir style the finale holds court for the right reasons.

Add in a cast who don't let anyone down and the great Musuraca showing his photographic skills (though not as much as we would like), then it's a more than decent viewing experience. But the proviso is that you do have to let the propaganda go above your head to get to those decent rewards. 6/10

One understands why Nicholas Ray turned this picture down. Yet, the final product could have been worse: the Communist Party could have been portrayed as something less attractive than a waterfront mob. Remember that audiences are and were used to identifying with glamorous gangland and this mob is not lacking in muscle, molls, and even a certain coolness (they have social parties and are intellectual). And the finale scene nearly matches some of best film noirs. To boot, the great Robert Ryan, whose character can no more divorce himself from the Party as from the Mob, somehow lends, by his association alone, even more draw to these American Reds. Apart from all this, the movie's worth a look if only for Ryan and Lorraine Day (some faces).