Movie |
Communist | Film Noir
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Best Documentary Features | 1952
The Communist Party USA was established in 1919. In 1921 it changed its name to The Workers Party of America. It was banned in 1954 by an act of Congress (the Communist Control Act of 1954). At its peak in 1944 the membership rose to 80.000 members but by mid-1950s it dropped to only 5000 members, including 1500 FBI informants.
Matt Cvetic really was a Pittsburgh native who really was asked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to join the Communist Party of the USA as an informant in the 1940s. By 1948 he was earning $85 per week from the FBI for his work, although he continually pressured the Bureau to increase his salary to $100 and threatened to quit if his requests were not granted (they weren't, and he didn't). He told what he was the true story of his experience in a series of articles in the Saturday Evening Post. His experiences were first dramatized in a radio program, which was later adapted for a Warner Brothers motion picture in 1951. He also testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s. Although the radio and film adaptations portrayed Cvetic as one of the party's primary operatives in the USA, he didn't actually rise above the party's lower echelons. By 1955, Cvetic had been largely discredited as a witness regarding communist activities in the USA because of Justice Department and FBI concerns regarding Cvetic's embellishment of the facts, including an instance in which he claimed to have defused a Nazi spy plot single-handedly.
Frank Lovejoy and Paul Picerni, who play brothers, would work again for Gordon Douglas two years later in 'She's Back On Broadway'.
At the time of this film, J. Edgar Hoover was in the middle of his 48-year tenure as the FBI's director.
Modern surveillance methods make the equipment shown in this film seem downright archaic. But it was state of the art at the time.
"Gerhardt Eisler: This section produces more steel than all the rest of the country put together. Move Pittsburgh an inch and we can move this country a mile. But, er, Pittsburgh is too quiet, too peaceful. To bring about the victory of Communism in America, we must incite riots, discontent, open warfare among the people. That is the purpose of tonight's meeting."
"Gerhardt Eisler: A very enjoyable evening. Close the door. Blandon, you did exceedingly well Jim Blandon: [chuckles] Thanks. Those niggers ate it up, didn't they? Matt Cvetic: You mean, Negroes, don't you, Jim? Jim Blandon: [shrugs] Only when I'm trying to sell them the party line Gerhardt Eisler: They're very useful comrades Matt Cvetic: There's going to be trouble on the streets tonight Jim Blandon: Well, if there isn't, I've been wasting the Party's time. Anyone want a drink? Do you mind? Gerhardt Eisler: Go ahead Jim Blandon: Comrades, comrades! You know, Matt calls them comrades too, only he believes it. You see, Matt, if one of that crowd goes out into the street tonight and picks a fight with a white man, and... well, kills him maybe... then he gets convicted by a White jury, we can go to bat and raise a defence fund. Am I correct, Mr Eisler? Gerhardt Eisler: Ahha... just like in the Scottsboro case Jim Blandon: Exactly, do you know that the Party raised nearly two million? Yes, nearly two million dollars just to defend those six niggers and all it cost was 65,000... Gerhardt Eisler: ...to lose the case Jim Blandon: Right. Yes, we made a tremendous profit on that deal. Shall I tell him what was done with it? Gerhardt Eisler: No, no. No, Blandon. I am afraid the National Committee wouldn't like that Matt Cvetic: In other words, Jim, your speech had a double purpose Jim Blandon: Bright boy, Matt. The Pittsburgh Branch needs dough. We're always in the red!"
