The House on 92nd Street

The House on 92nd Street, a film from 1945, was included in a boxed set of Twentieth-Century Fox films called "Fox Noir." The problem is, it's not a noir film, as even the expert providing commentary points out. It's an example of how the term noir is misunderstood and misused to confuse consumers.

It's not a bad film, it's just not noir. The film is about how the FBI smashes a ring of Nazi agents in New York City during the war. It was produced by Louis De Rochemont, who made the March of Time newsreels, and the film is notable for its documentary aspects. De Rochemont was able to secure the participation of the FBI, which allowed him to film in its buildings and use its employees as extras--even J. Edgar Hoover makes a cameo.

The story is based on true events of how the FBI used a mole, an American student who was recruited by the Nazis, to capture a slew of operatives in the U.S. Willam Eythe stars as the student, and Lloyd Nolan is an FBI agent.

So why isn't this noir? As I mentioned in my review of The Naked City, films that take the point of the view of the legal authority are not noir, not unless the authority in question is operating outside of the law. The protagonists in this film, both Eythe and Nolan, are true blue Americans, with nothing nagging at the their consciences or their souls. They are really just cutout figures, with no internal lives on display. The film is a big tip of the hat to the FBI, and practically crawls up Hoover's ass.

Directed by Henry Hathaway, it has nice moments. Eythe's character is really kind of dumb (but not as dumb as the Nazis, who entrust a huge amount of their intelligence gathering to someone they recruit out of Ohio), and we keep expecting him to get found out by his German handlers. Eventually they do, but of course they are foiled by the FBI. There's also a nice scene in which a physicist (Gene Lockhart) working on the atomic bomb project is fingered as providing the Germans secrets.

Given that this film came out only a short amount of time after the war ended, it's not a surprise that it takes no chances and everything is in stark black and white. Just don't call it noir.