The Red Menace

1949

Action / Drama / Film-Noir / Thriller

2
IMDb Rating 4.9/10 10 272 272

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Plot summary

A couple try to leave the Communist party after a murder by the group they were once loyal to.


Uploaded by: FREEMAN
April 19, 2016 at 04:31 AM

Top cast

Jimmy Hawkins as Jimmy
Robert Rockwell as Bill Jones
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
611.09 MB
1000*720
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 21 min
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1.3 GB
1488*1072
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 21 min
Seeds ...

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by morrisonhimself 8 / 10

Will be hated just because it's anti-communist

Most of the other reviews here fall into two groups: anti-communists like it, to one degree or another; pro-communists or anti-anti-communists hate it.

One, from a supposed relative of that excellent director, R. G. Springsteen, sneers at it, claiming the director called it his worst film. If Mr. Springsteen hated it, then he would not have done his best on it.

In fact, despite the actors not being well known, they -- most of them -- gave very good performances.

Nathan Scott, credited with the music, gets my respect for his use of "The Internationale" sprinkled suitably throughout the film.

The writers also did generally good work, though I have one hesitation: The leaders of the Communist Party, U. S. A., were shown to be very cynical, not very strong or honest believers in their party.

Some years ago, I worked at university radio station, and our manager, Tom Duval, was like that: He would go out to some individuals or groups to raise money, then come back and laugh at the suckers who gave.

But I can't help thinking members and leaders of the Communist Party were as sincere as members of other political parties -- even though the CPUSA was, in fact, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the CPUSSR, getting its orders and much of its money from Moscow.

(The CPUSA was, it is important to remember, also used for espionage and sabotage, as well, especially in Hollywood, to propagandize. Look at, for example, how its "keep out of the European conflict" changed, literally over night, when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Then the CPUSA was "this is a people's war and we need to fight.")

Some of the Hollywood people who joined the CPUSA, especially the ones who quit and who testified before the congressional committee, said the party seemed to offer solutions to such problems as poverty and unemployment.

In fact, just as did Al Capone, the CPUSA set up soup kitchens for the hungry.

Of course it intended to recruit members. And maybe that was a bit cynical. But advocates of even the most evil systems, including Nazism and communism, were probably as sincere, were probably true believers, as members of other parties and advocates of other causes.

Just not very clear-eyed.

Well, some want to make fun of the ending, of course, but I like it. It seems very Texan to me. At least for 1950.

"The Red Menace" must be viewed in the context of its times. If I were the president of Republic, I would make some changes, though relatively minor changes. As it is, I give it a recommendation, with that caveat: Remember the times, and that the Soviet Union and its alleged communist belief system was the imperialist enemy of these United States. And, in fact, of the peace and freedom of all Earth.

There is a too-dark print at YouTube.

Reviewed by mark.waltz 2 / 10

The grandpa of absurd Anti-Communist melodramas.

This horribly written propaganda piece was obviously intended to be a scare tactic to warn America's rebellious young the dangers awaiting them if they joined the Communist party. Using the cynical Robert Rockwell as the story's protagonist and sap manipulated into joining the party, the film immediately shows its disgust with its topic by a Crime Does Not Pay style of narration where you often can't tell if it is the narrator speaking or a character on the other side of the camera.

One dimensional characters show signs of insanity, evidenced by the sudden breakdown of the tough female commander played by Betty Lou Gerson, best known for her voice of Cruella de Ville. Future Ed Wood star Barbara Fuller plays a party member whose bible thumping mother compares her to Mary Magdelene. She had better material when she handed Wood her sweater in "Glen or Glenda". Her character's plight involves aiding her poet boyfriend who becomes persona non grata when his latest work offends party leaders. "Bullwinkle's" Boris and Natasha must have had a field day watching this.

Reviewed by bkoganbing 2 / 10

Second Thoughts

For the most part it seems that it was the small studios that made the worst of the anti-Communist films from post World War II. In this case it was Republic Pictures of Herbert J. Yates home of the B western cowboy heroes who inflicted this one on the American public.

The Red Menace has the future object Our Miss Brooks's affection Robert Rockwell as a disillusioned GI who just got rooked by some sharpie real estate crooks over a plot of land to build a house. The lack of housing for returning veterans was a major domestic issue in the Truman years, no less a conservative than Robert A. Taft sponsored a government program to aid in housing construction.

An equally sharp talent scout for the US Communist Party spots Rockwell making a complaint and recruits him into the party. He's enthusiastic at first but then sees that this crowd really intrudes on every aspect and thought one might have. Getting also disillusioned is Hannah Axman as they see one by one people who deviate get dealt with severely.

It's not even that some of what is put forth here is completely untrue. It was that in 1949 some reactionary politicians usually belonging to the GOP saw the Russian spy scandals as a chance to stamp out liberal thought to the left of Walter Winchell. So we had the HUAC hearings and a year later Joe McCarthy looking for an issue to hang his re- election to the Senate on discovered The Red Menace.

Two of the supporting players in the cast really stand out. First Lester Luther as the top commissar in the USA comes off like a poor man's Edward Arnold. Secondly Betty Lou Gerson when her alias is exposed by Immigration goes full blown mad in a scene that Bette Davis might have done in a better picture.

For a good anti-Communist film I recommend Trial which starred Glenn Ford and Arthur Kennedy. The Red Menace is about as menacing as Dennis.

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