House on 92nd Street (1945) - Henry Hathaway 

Well nothing in this film really qualifies as noir, but it got lumped into that undefined category with so many other early post war films. The picture plays much like Hathaway's follow up, 13 Rue Madeline. It is much more of a behind the scenes WWII film. Hathaway didn't seem to be the go to guy for combat pictures, but this type of picture worked for him.

The plot is simple enough. The US has atomic secrets being stolen, and they need to find out who done it before the Germans get the information, so with a few spies set up and a lot of FBI praise, they plant a man and hatch a plot to make everything work in their favor. There is moderate suspense, but Hathaway can't seem to hold anyone in that mood. I've always thought of the man as a rather poor director, a guy to go to when much more skilled auteur's were unavailable. His second rate skills may seem ideal for this picture dripping with B movie mentality, but instead it's just weak filmmaking. I have two more Hathaway films in my pile ready to watch, hopefully some of them are actually noir like their titles suggest.

The House of the title is a five story place in Manhattan where the Germans are running their little spy ring. They are all kept under a tight watch and they all answer to a mysterious man who no one meets named Christopher. The FBI's counteragent arouses suspicion when his credentials get altered by the FBI. He is out to find this Christopher, but it isn't that easy. In the process comes a lot of treachery, and of course US prevails.

It is somewhat joyous to see the good old USA triumph, much as it probably was at the time. House was actually a fairly popular film in its day, despite having C-Level actors as leads. Fox was either trying to make a new group of stars, or just wanted to keep the costs down. The subject of this was certainly timely, considering the film was released only months after the first atomic bomb dropped. The picture starts by saying that the film wouldn't have been able to have been made until the bomb was dropped, a fact that isn't much of a fact but used to make viewers find the film a little more important than it really is. The introduction is very similar to Fred Zinnemann's post war film The Search. Beginning with narration and a ton of stock footage. Hathaway uses new footage shot amongst this to give the impression that his actors and stars actually are/were part of the FBI. The documentary nature is virtually abandoned afterwards, but of course helps to tidy things up at the end.

The film is niether noir, suspenseful, or really captivating. It is decent, and there is a general desire to root for the good guys here, but it's second rate filmmaking at best. Coming off of some rather surprise masterpieces like Somewhere in the Night and Where the Sidewalk Ends, this film is clearly second rate, despite being much better known and generally much better respected.

Grade C+