User reviews

The House on 92nd Street (1945)

Henry Hathaway has directed some great film noirs (Kiss of Death is indisputably great), but he also didn't mind the dull assignment here and there, as in the competent Call Northside 777 and this one, both revealing American crime detection in action. Yes, this is actually well made, but it has a documentary feel that leaves it in a straitjacket as good crime drama. It's strong stuff, and filled with significance, real Nazi activities on U.S. soil leading to the a-bomb. But you'll see, as soon as the familiar narrator starts to explain the events, that it's a formulaic approach.

To some extent, you can't really watch this without noticing it feels, from the next century (2010 as I write) like propaganda. Not that it isn't honest, it just is filled with uncritical pride. The FBI in particular comes across as flawless and brilliant, and I'm sure it often was, but not quite without complications, nuances, and personal quirks that make the best fiction films take off. This one was made just as World War II was over in Europe, and there was nothing but patriotism in the air, naturally.

I actually like Leo G. Carroll a lot, and he holds up his scenes well, and Swedish actress Signe Hasso is a surprise, strong and sharp (wait until she takes her wig off and transforms in ten seconds). Much of the movie, especially after the first half hour with all its narration and actual documentary footage, has the feel of any well constructed drama and those are the parts, for me, to hook into. Besides, there is a quality here that's really pretty fun--a glimpse into the attitude of 1945 America that isn't the usual brazen, lonely, taut film noir response. Fiction makes for better movie-going, in this case, but here is a watchable quasi-documentary that holds up pretty well, off and on, if you keep expectations in check.

This semi documentary film, shows the FBI at work in those early days of the European conflict. Henry Hathaway, the director, focus on the work behind the scenes of a group of German spies, operating in New York and how the FBI is able to infiltrate the group.

The film, as seen today, still holds the viewer's attention, although the technology is obsolete by today standards. We are given a suspenseful story about the group that established the base of operations in the house on 92nd Street and Madison Avenue in the Manhattan of the 40s. The crisp black and white cinematography by Norbert Brodine still looks pristine and sharp.

The cast headed by Lloyd Nolan as Briggs, do a good job under Mr. Hathaway's direction. Best of all is Signe Hasso as Elsa Gebhart, the designing woman with a lot of secrets. Leo G. Carroll is also seen as one of the spies. Gene Lockhart also has a minor role.

It was fun to watch uncredited New York based actors in the background such as E.G. Marshall, Vincent Gardenia, Paul Ford, among others making small contributions to the film.

Henry Hathaway directed this spy film presented in semi-documentary fashion starring Lloyd Nolan as FBI Inspector George Briggs, who is in charge of the counter-terrorist division that recruits German-speaking William Dietrich(played by William Eythe) to infiltrate a cell of German spies sent to America to gather information on the construction of the atomic bomb. The FBI allows its 92nd. street headquarters to remain open in order to identify its highest-level operatives, which involve a Mr. Christopher, though Dietrich's main contact is a woman(played by Signe Hasso) How long before he can identify his targets, or end up identified himself? Fine film effectively uses the semi-documentary approach, with Lloyd Nolan the standout, and would reprise the role in semi-sequel "The Street With No Name".

"The House on 92nd Street" is a 1945 film about the FBI's attempts to break up a spy ring during the war. A young man, William Dietrich (William Eythe), who has been recruited by the Nazis as a spy, informs the FBI of this and becomes their mole inside the organization. One of Dietrich's goals is to get the identity of the mysterious "Mr. Christopher" who gives all of the orders.

This is a black and white film with strong narration that probably had a great impact at the time of its release. Though the machinery used in the movie looks archaic now, back then it must have been fascinating for an audience to watch and seemed very high-tech. Plus some of the material being transmitted had to do with the top-secret atom bomb, which at the time of the film, had just been dropped.

The cast is small, consisting of Eythe, Lloyd Nolan, Leo G. Carroll, Signe Hasso, Gene Lockhart, and Lydia St. Clair. They're all solid. For a change, the women, Hasso and St. Clair, have the strongest roles in the film, and they give striking performances. Eythe was getting the big star build-up at 20th Century Fox. Since it was wartime, he could have made a place for himself at the studio the way that Dana Andrews did. However, when gay rumors reached Darryl Zanuck, Eythe's path became a rocky one, leading nowhere, as the studio continually demoted him and eventually got rid of him.

Well worth seeing.

The highly gifted natural and trained talent of Lloyd Nolan adorns this story of espionage and counterespionage in the US just prior to and after WWII was declared.

Playing a key FBI agent, Nolan displays the totally convincing work he rendered throughout his career. He heads a strong cast: Signe Hasso and Leo G. Carroll offer solid performances, and William Ethye is a good leading man.

Director Henry Hathaway mixes in authentic newsreel footage with care and balance. The result is a well done docudrama of the mid 40s.

It looks as though 20th Century Fox made a pact with the FBI for this project, with almost the complete Bureau being utilized for the shoot. The films emerges as a supreme tribute to the branch, with Chief Hoover's name frequently in evidence.

The work technically qualifies as propaganda, in which patriotic appreciation and support for the war effort is forthrightly projected.

This is the story of how the FBI supposedly cracked a Nazi espionage ring on the trail of Manhattan Project (the A-Bomb) in the early years of World War II. As a movie, its chief significance is that it kicked off a spate of semi-documentary movies paying tribute to one or another of the U.S. government's law enforcement agencies and celebrating Our Tax Dollars at Work. Such films became a staple of the noir cycle; a few of them even achieved distinction (T-Men, for instance).

William Eythe, a young American, is recruited by and trained in Germany to be a spy; in fact he works as a double agent for the FBI. The film, shot largely on location, traces the actions of the nest of vipers on New York's upper east side. Their unofficial master seems to be Signe Hasso, under cover of running a chic dress boutique. Her opposite number, who runs Eythe, is Lloyd Nolan (who was to reprise his role as Inspector Briggs in subsequent films).

The film's period flavor keeps it from seeming too dated, because the spying looks quite primitive to audiences spoiled by James Bond gimmickry and later, even more sophisticated, espionage thrillers. And, from a modern perspective, the smug boastfulness about the Bureau's -- and America's -- infallibility becomes a bit hard to swallow. There's little texture or nuance in the film, but, as a quasi-historical document, it exerts its own fascination.

I first saw "The House ..." when I was a middle school student, and became an enthusiastic fan of it. I believe this film is the first and best semi-documentary masterpiece ever made. The film's density is high and there are no superfluous scenes. Reed Hadley's narration is strong, persuasive and impressive. The sound quality is also exceptional: motif march music, actual sounds of inside of the FBI and the city, actors voice etc. Black and White cinematography of actual locations is sharp and beautiful. Lloyd Nolan's dependable performance as FBI inspector George A. Briggs, Lydia St. Clair and Alfred Linder's thankless roles, very beautiful Signe Hasso as Elsa Gebhardt ...etc. Gebhardt are all unforgettable. i recommend this masterpiece to all suspense film fans to see. Three years later Lloyd Nolan plays the same role of Briggs in "The Street with No Name", and its motif march music is also same.

When this film was made in the 1940's, the ultimate evil that is Adolph Hilter and the Nazi movement was still a serious threat to our way of life. Lloyd Nolan, a major star of the 30's and 40's, gives his usual strong performance as FBI Agent Briggs, in charge of the Nazi spy case. Leo G. Carroll steals the movie playing the Nazi spymaster. Enjoy this film and remember why our fathers and grandfathers fought WWII. As a side note, real FBI agents appeared in this movie in support roles at the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, who gave his full co-operation to the producers.

The House on 92nd Street is directed by Henry Hathaway with a screenplay co-written by Jack Moffitt, Barré Lyndon and John Monks Jr, adapted from a story by Charles G. Booth. It stars William Eythe, Lloyd Nolan, Signe Hasso, Gene Lockhart and Leo G. Carroll. Music is by David Buttolph and photography Norbert Brodine.

"This story is adapted from cases in the espionage files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Produced with the F.B.I.'s complete co-operation, it could not be made public until the first Atomic Bomb was dropped on Japan"

Thought to be based around the FBI's real life Duquesne Spy Ring case of 1941/42, where 33 Nazi spies were captured and sentenced to more than 300 years in prison, The House on 92nd Street is undoubtedly a historically interesting artifact of note. It's also a film whose influence on the sub-genre of semi-documentary crime film's is not in question, in fact, it can be held up as the forerunner of film's such as The Naked City. Yet watching it now it just comes across as an advertisement for how good the FBI are, while the effects used are archaic and extremely hard to get excited about. The acting, too, is pretty average at best, where no amount of arguing that it adds realism can account for some plainly delivered set-ups. One or two intriguing moments aside, it's a basically executed film set around a very good story. While film noir fans should be aware that although it's frequently mentioned as part of the film noir universe, it's really not very noir at all.

A semi-sequel called The Street with No Name followed in 1948, with Lloyd Nolan reprising his role as Inspector Briggs, and that itself was reworked into House of Bamboo in 1955, where the setting was Tokyo. Both of these film's are considerably better than Hathaway's FBI propaganda piece. 4/10

Where in the world did they find hawk-nosed, beady-eyed Lydia St. Clair, the German Gestapo agent. One look from her, and I'd spill my guts in a flash. This is her only movie credit, so I'm guessing she had the same effect on the producers. Speaking of producers, Louis De Rochemont and TCF led the docu-drama trend that greatly influenced post-war crime drama. This is an early entry, and as a model of craftsmanship, there's none better, at least in my view. The location photography, FBI footage, and voice-over narration combine seamlessly with the melodramatic elements supposedly based on fact. Credit much of this to director Hathaway, one of Hollywood's supreme craftsmen.

Sure, the movie sometimes plays like an advertisement for the FBI. But if the data cited is correct, they had a lot to brag about in terms of counter-espionage. Notice, however, no mention is made of the thousands of Japanese-American citizens illegally interned on the West Coast. The Mr. Cristopher charade may be a gimmick, but it does build suspense as we guess the whereabouts of the mastermind. And when the "unveiling" finally comes, I suspect a few 1945 audiences were mildly startled. Seems a stretch to call this a noir since the lighting and atmosphere are naturalistic throughout. Anyway, as a blend of documentary style with story interest, it's hard to beat this tautly efficient little thriller.

In passing—check out the movie's initial release date, barely a month after the first public disclosure of the A-bomb following Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Looks to me like this required some furious re-writing and maybe some changes in Lockhart's role of research professor. No doubt inclusion of the new weapon was used to sell the film to information hungry audiences.

It really IS a classic of the genre, but the problem is that the genre itself is so dated as not to be taken seriously anymore. That happens to genres. Would you watch a Western in which the good guy wears a white hat and the bad guy wears a black hat and one "calls the other out" and they have a mano-a-mano shootout in the middle of the dusty street and the good guy wins and gets the girl? I mean, that's asking a lot of a modern audience.

This film was one of a series of semi-documentaries that came out with the end of the war. Often, as here, Henry Hathaway was the director and the stentorian baritone Reed Hadley was the narrator. I can't vouch for the historical accuracy of the plot, although regardless of the facts I'm sure J. Edgar Hoover was tickled pink when he saw it. Hoover, President-for-Life of the FBI, was a media savvy character. Early in his career he had a skilled partner in Melvin Purvis, the guy who tracked down Dillinger. Such rivalry was not to be tolerated. Purvis's part in the affair, in fact his whole persona, was purged like Akhenaten's until Hoover became the hero. Purvis quit in disgust. Hoover refused to cooperate with Warner's "G-Men" because Jimmy Cagney patronized a saloon, but he gave the FBI's all to this film because the FBI was morally upright and flawless.

One scene was of particular interest. A real Nazi spy insists on testing the American counterspy's radio set to see if it can actually reach Hamburg. It doesn't. It transmits directly to a nearby FBI station which then relays the information to Germany, in a slightly altered form. The FBI operator hears the Nazi calling. He looks up and says, "That isn't Bill. I know his fist." A "fist" is the particular style that an individual operator uses in sending Morse code. It's about as distinctive as his handwriting. I was a radio operator for a few years in the Coast Guard and had a great fist. Most of the other men at my station set their keys to automatic "fast" so they could sound hot. Only they overreached and wound up sounding jagged and making a lot of errors. I set mine to "slow" and developed a fist that was easy to read and pleasing to listen to in its rhythmic splendor. Two radiomen from a ship visited the station in dress blues one afternoon and asked who "LL" was -- my sign-off letters. They came over to my console and one said, "We just wanted to tell you that it's a pleasure to copy you." The two men shook my hand, the three of us blushed, and they made a hurried exit, because real men don't say things like that to one another.

I dislike boasts but there are so few things I do well. Oh, yes, the movie. Alas,the conventions of the genre demand that the Nazis be evil in every respect. Worse than that, they're rude. When the American counterspy is introduced to them, they don't even greet him, they just scowl. None of them is in love, none of them has a home, none has a dog or a cat or collects stamps. They sacrifice one another for the cause at the drop of a solecism and -- well, you get the picture. Compare the Nazi spies in Hitchcock's "Notorious."

The conventions doom the characters as human beings. Loyd Nolan and Signe Hasso are the most watchable, but all of the performances are colorless. Even the hero is dull, despite the danger he often finds himself in.

It's still an interesting and exciting flick, once you adapt to its weaknesses. Fascinating to see the way in which two-way mirrors are presented as the high-tech novelty they were at the time. And the pre-computer FBI's fingerprint storage -- "Five THOUSAND fingerprints on file!", Hadley announces proudly.

It's worth catching if it is convenient.

Though a bit stodgy and stiff, this is an eye-opening and authentic-feeling window into the work of FBI counter-espionage in NY as they attempt to keep nuclear secrets from Hitler. The stentorian voice-over re-occurs throughout the movie and there are thrilling shots of 1940s NY streets throughout that are lensed in a more modern style at times. The acting is merely serviceable, esp. The cookie-cutter hero but some of the German characters come across as being truly menacing and sinister (while not over-doing it); special mention must be made of Signe Hasso who's perfect as the ice-cold mistress-spy. What I guess lends this film its noirish edge is its complex network of characters and schemes, and the sense of paranoic dread which raises its ugly head in claustrophobic scenes. It's amazing to see all the pre-digital paperwork, organisation and deception that had to be done to track these dastardly spies down - but it's not just procedural bureaucracy-there is a real sense of tension threading its way throughout the movie and the action becomes quite edge-of-the-seat stuff here and there (even if only on a small scale between the spies). The 90 mins or so go briskly by as you watch this highly unusual type of movie.

Very sluggish film about the FBI's search for Nazi spies, made in those long ago days when the Feds were the good guys and the Fascists weren't. The screenplay by the pseudonymous Barre Lyndon and the usually good John Monks, perhaps hampered by the docu drama format, fails to provide its main characters with discernible personalities. Therefore, a lot of pressure is on director Henry Hathaway to come up with plenty of action and rapid pacing so as to distract the viewer from this rather important omission. Unfortunately the old curmudgeon falls down on the job and things get pretty darn dull until the last fifteen minutes or so when Hathaway, perhaps sensing that he's helmed a fairly somnolent movie up to now, pulls out the stops in a rousing finale. I won't spoil it for you except to note that it features, among other things, copious amounts of tear gas as well as Signe Hasso channeling her inner Joel Grey. C plus.

A film that must be viewed in the context of its time.

An outstanding suspense thriller that holds your interest to the end when the identity of "Christopher" is confirmed. Excellent location photography gives a stark view of wartime New York. Fine acting by a quality cast and good direction to keep the story moving.

All told, an absorbing film and a fine piece of history.

Fox probably had only good and honorable intentions releasing this movie on DVD in 2005, but it was misleading to quite a staggering degree that 'House on 92nd Street' was included in the company's noir collection.

If there is anything 'House' is not, noir is it! It is the earliest pioneering effort, mixing staged drama with documentary footage and a lot of faux-documentary as well. Today this dubious method is used all the time, but at the time it was novel.

'House on 92nd Street' is about a Nazi group trying to build a fifth column in New York up to and during World War II, and a heroic FBI agent's tireless endeavors as a counterspy to catch them. The secret ingredient of the atom bomb is at stake here! The tone of 'House' doesn't sit well with intelligent audiences of today. The propaganda is painted on in broad strokes and is rather annoying in its vulgarity, rather more easy to understand in the context of the political milieu in 1945. It looks with suspicion at other ethnicities than the most apple-pie typical Americans. The heroics of the FBI is wildly exaggerated, and the background music is patriotic and martial ad nauseam.

What is worse, because really fine propagandist movies have been made, movies that make a lot of sens even today - what is worse is that director Henry Hathaway is not given anything to work with. Only in the last 15 minutes or so is there room for any actual mise-en-scene, but by then it is too late to get our nerves on edge.

So what is there to admire here? From a cinematic point of view, not a lot to be sure. The political story is unfocused, the personal drama underdeveloped, the acting perfunctory. But the picture did have a following and it did inspire a whole series of movies with a documentary feel to them, for instance the far better 'Call Northside 777'.

This story is adapted from cases in the espionage files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI . Being produced with FBI's complete cooperation . It could not be made public until the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. It deals with a young student named Dietrich : William Eythe becomes a FBI double agent under command of Lloyd Nolan to crack a Nazi ring led by Signe Hasso. The FBI's own tense , terrific story behind the protection of the Atomic Bomb!. This is the man whose sin was greater than murder...These were the hunted...this is the house ... this is the picture ! The house that hid a secret more terrifying than the mind can conceive ! A terror more deadly than murder !

A semi-documentary thriller allied to an intelligent mystery plot and made with the full cooperation of the Hoover's FBI . It is taut, intricate , tense and intriguing , resulting in a superb climax . It stills works well enough , even though the breathless revelation of the hardware of counterespionage : Two-way mirrors , microfilm , fingerprint and hidden cameras with advanced techniques have become slightly old hat . The scenes in this picture were photographed in the localities of the incidents depicted , Washington, New York and their vicinities, wherever possible, in the actual place the original incident occurred. With the exception of the leading players , all the FBI personnel in the picture are members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Most riveting is the way the Nazi spy ring is foiled before they can escape with the secrets of the atomic bomb . The low-key interpretations contribuye effectively to the sense of actuality despite some clumsy mistakes . Actors give uniformly passable acting such as : William Eythe , Lloyd Nolan, Leo G Carroll, Gene Lockhart and special mention for Signe Hasso giving a strange performance and overacting .

The motion picture was competently directed by Henry Hathaway, providing a semi-documentary, brisk style , and it set the fashion for a whole host of rip-offs and imitations . Hathaway was a good and prolific Hollywood craftsman with a long career , and he directed a lot of films of all kinds of genres (Lives of three Bengal Lancer , Sundown, 13 Rue Madeleine , Sons of Katie Elder , North to Alaska , How the West was won, Nevada Smith, Raid on Rommel, The Desert Fox , Circus World, True Grit, and several others). Rating 7/10 . Better than average .

"The House on 92nd Street" is a "how we won the war" film rushed out with almost indecent haste immediately after World War II finished. It was first shown in September 1945, only a month after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, something referred to in the film. It is made in a semi-documentary style and tells the story of how the FBI infiltrate and break up a Nazi espionage ring who are trying to obtain the secrets of America's atomic weapons research programme, and is closely based on the real-life Duquesne Spy Ring case of 1941. The title refers to the address of the gang's headquarters in New York City.

The film is occasionally described as "film noir", but to my mind it is something very different to the true noir style. There was more to noir than black-and-white photography and a storyline involving illegal activities. True noir is characterised by doubt and moral uncertainty; it may, indeed, have evolved as a reaction to the political and moral certainties of the forties, the decade which brought us not only World War II but also the early years of the Cold War. "The House on 92nd Street" is a film which leaves no room for moral doubts. Its moral certainties are absolute; America good, Germany bad. The war may have been over, but it is still essentially a wartime propaganda film. It was made with the cooperation of the FBI and, indeed, apart from the leading roles the FBI agents in the film were played by actual agents rather than professional actors. It is hardly surprising that the Bureau and its agents are shown as morally upright, competent, vigilant and physically courageous, especially Bill Dietrich, the young German-American who agrees to infiltrate the gang.

In its idealised portrayal of law enforcement agents, this film resembles something like "White Heat" from 1948. It is also, for different reasons, reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's "Notorious" from 1946, which also deals with FBI agents taking on a Nazi spy-ring. It is not, however, a film in anything like the same class as either of those masterpieces. "White Heat" may have idealised the police and FBI, but it has an ingenious plot and some excellent acting, especially from James Cagney. "The House on 92nd Street" is, by comparison, laboured and plodding; none of the acting performances rise above the merely competent, except perhaps Signe Hasso's glamorous villainess Elsa.

Not all of Hitchcock's crime dramas really qualify as film noir, but I think that "Notorious" is one of those that does, along with the likes of "Shadow of a Doubt" and "Strangers on a Train". Despite its ostensible "good guys versus bad guys" spy-thriller theme, it contains some disturbing psychological shadows and moral ambiguities of a sort which are quite lacking from this film. Although it was directed by Henry Hathaway who later made that very Hitchcockian thriller "Niagara", I couldn't help feeling as I watched it that "The House on 92nd Street" also lacks, even towards the end when Dietrich is in danger from the villains, any of the real suspense which was Hitchcock's stock-in-trade and that it would have been greatly improved had the producers hired the Master himself. Today it is of little more than historical interest. 5/10