The film is based on a series of stories written by Matt Cvetic that appeared in The Saturday Evening Post.[4] The stories were later adapted into a bestselling book and a radio show starring Dana Andrews that ran for 78 episodes in 1952 and 1953.[5]
Matt Cvetic, who works in a Pittsburgh steel mill, has been infiltrating the Communist Party for the FBI in Pittsburgh for nine years. During this time, he has been unable to tell his family about his dual role, so they assume that he is a genuine believer in communism and despise him for it.
Cvetic becomes emotionally involved with a communist schoolteacher who is becoming disenchanted with the party. She leaves the party when it foments a violent strike. Cvetic helps her escape the communists in violent episodes in which two communists and an FBI agent are killed.
The film was preceded by a radio series also titled I Was a Communist for the FBI, starring Dana Andrews, that consisted of 78 episodes and aired on more than 600 stations in the United States from March 30, 1952 to September 20, 1953. The radio program was made without the cooperation of the FBI but it exposed the great danger that communism presented to the country.[6]
Reception
In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "[T]he writing, the acting and the direction of this film are in a taut style of 'thriller' fiction that the perceptive will recognize. .... Frank Lovejoy, who muscularly plays the title role, is a model of tight and efficient resolution, ingenuity and spunk."[7]
Variety wrote: "[S]cripter Crane Wilbur has fashioned an exciting film. Direction of Gordon Douglas plays up suspense and pace strongly, and the cast, headed by Frank Lovejoy in the title role, punches over the expose of the Communist menace."[8]
According to Warner Bros. records, the film earned $1,319,000 in the U.S. and $440,000 elsewhere.[1]
^ abcWarner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p. 31 doi:10.1080/01439689508604551
^'The Top Box Office Hits of 1951', Variety, January 2, 1952.
^Filreis, Al. Web site at University of Pennsylvania, based on Federal Bureau of Investigation - Freedom of Information Privacy Act. Accessed: July 17, 2013.
