WALK EAST ON BEACON [1952] [Limited Edition] [Blu-ray] [1952 / 2021] [UK Release] See the FBI Smash Communist Spies!
The story concerns FBI agent James Belden [George Murphy] who is assigned with locating and bringing down a socialist spy ring operating in Boston. Following an unnamed tip, James Belden and his agents follow a man who leads them to a number of suspects, as they attempt to determine how far the spying gets. The “Red Scare” had reached a fever pitch when director Alfred L. Werker adapted this tale of Communist spies stealing secrets about the “Manhattan Project.” The film made abundant use of location shooting with over 14 weeks of production throughout the northeast, providing a rare snapshot of an era of American life.
FILM FACT: With the 1952 film ‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ there was at the time of filming the use of the state of the art technology was possible, such as an early miniature video camera, and ingenious methods like a roomful of foreign language lip readers, the G-men crack the case and with the help of the US Coast Guard rescue the professor before he can be spirited away by submarine. A sequence involving two Russian agents meeting covertly in a bar is underscored by Jack Shaindlin's song “I'm Tickled Pink” and the lyrics of which appear to add a comic overtone to the Communist-busting theme of the film. The exact same recording of the song is used in the popular video game “Fallout 3.”
Cast: George Murphy, Finlay Currie, Virginia Gilmore, Karel Stepanek, Louisa Horton, Peter Capell, Bruno Wick, Jack Manning, Karl Weber, Robert A. Dunn, Vilma Kurer, Michael Garrett, Lotte Palfi Andor, Ernest Graves, Robert Carroll, Wolfgang Zilzer, George Roy Hill, Bradford Hatton, Rosemary Pettit, Eva Condon, Steve Mitchell, Ann Thomas, John Farrell (uncredited), Nancy Hale (uncredited), J. Edgar Hoover (archive footage) (uncredited), Suzanne Moulton (uncredited), Westbrook Van Voorhis (Narrator voice) (uncredited) and Mary Young (uncredited)
Director: Alfred L. Werker
Producers: Borden Mace, Louis De Rochemont and Lothar Wolff
Screenplay: Emmett Murphy (additional writing), J. Edgar Hoover (article), Laurence Heath (additional writing), Leo Rosten (story and screenplay) and Virginia Shaler (additional writing)
Composer: Louis Applebaum
Cinematography: Joseph C. Brun, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black and White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio
Audio Description: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 97 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Columbia Pictures / Powerhouse Films / INDICATOR
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ [1952] is a typical run of the mill “film noir” spy thriller film directed by Alfred L. Werker. Set during the height of the Cold War, the movie tells the story of a FBI agent James Belden [George Murphy], who is assigned to investigate a possible Soviet spy ring operating in New York City. As he delves deeper into the case, where he uncovers a web of intrigue and deception that threatens national security.
The film begins with the discovery of a dead body floating in the East River, bearing a striking resemblance to a missing scientist. This sets off alarm bells at the government agency tasked with protecting classified information. FBI agent James Belden is called in to investigate the suspicious circumstances surrounding the scientist’s mysterious disappearance.
The film is about an attempt by communist moles to capture a top scientist and force him to work for the USSR. Professor Kafer [Finlay Currie] is worried because his son disappeared. Apparently, the communists have kidnapped him and say they'll return him “IF” the Professor cooperates. Fortunately, American FBI agents are on the case and hope to not only rescue the son but break up this network of spies.
FBI agent James Belden’s investigation leads him to a boarding house on Beacon Street, where he encounters a cast of suspicious characters, including a Russian ballet dancer, a mysterious woman, and a shady landlord. As he digs deeper, he becomes convinced that a spy ring is operating in the neighbourhood, with the goal of stealing classified information.
As the tension builds, FBI agent James Belden finds himself entangled in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. He must navigate a treacherous maze of double agents, secret codes, and hidden identities to uncover the truth and foil the spy ring’s plot.
‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ is a gripping thriller that captures the paranoia and fear of the Cold War era. The film is filled with suspenseful moments, unexpected twists, and a sense of urgency that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. The black-and-white cinematography adds to the “film noir” atmosphere, creating a dark and gritty backdrop for the unfolding mystery.
The actors performances in ‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ are solid, with George Murphy delivering a compelling portrayal of the determined FBI agent. The supporting cast, including Finlay Currie as the landlord and Karel Stepanek as the ballet dancer, bring their characters to life and add depth to the story. Produced at the height of the Joseph R. McCarthy purges, we have your Stalinist Soviet Union, and the stalemated war in Korea, a movie like this should come as no surprise.
Incidentally, George Murphy fans may be disappointed since he gets comparatively little screen time. The real star in terms of screen time is Karel Stepanek as Alexi Laschenkov the leading Soviet agent. But some would say that few go to the movies to see a name like Karel Stepanek. Anyway, in my little book, the 97 minutes does hold some sort of interest as an artefact than it does as a sort of entertainment vehicle.
WALK EAST ON BEACON MUSIC TRACK LIST
SOBRE LAS OLAS (Over the Waves) (uncredited) (Music by Music by Juventino Rosas) [Played at the restaurant]
I’M TICKLED PINK (uncredited) (Music by Jack Shaindlin) [Played in a bar]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Columbia Pictures, Powerhouse Films + INDICATOR presents us the film ‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ with a wonderful 1080p black-and-white image and of course is shown in the 1.37:1 aspect ratio and the whole film looks really good in high-definition and of course it has been fully remastered and excluding a few minor density fluctuations and its definitive presentation and of course there is great clarity and depth are already very good. There are no traces of problematic digital work. Image stability is very good which is all down to the brilliant cinematographer Joseph C. Brun. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Columbia Pictures, Powerhouse Films + INDICATOR brings us the film ‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ with a good standard 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio experience. The dialogue is very clear, sharp, stable and especially with the wonderful dynamic composed film score by Louis Applebaum for the movie ‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ because of the nature of the film and everything sounded really great, superb and its audio qualities are retained as best as possible throughout the movie, so well done Columbia Pictures, Powerhouse Films + INDICATOR.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: ‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ Audio Commentary with Frank Krutnik [Audio only] [2021] [1080p] [1.37:1] [68:18] With this featurette, we get to hear this audio commentary with “In a Lonely Street: Film Noir, Genre, Masculinity” [1991] Author and Academic Frank Krutnik and as the film ‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ begins, Frank Krutnik introduces himself and informs us that he is very keen to talk about the 1952 Columbia Pictures film and also informs us that he teaches film studies at Sussex University. Frank Krutnik also informs us that he is the author of other books like “Popular Film and Television Comedy” [1990], “Inventing Jerry Lewis” [2000], and co-editor of “Un-American Hollywood: Politics and Film in the Blacklist Era” [2008] and talks extensively about the contents pf all of his book titles he has mentioned and is very relevant to this 1952 Columbia Pictures film that I have just viewed and the context that has inspired film ‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ itself. But now Frank Krutnik wants to talk in-depth about this semi-documentary 1952 film and the involvement with the FBI, also the American culture and of course Hollywood. Now Frank Krutnik wants to talk in-depth about ‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ and the communist infiltration in the film and in trying to get hold of the top secrets on the Atomic Nuclear power. Frank Krutnik also says that in the 1950’s there were a lot of films on the “film noir” genre of communist spies in America trying to get hold of top secrets in the era of the Cold War which was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and of course the House Committee on the Un-American Activities or HUAC was created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and rebel activities on the part of private citizens, public employees and organizations suspected of having Communist ties. Citizens suspected of having ties to the communist party would be tried in a court of law which was all held in the American State of Washington and it was also involved with the suspicion of the Hollywood personal being members of the American Communist Party and also famously known as the Hollywood Ten and Directors who were cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee and these people were subpoenaed to appear before the HUAC on the 25th November, 1947 and the majority of the Hollywood Ten were screenwriters and there was suspicion that left wing Hollywood creators were smuggling subversive messages into Hollywood movies, but it was never proven, but of course it set the path to the Cold War scenario that was so prevalent at the time, just after World War II, and again it started a run of Hollywood “film noir” films on communist subversive infiltrators scenario subjects, but also films with Nazi subversive infiltrators scenario subjects in American society, which again happened in a spate of Hollywood films in the 1950’s and also in gangster themes, people smugglers, adoption rackets, shoplifting gangs and so on. Now Frank Krutnik wants to talk in-depth about the semi-documentary style of the 1952 Columbia Pictures film and whether this film qualifies as a “film noir” and goes into a long convoluted rhetoric to the point of total boredom and totally pointless subject to bring up in this audio commentary, as I was non the wiser when he comes to the end of this subject and was a total waste of time in my opinion. Now at this point I am getting very frustrated, as Frank Krutnik goes off on other subjects of other “film noir” films, similar to this 1952 film and instead should be talking in-depth about all aspects of the ‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ film and because of this, I will now only give a brief outline comments from Frank Krutnik in this audio commentary, but now and again Frank Krutnik comes out with some comments on the 1952 film and one of those comments he makes is “the film champions the FBI, because of its propaganda politics and the determination to expose and to purge its threats to social order.” Now Frank Krutnik comments about the involvement of Louis De Rochemont who was an American film maker known for creating, along with Roy E. Larsen, the monthly theatrically shown newsreels The March of Time. But his film career began when, still a teenager, he filmed his New England neighbours and sold the footage to local theatres under the title See Yourself as Others See You. Now Frank Krutnik comments about Louis De Rochemont in saying he got involved with newsreels he created defined film news from 1935 – 1951 that were 20-minute films, which combined filmed news with interpretive interviews and dramatizations, appeared between featured films in theatres and of course it was the newsreel series “The March of Time.” Then Louis De Rochemont moved from newsreels to feature films based on real stories in actual locations, often with locals in the cast, including ‘The House on 92nd Street’ [1945], also produced a wide array of feature films such as the semi-documentary ‘Boomerang’ [1947]. Louis De Rochemont also produced ‘The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone’ [1962], but also worked for Pathé as an editor and Fox Movietone News as an editor and director and also made recruiting films for the USA American Navy. Now Frank Krutnik talks about the director Alfred L. Werker who directed films from 1917 to 1957 who was not very well known and was not considered a major Hollywood auteur “film noir” and Frank Krutnik mentions some of his films and they were ‘Shock’ [1946], ‘Repeat Performance’ [1947] and ‘He Walked by Night’ [1948]. Now Frank Krutnik starts to talks about other aspects about the ‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ film and more in-depth background information related about some of the major actors featured in the film, and also talks in-depth about the key people behind-the scene who were involved with the 1952 film, but also talks about the communist theme throughout the film that related to the actual real life events that happened in America in the 1940’s. Now as we near to the end of this audio commentary, Frank Krutnik mentions that he wants to end with some concluding notes, where he mentions that the 1952 film is about contemporary revelations about the communist infiltration into US Government Institution, and the plot of ‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ that hinges around an attempt to steal information that would allow dominance within the Cold War struggle and that the film portrays the FBI as the Guardian of Secrecy and Security or is the film an FBI propaganda for either activity in the cause of freedom or propaganda for a benignly conceived police state. At that point, this Frank Krutnik audio commentary comes to an end.
Special Feature: Image Gallery: With this featurette, we get to view 24 wonderful 1080p dramatic black-and-white and colour original promotional material for the 1952 Columbia Pictures film ‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ Please Note: Use the right hand NEXT button on your remote control to advance the images. Press MENU or TOP MENU to EXIT the featurette.
Special Feature: The March of Time: ‘G-Men Combat Saboteurs’ [1941] [1080i] [1.37:1] [20:49] With this featurette, we get to view a documentary short from the famed newsreel series The March of Time created by Producer Louis de Rochemont. Featuring footage from the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, the film follows the progress of a new officer, dramatically depicting the investigation of a murder case involving the theft of top secret materials from a gas mask factory, and focusing on the FBI to apprehend the spies and fifth columnist.
Special Feature: The March of Time: ‘G-Men at War’ (1942] [1080i] [1.37:1] [20:01] With this featurette, we get to view a documentary short from The March of Time newsreel series, where it is focusing on the efforts of the FBI to apprehend spies and fifth columnists. The film is the dramatized sequence showing the FBI infiltration of a group of American Nazis, whose espionage and sabotage operations are run from the backroom of a local restaurant. The film’s message is that the FBI is more than a match for German spies. By way of contrast, the villain of the piece, German American Bund leader Fritz Kuhn, was the embodiment of the Nazi threat inside the USA. Although Fritz Kuhn was in jail when this film was shown – Fritz Kuhn was imprisoned on charges of embezzlement in December 1939 – Fritz Kuhn presence as leader still presented a threat and, even behind bars, Fritz Kuhn remained a focus for American Nazi activity.
Special Feature: Commotion on the Ocean (1956] [1080p] [1.37:1] [16:37] With this featurette, we find the Three Stooges are would-be reporters, who are tricked into becoming stowaways by “Borscht” a spy for an enemy country. Stranded on a freighter on the high seas, they discover that “Borscht” has concealed some stolen microfilm in watermelons they brought aboard for him. After a wild chase, they subdue “Borscht” and recover the microfilm.
Finally, ‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ is a thriller from 1952 that feels like it was made as a pure propaganda piece for the American law-enforcement administrator J. Edgar Hoover who served as the final Director of the Bureau of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and features archive footage and from what we know about the communist witch hunts of that era it all feels more than a little uneasy. The story involves the usual heroic troupe of FBI agents who are hunting for a sleeper cell of Russian agents working out of Boston. The cast are competent but the film sort of plods along at its own speed without ever truly engaging the senses or indeed the imagination. While it's nice to see a film not set in New York or Los Angeles for once. Director Alfred L Werker stands as an indefatigable worker of B picture for the movie ‘WALK EAST ON BEACON’ and is a rather unusual title for a propaganda scenario and FBI procedural piece. Good photography, tight and believable script and pertinent voiceover. Not a real masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but interesting to watch as a capsule of a time when politics interfered with the life of citizens and everyone suspected everyone else of being communist sympathies. Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
