The House on 92nd Street (1945) User Reviews (69)

Some gripping scenes, some documentary footage, and an up and down patchwork

[secondtake · 6/10 · 18 March 2010]

The House on 92nd Street (1945)

Henry Hathaway has directed some great film noirs (Kiss of Death is indisputably great), but he also didn't mind the dull assignment here and there, as in the competent Call Northside 777 and this one, both revealing American crime detection in action. Yes, this is actually well made, but it has a documentary feel that leaves it in a straitjacket as good crime drama. It's strong stuff, and filled with significance, real Nazi activities on U.S. soil leading to the a-bomb. But you'll see, as soon as the familiar narrator starts to explain the events, that it's a formulaic approach.

To some extent, you can't really watch this without noticing it feels, from the next century (2010 as I write) like propaganda. Not that it isn't honest, it just is filled with uncritical pride. The FBI in particular comes across as flawless and brilliant, and I'm sure it often was, but not quite without complications, nuances, and personal quirks that make the best fiction films take off. This one was made just as World War II was over in Europe, and there was nothing but patriotism in the air, naturally.

I actually like Leo G. Carroll a lot, and he holds up his scenes well, and Swedish actress Signe Hasso is a surprise, strong and sharp (wait until she takes her wig off and transforms in ten seconds). Much of the movie, especially after the first half hour with all its narration and actual documentary footage, has the feel of any well constructed drama and those are the parts, for me, to hook into. Besides, there is a quality here that's really pretty fun--a glimpse into the attitude of 1945 America that isn't the usual brazen, lonely, taut film noir response. Fiction makes for better movie-going, in this case, but here is a watchable quasi-documentary that holds up pretty well, off and on, if you keep expectations in check.

Breaking the code

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 8 June 2005]

This semi documentary film, shows the FBI at work in those early days of the European conflict. Henry Hathaway, the director, focus on the work behind the scenes of a group of German spies, operating in New York and how the FBI is able to infiltrate the group.

The film, as seen today, still holds the viewer's attention, although the technology is obsolete by today standards. We are given a suspenseful story about the group that established the base of operations in the house on 92nd Street and Madison Avenue in the Manhattan of the 40s. The crisp black and white cinematography by Norbert Brodine still looks pristine and sharp.

The cast headed by Lloyd Nolan as Briggs, do a good job under Mr. Hathaway's direction. Best of all is Signe Hasso as Elsa Gebhart, the designing woman with a lot of secrets. Leo G. Carroll is also seen as one of the spies. Gene Lockhart also has a minor role.

It was fun to watch uncredited New York based actors in the background such as E.G. Marshall, Vincent Gardenia, Paul Ford, among others making small contributions to the film.

"I don't believe you, Mister."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 22 October 2010]

This was my first look ever at actors William Eythe and Signe Hasso. Hasso struck me as quite the good looking woman but you didn't get to dwell on that since she never cracked a smile in keeping with her character's serious nature. Now Johanna Schmidt (Lydia St. Clair), that's another story. She just looked downright scary.

The picture opens with minimalist introductory credits and proceeds in documentary fashion for a fair amount of time. I started writing down the names of all the German embassy characters mentioned in that early exposition thinking I'd have to keep track of them in the story, but that turned out to be unnecessary. It's pretty much Eythe's show as undercover FBI agent Bill Dietrich, who gets his indoctrination training in Germany, returns to the U.S. to help uncover the Nazi attempt to discover the secrets of the atomic bomb.

Most of the story plays out in tense fashion, but I was bothered by the whole idea of it taking so long for Dietrich's credentials to come back and have his cover blown. Those fifth column folks seemed a bit too trusting and it seemed to me that Dietrich should have been tripped up a lot sooner than he was. Maybe Elsa Gebhardt (Hasso) should have brought out the scopolamine a bit sooner.

What most impressed me about the story was the sheer numbers mentioned in terms of defining America's war effort. Four hundred FBI agents were assigned to 'Process 97', and when World War II ended, over sixteen thousand enemy agents were captured in this country. Catch this one for a look at a different facet of the war, and how foiling the enemy domestically was just as important as any battle.

Spy Address.

[AaronCapenBanner · 7/10 · 15 November 2013]

Henry Hathaway directed this spy film presented in semi-documentary fashion starring Lloyd Nolan as FBI Inspector George Briggs, who is in charge of the counter-terrorist division that recruits German-speaking William Dietrich(played by William Eythe) to infiltrate a cell of German spies sent to America to gather information on the construction of the atomic bomb. The FBI allows its 92nd. street headquarters to remain open in order to identify its highest-level operatives, which involve a Mr. Christopher, though Dietrich's main contact is a woman(played by Signe Hasso) How long before he can identify his targets, or end up identified himself? Fine film effectively uses the semi-documentary approach, with Lloyd Nolan the standout, and would reprise the role in semi-sequel "The Street With No Name".

Good Period Piece

[harry-76 · 9 February 2003]

The highly gifted natural and trained talent of Lloyd Nolan adorns this story of espionage and counterespionage in the US just prior to and after WWII was declared.

Playing a key FBI agent, Nolan displays the totally convincing work he rendered throughout his career. He heads a strong cast: Signe Hasso and Leo G. Carroll offer solid performances, and William Ethye is a good leading man.

Director Henry Hathaway mixes in authentic newsreel footage with care and balance. The result is a well done docudrama of the mid 40s.

It looks as though 20th Century Fox made a pact with the FBI for this project, with almost the complete Bureau being utilized for the shoot. The films emerges as a supreme tribute to the branch, with Chief Hoover's name frequently in evidence.

The work technically qualifies as propaganda, in which patriotic appreciation and support for the war effort is forthrightly projected.

Viewed as a period piece, semi-documentary about Nazi espionage still holds interest

[bmacv · 7/10 · 17 June 2002]

This is the story of how the FBI supposedly cracked a Nazi espionage ring on the trail of Manhattan Project (the A-Bomb) in the early years of World War II. As a movie, its chief significance is that it kicked off a spate of semi-documentary movies paying tribute to one or another of the U.S. government's law enforcement agencies and celebrating Our Tax Dollars at Work. Such films became a staple of the noir cycle; a few of them even achieved distinction (T-Men, for instance).

William Eythe, a young American, is recruited by and trained in Germany to be a spy; in fact he works as a double agent for the FBI. The film, shot largely on location, traces the actions of the nest of vipers on New York's upper east side. Their unofficial master seems to be Signe Hasso, under cover of running a chic dress boutique. Her opposite number, who runs Eythe, is Lloyd Nolan (who was to reprise his role as Inspector Briggs in subsequent films).

The film's period flavor keeps it from seeming too dated, because the spying looks quite primitive to audiences spoiled by James Bond gimmickry and later, even more sophisticated, espionage thrillers. And, from a modern perspective, the smug boastfulness about the Bureau's -- and America's -- infallibility becomes a bit hard to swallow. There's little texture or nuance in the film, but, as a quasi-historical document, it exerts its own fascination.

The House on 92nd Street

[shhimundercoverdamnit · 7/10 · 11 February 2008]

Set in New York City during World War II, The House on 92nd Street is a riveting spy thriller that tells the story of a double agent named William Dietrich (William Eythe) who is assigned to a Nazi spy ring who are gathering information about the construction of the atom bomb. Hoping to identify the cells highest operatives before it is too late, FBI counter-intelligence agent George Briggs ( Lloyd Nolan) runs Dietrich and allows the spy ring to continue their operations on their 92nd street headquarters. As the Nazi agents spring closer to acquiring information relating to the bomb, the tension of the film explodes. Can Dietrich track down the mysterious 'Christopher' before his ruthless associates unmask and kill him? And can Briggs and Dietrich bring this cell down before it is too late?

Awesome film from start to finish. The whole thing will have you guessing and like the character of Dietrich, you are always thinking ahead. What if they find you out? What if your too late? One of the best scenes from the film is when one of the cell's operatives Col. Hammersohn (Leo G. Carroll) starts searching Dietrich's entire office for bugs. The whole trust thing really runs both ways as the Nazi operatives are always wondering if Dietrich is really who he claims to be. And the scene in which, Dietrich is finally found out is nothing short of brilliant. However, I was so thinking to myself that if it were Jack Bauer in that situation he would like break or bite off all their necks or something like that.

Elsa, played by Swedish actress Signe Hasso is really something here. She is completely convincing as the female lead here- her character running a dress shop as a front for her evil services. The villainous female Gestapo agent played by Lydia St. Clair is the spittin' image of Rosa Klebb, the Smersh agent in From Russia With Love

The real surprise here, is who the mysterious 'Christopher' actually turns out to be!

" We know all about you, Roper." " We've traced you back to the day you were born. We even know the approximate date that your scheduled to die."

" What'll that do?" "It'll make him talk. It takes time-three injections. In about an hour, he'll be answering questions."

Semi-documentary about a spy ring

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 8 December 2009]

"The House on 92nd Street" is a 1945 film about the FBI's attempts to break up a spy ring during the war. A young man, William Dietrich (William Eythe), who has been recruited by the Nazis as a spy, informs the FBI of this and becomes their mole inside the organization. One of Dietrich's goals is to get the identity of the mysterious "Mr. Christopher" who gives all of the orders.

This is a black and white film with strong narration that probably had a great impact at the time of its release. Though the machinery used in the movie looks archaic now, back then it must have been fascinating for an audience to watch and seemed very high-tech. Plus some of the material being transmitted had to do with the top-secret atom bomb, which at the time of the film, had just been dropped.

The cast is small, consisting of Eythe, Lloyd Nolan, Leo G. Carroll, Signe Hasso, Gene Lockhart, and Lydia St. Clair. They're all solid. For a change, the women, Hasso and St. Clair, have the strongest roles in the film, and they give striking performances. Eythe was getting the big star build-up at 20th Century Fox. Since it was wartime, he could have made a place for himself at the studio the way that Dana Andrews did. However, when gay rumors reached Darryl Zanuck, Eythe's path became a rocky one, leading nowhere, as the studio continually demoted him and eventually got rid of him.

Well worth seeing.

The First and Best Semi-documentary Film

[Shig-3 · 10/10 · 17 August 1999]

I first saw "The House ..." when I was a middle school student, and became an enthusiastic fan of it. I believe this film is the first and best semi-documentary masterpiece ever made. The film's density is high and there are no superfluous scenes. Reed Hadley's narration is strong, persuasive and impressive. The sound quality is also exceptional: motif march music, actual sounds of inside of the FBI and the city, actors voice etc. Black and White cinematography of actual locations is sharp and beautiful. Lloyd Nolan's dependable performance as FBI inspector George A. Briggs, Lydia St. Clair and Alfred Linder's thankless roles, very beautiful Signe Hasso as Elsa Gebhardt ...etc. Gebhardt are all unforgettable. i recommend this masterpiece to all suspense film fans to see. Three years later Lloyd Nolan plays the same role of Briggs in "The Street with No Name", and its motif march music is also same.

Solid Film Using Real Dramatic Footage Within Months of Wars End

[DKosty123 · 7/10 · 19 January 2020]

Leo G. Carrol to me is the great guy to be a spy. This film is no exception to one of the better supporting actors in the history of films. This one precedes his role of government agent in North By Northwest by years, but his effect on this film is as good as any of his roles. Lloyd Nolan dominates the film as Griggs, the FBI guy in charge of getting the US Nazi spy ring. While Nolan is top billed, his role as the FBI agent in charge is more wooden.

That is because the true based story of the Nazi's trying to steal information from the US about the atomic bomb is sensitive, though exciting. It's hard to believe but fortunate for all of us that the Nazi's did not take advantage of the pre-war lead they had on the stomic bomb. The first time an atom was split was in Berlin in 1939. Luckily Hitler did not take advantage of it.

This is a tense drama with the German special agent Kristopher remaining an engima until late in the movie. The operation and Nazi recruitment methods are reminders of how a Government can influence minds and infiltrate an education system with nearly frightening results. There are stock spy films from the FBI used along with actual FBI agents in the cast. Even though it's dated now it is a good film, available currently on You Tube.

A reverential look at the FBI versus Nazi spies, with a sly performance by Leo G. Carroll

[Terrell-4 · 5/10 · 15 March 2008]

"This story is adapted from the cases in the espionage files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Produced with the F.B.I.'s complete cooperation, it could not be made public until the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan." So reads the introduction. Despite 20th Century Fox marketing this DVD as a noir, it's just a pompous semi-documentary...a paean to the FBI. We're sitting in the church of J. Edgar Hoover and Hollywood has written the sermon and is leading the choir. For the first 20 minutes of this 87 minute movie we're taken on a tour of FBI resources, told of FBI dedication to fight spies..."vigilant, tireless, implacable"...and shown how FBI knowledge of German secret agents protected this nation, especially when it came to foiling Nazi plans to discover "Process 97" (the atomic bomb). If we're not grateful to the FBI by the time the story starts, we still have Reed Hadley's stentorian voice-over and a music score that's part soap opera, part grand opera to come to grips with.

Bill Dietrich (William Eythe), "a brilliant young student," is recruited in 1939 by the Nazi's in America to be a German agent just before he graduates. Dietrich immediately reports this to the FBI. They agree that he will take the offer and then, after training in Germany, become a double agent when the Nazis send him back to the States. When he arrives in New York, he joins a Nazi ring led by Elsa Gebhardt (Signe Hasso), a beautiful, icy blonde who owns a haute couture dress shop on 92nd Street. She rents the five story building, lives there and uses it as her cell's headquarters. Her cell seems to be made up of thugs, goons and manly women. Dietrich sets himself up as a contact point between Gebhardt's operation and Germany. All the while Dietrich is supplying the FBI with vital information about Gebhardt's activities. It's a dangerous game, particularly since Elsa and her team have not fully accepted Dietrich. At the same time, FBI agent George Briggs (Lloyd Nolan) is working with Dietrich to roll up the whole operation and to identify "Mr. Christopher," the unknown master spy behind everything. Then they realize that some of the information being readied for transmission to Germany has to do with the atomic bomb. The stakes now are huge. Not only must the Nazi ring be foiled and the plans kept from Germany, the traitor who is stealing the atomic secrets must be found and stopped. I can't tell you if the FBI is successful because I dislike spoilers.

The movie has such an air of self importance about it, like a collar with too much starch. It infects the actors, who give performances of either wooden, iron-jawed determination (the FBI) or wooden, sneering badness (the Nazi spies). William Eythe, a good-looking, sincere actor, is simply out of his depth as a resourceful double agent. Even Lloyd Nolan, who usually has a lot of crisp energy, is subdued by the need to always appear competent. More often than not we see him giving an order, then briskly marching out of the room, or giving an order and having the person he spoke to turn and briskly march out the room.

Three actors come up with two-and-a-half fine performances. Leo G. Carroll as Colonel Hammersohn, an aging German agent in New York, is a pleasure to watch. His character is crafty, cautious and always wears a wing collar and a Homburg. Carroll is first-rate in the part. Gene Lockhart is actually touching as a weak, chubby man with a great memory who breaks down when faced with the evidence of his crime. The half-point goes to Lydia St. Claire as Johanna Schmidt, the gestapo member of Elsa Gebhardt's cell. She's grim, gimlet- eyed and slaps around our hero with authority. It's a one-note performance but it's fun to watch.

FBI smashes Nazi spy ring in New York - Don't miss it!

[irish44 · 9/10 · 28 November 1998]

When this film was made in the 1940's, the ultimate evil that is Adolph Hilter and the Nazi movement was still a serious threat to our way of life. Lloyd Nolan, a major star of the 30's and 40's, gives his usual strong performance as FBI Agent Briggs, in charge of the Nazi spy case. Leo G. Carroll steals the movie playing the Nazi spymaster. Enjoy this film and remember why our fathers and grandfathers fought WWII. As a side note, real FBI agents appeared in this movie in support roles at the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, who gave his full co-operation to the producers.

Classic of the genre.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 24 May 2005]

It really IS a classic of the genre, but the problem is that the genre itself is so dated as not to be taken seriously anymore. That happens to genres. Would you watch a Western in which the good guy wears a white hat and the bad guy wears a black hat and one "calls the other out" and they have a mano-a-mano shootout in the middle of the dusty street and the good guy wins and gets the girl? I mean, that's asking a lot of a modern audience.

This film was one of a series of semi-documentaries that came out with the end of the war. Often, as here, Henry Hathaway was the director and the stentorian baritone Reed Hadley was the narrator. I can't vouch for the historical accuracy of the plot, although regardless of the facts I'm sure J. Edgar Hoover was tickled pink when he saw it. Hoover, President-for-Life of the FBI, was a media savvy character. Early in his career he had a skilled partner in Melvin Purvis, the guy who tracked down Dillinger. Such rivalry was not to be tolerated. Purvis's part in the affair, in fact his whole persona, was purged like Akhenaten's until Hoover became the hero. Purvis quit in disgust. Hoover refused to cooperate with Warner's "G-Men" because Jimmy Cagney patronized a saloon, but he gave the FBI's all to this film because the FBI was morally upright and flawless.

One scene was of particular interest. A real Nazi spy insists on testing the American counterspy's radio set to see if it can actually reach Hamburg. It doesn't. It transmits directly to a nearby FBI station which then relays the information to Germany, in a slightly altered form. The FBI operator hears the Nazi calling. He looks up and says, "That isn't Bill. I know his fist." A "fist" is the particular style that an individual operator uses in sending Morse code. It's about as distinctive as his handwriting. I was a radio operator for a few years in the Coast Guard and had a great fist. Most of the other men at my station set their keys to automatic "fast" so they could sound hot. Only they overreached and wound up sounding jagged and making a lot of errors. I set mine to "slow" and developed a fist that was easy to read and pleasing to listen to in its rhythmic splendor. Two radiomen from a ship visited the station in dress blues one afternoon and asked who "LL" was -- my sign-off letters. They came over to my console and one said, "We just wanted to tell you that it's a pleasure to copy you." The two men shook my hand, the three of us blushed, and they made a hurried exit, because real men don't say things like that to one another.

I dislike boasts but there are so few things I do well. Oh, yes, the movie. Alas,the conventions of the genre demand that the Nazis be evil in every respect. Worse than that, they're rude. When the American counterspy is introduced to them, they don't even greet him, they just scowl. None of them is in love, none of them has a home, none has a dog or a cat or collects stamps. They sacrifice one another for the cause at the drop of a solecism and -- well, you get the picture. Compare the Nazi spies in Hitchcock's "Notorious."

The conventions doom the characters as human beings. Loyd Nolan and Signe Hasso are the most watchable, but all of the performances are colorless. Even the hero is dull, despite the danger he often finds himself in.

It's still an interesting and exciting flick, once you adapt to its weaknesses. Fascinating to see the way in which two-way mirrors are presented as the high-tech novelty they were at the time. And the pre-computer FBI's fingerprint storage -- "Five THOUSAND fingerprints on file!", Hadley announces proudly.

It's worth catching if it is convenient.

The FBI, really cool, man.

[hitchcockthelegend · 4/10 · 4 April 2011]

The House on 92nd Street is directed by Henry Hathaway with a screenplay co-written by Jack Moffitt, Barré Lyndon and John Monks Jr, adapted from a story by Charles G. Booth. It stars William Eythe, Lloyd Nolan, Signe Hasso, Gene Lockhart and Leo G. Carroll. Music is by David Buttolph and photography Norbert Brodine.

"This story is adapted from cases in the espionage files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Produced with the F.B.I.'s complete co-operation, it could not be made public until the first Atomic Bomb was dropped on Japan"

Thought to be based around the FBI's real life Duquesne Spy Ring case of 1941/42, where 33 Nazi spies were captured and sentenced to more than 300 years in prison, The House on 92nd Street is undoubtedly a historically interesting artifact of note. It's also a film whose influence on the sub-genre of semi-documentary crime film's is not in question, in fact, it can be held up as the forerunner of film's such as The Naked City. Yet watching it now it just comes across as an advertisement for how good the FBI are, while the effects used are archaic and extremely hard to get excited about. The acting, too, is pretty average at best, where no amount of arguing that it adds realism can account for some plainly delivered set-ups. One or two intriguing moments aside, it's a basically executed film set around a very good story. While film noir fans should be aware that although it's frequently mentioned as part of the film noir universe, it's really not very noir at all.

A semi-sequel called The Street with No Name followed in 1948, with Lloyd Nolan reprising his role as Inspector Briggs, and that itself was reworked into House of Bamboo in 1955, where the setting was Tokyo. Both of these film's are considerably better than Hathaway's FBI propaganda piece. 4/10

Pseudo Film-Noir still fascinates

[Turfseer · 6/10 · 9 January 2009]

It's a good idea to buy the DVD of this movie and listen to the commentary by Film Noir expert Eddie Muller. You'll find out that yes, 'The House on 92nd Street' is based on two actual cases in the FBI's file concerning German spies during World War II. However you'll also discover that the story is very loosely based on those cases. So loosely that no German agent even came close to stealing the film's MacGuffin ("Process 97"), the 'formula' for creating the atomic bomb.

One of the best things about this picture is the on location photography. According to the DVD commentary, filming on location was difficult in those days, particularly due to the bulky sound equipment they had to carry around. This was the first time that the sound equipment was carried around in smaller suitcases and it made it much easier for the technical crew to shoot the movie.

If you live in New York City as I do, you'll get a kick out of seeing how some of the neighborhoods looked back in 1945. My favorite scene is right before we enter the beauty shop—there's a shot looking uptown on Broadway and you can see the elevated #1 train at the 125th Street stop. I can tell you that the train stop hasn't changed much at all (you probably can guess that I live right nearby). Although it appears that Tieman Place, which is one street south of 125th Street, appears to extend to the east. Today, the street goes as far as Broadway, since the Grant Housing Projects are now in the way.

Eddie Muller argues that 'The House on 92nd Street' is really not a film noir and I agree with him. You can thank the producer, Louis De Rochement. He was responsible for all those March of Time documentaries in the 30s and made the first widely-seen anti-Nazi documentary, "Inside Nazi Germany" in 1938. De Rochement teamed up with J. Edgar Hoover and half of 'The House on 92nd Street' is narrated in the style of those old newsreels. This tends to take away from the film noir feel and makes the film seem more like a propaganda exercise for Hoover and the FBI, then a drama with an uninterrupted arc.

That's not to say that some of the 'newsreel' scenes aren't interesting. They use the actual footage filmed by the FBI across the street from the German Embassy and you can see all these Nazis coming and going with their Seig Heil salutes! Equally impressive is the massive fingerprint file room at the FBI. Hoover bragged that the FBI had over 1,000,000 fingerprints on file during the War. Muller argues that this was an exaggeration. Nonetheless, when you see inside FBI headquarters, you will be impressed.

'The House on 92nd Street' is the story of a young American born college student of German ancestry, Bill Dietrich, who's recruited by the FBI to infiltrate a German spy ring (principally in New York City before and during World War II), which is on the verge of stealing the aforementioned 'Process 97'. He's played by Tyrone Power look-a-like, William Eythe, who tragically died at the young age of 38.

The 'inciting incident' occurs when a German operative is hit by a car and killed near Bowling Green in NYC. He blurts out a clue—the name of a shadowy and elusive figure by the name of 'Mr. Christopher'. Throughout the film, the FBI director Briggs (played by the ubiquitous and dependable Lloyd Nolan) is seeking to find out who this Mr. Christopher is.

Dietrich ends up infiltrating the Nazi spy ring. The sinister characters that make up the spy ring keep the story fairly absorbing. Focus on Signe Hasso as Elsa Gebhartdt, Lydia St. Clair as Johanna Schmidt and Gene Lockhart as the man with the amazing memory, Charles Roper. In addition to Lloyd Nolan, you'll probably recognize Leo G. Carroll, famous for the Topper TV series in the 50s and The Man from Uncle in the 60s (not to mention all the Hitchcock films he was in!).

There are a few nifty noorish scenes that crop up in '92nd Street'. One particularly memorable one is when the Nazi spies bump off one of their own informants who can't hold his liquor. They dump him down at the train tracks where presumably a train will soon run over his body.

'92nd Street' loses its verisimilitude during the film's climax. Dietrich is found by the gang and taken to the house on 92nd Street where they give him 'truth serum' and hope to make him talk. He seems immune to the powerful drug so Gebhardt is about to shoot him with a silencer when the FBI bursts in and shoots her and captures the rest of the ring. Of course it never happened that way (the real spies were discreetly rounded up without any fanfare).

'92nd Street' also focuses quite a bit on the technology of the time. Audiences back then must have been thrilled to see the remarkably new 'see through mirrors' and special chemicals that reveal watermarks on ordinary letters.

Unfortunately, all the documentary realism and propaganda undercuts the main drama. Most noirs focus on the main character all the time but here, Dietrich, sometimes disappears for long stretches of the narrative (here, the main character shares equal billing with a bigger star: The FBI!).

'The House on 92nd Street' is quite an interesting docudrama—more instructive as a document of its times than as successful drama. Watch it once and then again with the DVD commentary. After that, put it on the shelf!

A young double agent for the FBI.

[michaelRokeefe · 7/10 · 26 October 2007]

Espionage, film-noir told in a semi-documentary style. Henry Hathaway directs. Federal agent George Briggs(Lloyd Nolan)is contacted by a young German-American student Bill Dietrich(William Eythe), who is being recruited by a local Nazi ring. Briggs convinces the student to go along with the Communists and stay in contact with full reports to the Feds. The young double agent discovers that a scientist working on the atomic bomb is actually a Nazi member. Director Hathaway uses a lot of newsreel footage conducive to the "real-life" atmosphere. Nolan is outstanding in this role. Others in the cast: Gene Lockhart, Leo G. Carroll, Signe Hasso and Lydia St. Clair.

A Model of Studio Craftmanship

[dougdoepke · 28 December 2009]

Where in the world did they find hawk-nosed, beady-eyed Lydia St. Clair, the German Gestapo agent. One look from her, and I'd spill my guts in a flash. This is her only movie credit, so I'm guessing she had the same effect on the producers. Speaking of producers, Louis De Rochemont and TCF led the docu-drama trend that greatly influenced post-war crime drama. This is an early entry, and as a model of craftsmanship, there's none better, at least in my view. The location photography, FBI footage, and voice-over narration combine seamlessly with the melodramatic elements supposedly based on fact. Credit much of this to director Hathaway, one of Hollywood's supreme craftsmen.

Sure, the movie sometimes plays like an advertisement for the FBI. But if the data cited is correct, they had a lot to brag about in terms of counter-espionage. Notice, however, no mention is made of the thousands of Japanese-American citizens illegally interned on the West Coast. The Mr. Cristopher charade may be a gimmick, but it does build suspense as we guess the whereabouts of the mastermind. And when the "unveiling" finally comes, I suspect a few 1945 audiences were mildly startled. Seems a stretch to call this a noir since the lighting and atmosphere are naturalistic throughout. Anyway, as a blend of documentary style with story interest, it's hard to beat this tautly efficient little thriller.

In passing—check out the movie's initial release date, barely a month after the first public disclosure of the A-bomb following Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Looks to me like this required some furious re-writing and maybe some changes in Lockhart's role of research professor. No doubt inclusion of the new weapon was used to sell the film to information hungry audiences.

house on 92nd st

[mossgrymk · 6/10 · 21 June 2023]

Very sluggish film about the FBI's search for Nazi spies, made in those long ago days when the Feds were the good guys and the Fascists weren't. The screenplay by the pseudonymous Barre Lyndon and the usually good John Monks, perhaps hampered by the docu drama format, fails to provide its main characters with discernible personalities. Therefore, a lot of pressure is on director Henry Hathaway to come up with plenty of action and rapid pacing so as to distract the viewer from this rather important omission. Unfortunately the old curmudgeon falls down on the job and things get pretty darn dull until the last fifteen minutes or so when Hathaway, perhaps sensing that he's helmed a fairly somnolent movie up to now, pulls out the stops in a rousing finale. I won't spoil it for you except to note that it features, among other things, copious amounts of tear gas as well as Signe Hasso channeling her inner Joel Grey. C plus.

Fascinating docu-drama with real footage on NY Nazi spies inserted between scenes

[declancooley · 7/10 · 11 May 2022]

Though a bit stodgy and stiff, this is an eye-opening and authentic-feeling window into the work of FBI counter-espionage in NY as they attempt to keep nuclear secrets from Hitler. The stentorian voice-over re-occurs throughout the movie and there are thrilling shots of 1940s NY streets throughout that are lensed in a more modern style at times. The acting is merely serviceable, esp. The cookie-cutter hero but some of the German characters come across as being truly menacing and sinister (while not over-doing it); special mention must be made of Signe Hasso who's perfect as the ice-cold mistress-spy. What I guess lends this film its noirish edge is its complex network of characters and schemes, and the sense of paranoic dread which raises its ugly head in claustrophobic scenes. It's amazing to see all the pre-digital paperwork, organisation and deception that had to be done to track these dastardly spies down - but it's not just procedural bureaucracy-there is a real sense of tension threading its way throughout the movie and the action becomes quite edge-of-the-seat stuff here and there (even if only on a small scale between the spies). The 90 mins or so go briskly by as you watch this highly unusual type of movie.

Outstanding suspense thriller of the war years

[John-376 · 10/10 · 6 December 2003]

A film that must be viewed in the context of its time.

An outstanding suspense thriller that holds your interest to the end when the identity of "Christopher" is confirmed. Excellent location photography gives a stark view of wartime New York. Fine acting by a quality cast and good direction to keep the story moving.

All told, an absorbing film and a fine piece of history.

Not Speaking Softly

[skallisjr · 7/10 · 3 June 2007]

I first saw this film at age 9 when it was initially released. To a growing boy who used to listen to radio dramas on the FBI, it felt like lifting the curtain a bit to see how the real Bureau operated. My grandmother, sitting next to me, more than once sighed and said, "How clever they are!" At the time, the effect of the film was that the typical FBI agent was extremely heroic, and that he, usually as a team of other agents, could solve any crime and bring any enemy to justice.

The idea that the German agents were stealing atomic secrets just underscored how vital the FBI was to our nation's security.

The latest time I saw the film was last night. What a difference 61 years makes! Reed Hadley's narration was many decibels over what it should have been, and his almost staccato delivery didn't make me look forward to the next narrative bridge. But the basic story was pretty good. The cameras apparently filmed some areas of the FBI, including one vast room where people could work in parallel on huge numbers of files, pre-computer. As a tour, it was quite impressive.

A lot of information was squeezed into the 88 minutes of film, including some cryptology, a bit of radiotelegraphy, and interesting surveillance techniques. However, one area they were surveilling and filming, they were using a Bell & Howell Design 70 family camera, which used 100-foot reels of 16mm film. Even shooting it at "silent" speed of 16 frames per second, means that they'd get a bit more than 4 minutes of surveillance before they had to load new film, if the camera had an electric motor to keep it running continuously. Not very efficient.

Many critics today would jump on practices that were common during and after the war. Actually, taken out of historical context, some of the comments may have merit, but the film is a snapshot of its time.

All in all, though, the film does give a sense of how we thought just after the war. Not at all bad.

Vulgar propaganda piece

[mik-19 · 5/10 · 25 October 2005]

Fox probably had only good and honorable intentions releasing this movie on DVD in 2005, but it was misleading to quite a staggering degree that 'House on 92nd Street' was included in the company's noir collection.

If there is anything 'House' is not, noir is it! It is the earliest pioneering effort, mixing staged drama with documentary footage and a lot of faux-documentary as well. Today this dubious method is used all the time, but at the time it was novel.

'House on 92nd Street' is about a Nazi group trying to build a fifth column in New York up to and during World War II, and a heroic FBI agent's tireless endeavors as a counterspy to catch them. The secret ingredient of the atom bomb is at stake here! The tone of 'House' doesn't sit well with intelligent audiences of today. The propaganda is painted on in broad strokes and is rather annoying in its vulgarity, rather more easy to understand in the context of the political milieu in 1945. It looks with suspicion at other ethnicities than the most apple-pie typical Americans. The heroics of the FBI is wildly exaggerated, and the background music is patriotic and martial ad nauseam.

What is worse, because really fine propagandist movies have been made, movies that make a lot of sens even today - what is worse is that director Henry Hathaway is not given anything to work with. Only in the last 15 minutes or so is there room for any actual mise-en-scene, but by then it is too late to get our nerves on edge.

So what is there to admire here? From a cinematic point of view, not a lot to be sure. The political story is unfocused, the personal drama underdeveloped, the acting perfunctory. But the picture did have a following and it did inspire a whole series of movies with a documentary feel to them, for instance the far better 'Call Northside 777'.

Exciting, suspenseful, realistic

[Bogart01 · 9/10 · 17 November 1998]

I first saw "House" when I was 10. I thought it was one of the best suspenseful films I had seen to date. The producers had a similiar opinion. They later made another film, bringing back Lloyd Nolan to reprise his character "Briggs." It was a good whodunit. No-one guessed Signe Hasso as Mr. Christopher until the end. Actual newsreel footage was blended with the film to give it that realistic feel. I actually felt that I was privy to a real FBI spy investigation. The film never slowed....thanks to Hathaway's masterful direction. Kudo's also to a great supporting cast.

Nazi fifth column docu-drama

[Dire_Straits · 7/10 · 11 September 2005]

This FBI docu-drama propaganda film (much like the films, "The Street With No Name" and "T-Men") is barely noir, but it's a real attention-grabber because it is done in such a gripping, realistic manner.

Made not too long after WWII, you can still feel the dark paranoia of the Nazi fifth columnists - this itself makes it noir. Crime, as we now know it, is barely existent in the film. The crimes being committed here are of the subversive pro-Goebbels variety, at that time - alive and well in New York City.

The film is ridden with outdated FBI methods (two-way mirrors, microfilm, etc.); so keep that in mind, and the very end is pretty ridiculous too, but try and play along.

Not a bad performance in the film but no stand-outs either. Definitely worth watching as both a period piece and a sell-out to J. Edgar Hoover (who is hunting something other than Commies for once).

Thus were the times.

laughably bad

[A-No.1 · 4/10 · 28 March 2002]

This movie is mindbogglingly hilarious, but for all the wrong reasons. It has dated terribly but even taking the era in which it was made into consideration this seems little more than the hysterical spawn of Jingoism and Paranoia 101. I can't see it having been good even back in 1945, though as a propaganda poster for the efficiency of the FBI it comes through with flying colours (and shows us, with great stone-faced eagerness, how they are able to isolate and locate the woman in New York they are looking for simply on the basis of the lipstick left on her cigarette butt! Yikes. This is the kind of fantastical ode to American governmental hierarchy that the makers of the subsequent but similarly stupid Big Jim McClain would be proud of). And then there is the narration, sombre and slavish, and about as credible as something from an episode of Police Squad. The only redeeming thing about this film was the location shooting and its occasional forays into the noirish aspects that I was hoping for when I rented this dud in the first place.