Un Américain pur sang

Refreshingly free of cant and surprisingly low on propaganda, Joe Smith American is one of the best 'B' features you'll ever see--it was so good, in fact, that it opened in 1942 atop the bill at movie theatres in New York City. Robert Young plays the titular character, an all American 'Joe' who won't spill his guts about a secret bomb sight to the bad guys--even after being tortured and threatened with death. The torture sequence is surely one of the most grueling things committed to celluloid from the period, and in addition to being spectacularly shot by Charles Lawton Jr. was masterfully lit by one of MGM's superbly trained and uncredited craftsmen. The cloth binding used to blind and gag Young, coupled with the narrative use of his inner voice, anticipates the bleak and distressing Johnny Got His Gun by thirty years. And while the film is certainly a tribute to American patriotism--witness the fascinating schoolyard rendition of My Country Tis of Thee, complete with an odd fascist style salute to the flag--it pointedly allows Young's character to sleep in on Sundays and miss church!

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 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.

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.

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".