Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

LastingAware The greatest movie ever!

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

atlasmb Oh brother! How ironic that this film purports to expose the vast communist conspiracy in America, with its endless resources, its sinister agents, its goal to subvert American values and to ridicule religion. Yet this is such a crock of propaganda, in which the FBI is the hero.Years later, Americans would find out that just about everyone was deemed an enemy of the FBI. They were spying on and compiling dossiers on many many Americans. Hoover targeted anyone he didn't like. He was a real piece of work.Everyone should watch this film, which is modeled after other undercover movies where the protagonist is deemed a hero for being persecuted for his cause. During WWII, for example, other films championed American spies who suffered while infiltrating Axis organizations. Yes, it's a lousy film filled with misinformation, designed to alert and rile up "loyal" American citizens, but it serves as a warning of how the powers that be manipulate facts and create bogeymen to suit their needs.

mukava991 One of the best things about this reds-under-the-bed drama is Frank Lovejoy, an inscrutable actor who neatly inhabits the role of Matt Cvetic, an FBI mole planted in the Pittsburgh branch of the Communist Party during World War 2 and its Cold War aftermath. For the first two thirds of the film he stalks the screen imperturbably, the victim of suspicion from his fellow Party members and often open hostility from his very own family - churchgoing, patriotic Slovenian immigrants who are appalled by his connections to the Communist Party. His own son (Ron Hagerthy) can barely stand the sight of him. When his masquerade begins to unravel he gets emotional, but within limits. He never loses self-control entirely like Paul Lukas in the similarly themed Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939), and he is handy with his fists and agile enough to jump out of perilous situations. He is consistently believable, though just at the borderline of wooden. Lacking in charm and magnetism, he nevertheless can carry a film. It's a tough order to play a father who must convince the world, his son included, that he is indeed a member of the widely despised Communist Party, when in fact he is fighting to undermine its influence from within for what he believes is the good of his family and humanity. Quite a conflict, and potentially the stuff of great drama. Although the strongest moments in this film are between Lovejoy and his teen-aged son, we never quite believe that a family man could live such an intensely duplicitous life for as long as Cvetic did without an explosion occurring much sooner. It is somehow too pat. In depicting Cvetic as a spotless hero, the filmmakers have surgically removed too many rough edges, contradictions and loose ends and we are left with a propagandistic symbol instead of a man.

David Baldinger I caught this movie on the Encore Mystery channel some time ago and thought it was hysterical. I especially love the way they portrayed the party member who was a teacher and she explains how the teachers will subvert America's children. You still see remarks to the affect that the NEA is a commie front.The truth is that Cvetic liked to turn in lists of people who were in no way connected to the CPUSA. He got paid for quantity apparently. I believe this is what eventually caused the FBI to cut him loose.Still, the film is a great example of the hysteria sweeping the country at that time. I wish it was available on DVD so I could add it to my collection of bad cinema.

David Vanholsbeeck Well, that's the message this film tries to deliver. It's not very subtle at all, but I don't think that's what they tried to accomplish with it at that time. I heard the film was also nominated for best documentary (but didn't win) at the Academy Awards, so that proves that this was taken very serious in the early 50's. Nowadays, it all seems very simplistic and one-sided and the ending is very moralizing. The story isn't very thrilling too, but the acting is quite good and it's been all put together in a rather decent way too. Just don't believe too much in what they are saying. 5/10