The House on 92nd Street

The House on 92nd Street is of most interest as a historical curiosity. Producer Louis de Rochemont worked on the legendary March of Time documentaries in the thirties and produced propaganda films for the government during World War II. After the war, he wanted to create a fictional film that resembled a documentary and chose the story of FBI infiltration of a group of Nazi sympathizers as his vehicle. Because of de Rochemont's government connections, he had the full cooperation of the FBI, with actual agents and other staff appearing in the movie.

Bill Dietrich (William Eythe), a German-American student, is recruited to go undercover in one of the many Nazi cells operating in the United States in the thirties and early forties. The movie's title comes from the address at 92nd Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan where Dietrich's main German contact, Elsa Gebhardt (Signe Hasso), operates her fashion business. Dietrich spies successfully on the Nazis, reporting his findings to Agent Briggs (Lloyd Nolan), until Elsa and her shifty-eyed crew -- and a shifty lot they are -- become suspicious.

Director Henry Hathaway weaves newsreel footage and FBI surveillance film into the narrative quite effectively. Released in 1946, The House on 92nd Street was the first of many postwar movies to use this documentary approach and its success spurred many more films in the same vein, including Hathaway's 13 Rue Madeleine and Call Northside 777.

Commentator Eddie Muller, founder of the Film Noir Foundation, points out that though the movie is part of Fox's film noir collection it is not really noir because its center is a group of FBI agents rather than the usual conflicted protagonist. The House on 92nd Street nevertheless has a few noirish touches, especially Norbert Brodine's moody lighting. Hathaway, an action expert, stages a terrific climactic shootout between the agents and the Nazis. The apparent use of real tear gas gives the scene a smoky texture I've never seen anywhere else. Fortunately, the underrated Hathaway's best noirs, The Dark Corner and Kiss of Death, are out on DVD December 6.

Although The Naked City is often considered the first Hollywood movie shot entirely on location in New York City, The House on 92nd Street precedes it by two years. Hathaway's movie is a time capsule of the way the city looked at the time with several wonderful shots of Columbus Circle.

The commentaries by filmmakers, actors, critics, and film historians on most DVDs have negligible interest, usually pointing out the obvious and often making factual mistakes. The House on 92nd Street, though, is perhaps best appreciated by skipping the movie-only option and going with Muller's expert testimony. Muller, co-author (nudge nudge) of the new Tab Hunter autobiography, knows his subject thoroughly, providing excellent background information about the filmmakers and actors.

For those wondering how the bland Eythe got to be the star of a film, Muller points out that many such actors were enlisted by the studios when real stars, such as Tyrone Power, went off to war. Muller explains how narrator Reed Hadley worked on many government films and can actually be seen in the footage of the first testing of the atomic bomb. Muller makes what could be a rather dry experience, except for the location shots and the shootout, entertaining and enlightening. -- Michael Adams