Walk A Crooked Mile (1948)

Walk A Crooked Mile (1948)

„Walk A Crooked Mile“ is a 1948 film noir  anti-communist, Cold War crime film, directed by Gordon Douglas. The screenplay by George Bruce is based on a story by Bertram Millhauser.

A young FBI agent assigned to guard the Lakeview Laboratory of Nuclear Physics, a top secret research facility devoted to the development of the atom bomb, is murdered. Senior government agent Daniel F. O’Hara, assigned to the project, launches an intense manhunt for his killer.

Dan and other agents suspect an illegal alien, Anton Radchek, and trail him to a San Francisco rooming house. Radchek is murdered, after he called Igor Braun.

At San Francisco FBI headquarters, Dan is introduced to Philip „Scotty“ Grayson, an emissary from Scotland Yard on a special mission to track down an artist who has been exporting paintings to London, which, under ultra violet light, reveal a secret formula. When Dan notices that the painting is signed by Igor Braun, the two agents join forces to find the location depicted in the painting. Tracing Braun to an apartment in the city, they discover he’s completing another painting with an embedded secret formula, destined for London.

Braun flies to Los Angeles and then drives to an art shop in Lakeview owned by Adolph Mizner, the leader of a communist spy ring. Following Braun, Dan and Grayson then confer with Dr. Frederick Townsend, the director of the Lakeview project. The agents realize one of the five scientists working on the project is a traitor: Dr. Toni Neva, Dr. Ritter Van Stolb, Dr. William Forrest, Dr. Homer Allen and Townsend.

Braun sends another painting to London, prompting Dan to surmise that the formula was smuggled out through the plant laundry. Posing as a worker, Grayson infiltrates the laundry and observes Toni drop off a load of clothes from which the clerk extracts a handkerchief, which he then slips into a box of men’s shirts. After Krebs, one of the spies, picks up the box, Grayson knocks him unconscious, steals the box and finds a formula inscribed on the handkerchief.

Hurrying to Grayson’s rooming house, the spies begin to brutalize Grayson and his landlady, Mrs. Ecko, when Dan arrives. Dan and Grayson then overpower their captor, but in the fray, the landlady is killed.

The next day, Van Stolb’s body is discovered murdered. While following Allen, one of the three remaining scientists, Dan, is shot at and forced over a cliff by Krebs. Grayson speeds to rescue Dan from his burning vehicle, and they alert the police about Allen. With the help of the police, the agents locate Allen and Braun closeted in a small house. After a blazing shootout, the agents arrest Allen, the scion of a prominent Boston family, as the traitor. When Allen proclaims his loyalty to his country, Dan forces open his palm, revealing an imprint of the secret formula.

A 1948 American Black & White anti-communist Cold War crime film directed by Gordon Douglas, produced by Edward Small and Grant Whytock, screenplay by George Bruce, story by Bertram Millhauser, cinematography by Edward Colman and George Robinson, starring Louis Hayward, Dennis O’Keefe, Louise Allbritton, Carl Esmond, Onslow Stevens, Art Baker, Lowell Gilmore, Philip Van Zandt, Charles Evans, Frank Ferguson, Reed Hadley, and Raymond Burr.

Cast:

• Louis Hayward – Philip „Scotty“ Grayson
• Dennis O’Keefe – Daniel F. O’Hara
• Louise Allbritton – Dr. Toni Neva
• Carl Esmond – Dr. Ritter von Stolb
• Onslow Stevens – Igor Braun
• Raymond Burr – Krebs
• Art Baker – Dr. Frederick Townsend
• Lowell Gilmore – Dr. William Forrest
• Philip Van Zandt – Anton Radchek
• Charles Evans – Dr. Homer Allen
• Frank Ferguson – Carl Bemish
• Reed Hadley – Narrator (voice)
• Grandon Rhodes – Adolph Mizner
• Jimmy Lloyd – Alison, FBI Agent
• Lee Phelps – Cop
• Crane Whitley – Curly
• Suzanne Ridgway – Extra at Murder Scene
• Marten Lamont – FBI Chemist
• William Tannen – FBI Chemist
• Howard Negley – Feodore
• Fred Coby – Fred, FBI Chemist
• John Hamilton – G.W. Hunter
• Steve Pendleton – Gaines, Police Detective
• Paul Bryar – Ivan
• Keith Richards – Miller, FBI Agent
• Arthur Space – Mr. North
• Tamara Shayne – Mrs. Ecko, Landlady
• Gale Storm – Mrs. Green, Voice on Tape Recorder (voice)
• Arthur Tovey – Plant Worker
• Ray Teal – Police Sergeant
• Bert Davidson – Potter, FBI Agent
• Myron Healey – Thompson, FBI Agent

„Achtung! Atomspione!“ (Walk A Crooked Mile) ist ein Film Noir aus dem Jahr 1948, ein antikommunistischer Kriminalfilm aus dem Kalten Krieg unter der Regie von Gordon Douglas. Das Drehbuch von George Bruce basiert auf einer Geschichte von Bertram Millhauser.

Ein junger FBI-Agent, der das Lakeview Laboratory of Nuclear Physics, eine streng geheime Forschungseinrichtung zur Entwicklung der Atombombe, bewachen soll, wird ermordet. Der leitende Regierungsagent Daniel F. O’Hara, der dem Projekt zugeteilt ist, leitet eine intensive Fahndung nach dem Mörder ein.

Dan und andere Agenten verdächtigen einen illegalen Ausländer, Anton Radchek, und verfolgen ihn bis zu einem Wohnheim in San Francisco. Radchek wird ermordet, nachdem er Igor Braun angerufen hat.