Walk East On Beacon (1952)

An FBI agent (George Murphy) is assigned to discover the source of a major leak in a top secret program and find the top Communist agent (Karel Stepanek) behind the plot to steal U.S. secrets and transmit them to the Soviet Union. Inspired by an article in Readers Digest titled CRIME OF THE CENTURY and directed by Alfred L. Werker. The film was produced by Louis De Rochemont who specialized in "true" stories shot in semi-documentary style in their actual locations such as BOOMERANG and HOUSE ON 92ND STREET. This one is shot in the same style but I found it extremely dry and tedious. Maybe I've seen too many of these "red scare" docudramas recently but their portrayal of commie agents as snarling gun toting gangsters kidnapping American citizens and dragging them to Moscow is laughable. Surely real communist agents were much more cautious and discreet as to avoid discovery but the commies here are right out of 1930s Warner gangster movie. With the exception of George Murphy and Finlay Currie (as a scientist being blackmailed by the commies), the cast isn't well known and the unfamiliar faces lend some authenticity to the docu-atmosphere. With Virginia Gilmore and Louisa Horton.