I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

So much average

Boring

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

I became familiar with "I Was A Communist For The FBI" through listening to some of the old radio episodes of the show (of the same name) broadcast over satellite radio. I've always found the radio show interesting, and when I stumbled upon a movie based on the same story there was never any doubt in my mind that I wanted to watch it. It's the story of Matt Cvetic, an FBI operative who infiltrates the Pittsburgh branch of the United States Communist Party during World War II and remains as an FBI mole for almost 10 years - at the beginning of the Cold War, when the Red Scare was taking possession of America.It's obvious - as you'd expect - that this movie seeks to portray communists and communism in a bad light. That becomes clear right from the start. A meeting of the party leaders is held in a fancy hotel, where they indulge in wine and caviar and other luxuries. The proletariat? Workers of the world unite, indeed! The point is made there by one of the leaders that once the communists take over America this is how the leaders will always live. And, as for the workers, well - "they'll always be workers." So much for communist idealism! The point is also made that the communist leaders are racists, using the "n-word" to refer to black workers and seeing them only as useful pawns but of little real importance. The communists portrayed here are basically rabble-rousers, wanting to spark illegal strikes and riots, and fiercely loyal to and controlled by Stalin and the Soviet Union (toasts are offered to both.) They're suspicious of each other, and ruthless toward those they suspect of betraying them - which obviously makes Cvetic's life a perilous one. He rises (in the movie) to a significant position of leadership in the Party - always vaguely under suspicion (but it seems that every communist was vaguely suspicious of every other communist, so no big deal, really) but nothing ever gets pinned on him. In the meantime, having to live publicly as a "red" he's alienated from his own family (his son and brothers can't stand to be in the same room with him) and he has basically no friends. It's a lonely life. Cvetic is torn between his loyalty to his country and his desire to live a normal life. Things really start to be torn apart when he discovers that his son's teacher Eve (Dorothy Hart) is a fellow communist, who becomes something of a love interest for him. (As an aside, I thought it interesting that Eve revealed that there were a lot of communist teachers - so the right- wing suspicion of teachers being out to subvert rather than educate American youth goes back at least to the Red Scare.) The movie also portrays the communists as a much bigger threat than they really were - infiltrating every aspect of American society, with tentacles stretching across the country and the world. It is most certainly a product of the Red Scare.I thought Frank Lovejoy did a decent if unspectacular job as Cvetic, and I don't doubt that Cvetic's life undercover must have been difficult. Having said that, the movie (and the earlier radio show) grossly exaggerates things. The reality is that there's no real evidence that Cvetic rose as high in the communist hierarchy as this suggests. Once he came out from his undercover role he did testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and he did name lots of people as communists, but in spite of that he wasn't considered a particularly reliable or effective witness, and was even considered a bit of a loose cannon. The very wide liberties that the story takes with Cvetic's life make it a bit funny (and perhaps say something about the anti-communist hysteria of the time) to realize that "I Was A Communist For The FBI" was actually nominated for an Oscar - for Best Documentary! It's a decent if not especially exciting red scare cloak and dagger type film, but there's nothing Oscar-worthy about it - and it's certainly not a documentary! The movie ends not in documentary style, but with straight emotional propaganda, as the strains of "The Battle Hymn Of The Republic" play, and the camera zeroes in to a closeup of a bust of Abraham Lincoln.As for Cvetic, after testifying against the communists he tried to enter politics as a Republican, but failed, and spent the rest of his life (he died in 1962) involved in various ways with the anti- communist movement. (6/10)

Slickly produced propaganda film from Warner Bros. Stong-jawed, stone-faced Frank Lovejoy is perfectly cast as true-blue undercover agent for the FBI, Matt Cvetic. Loosely based on Cvetic's book, the movie shows him penetrating upper echelons of the American communist party. Produced in 1951 at the height of the McCarthy purges, the movie's one-dimensional content should surprise no one. A couple aspects, however, did surprise me. First, the visuals don't really underscore the propaganda content. Communists are not framed in usual low-key shadowy lighting, e.g. The Iron Curtain (1948), which would emphasize their sinister nature. Instead everyone gets the benefit of bright light framing. Also, the commies are just as nice looking, Hollywood style, as the FBI. That's really surprising, given the industry's habit of uglifying baddies. Thus, each aspect tends to humanize the Cold War enemy in unexpected ways, at least visually. Second, note how all the men are clothed in spiffy suits whether workers in union halls or whoever. No proletarian shirts and dungarees here. My guess is the producers wanted a prosperous looking working class no different in dress than their bosses. I doubt that uniform costuming like this happens by accident.That this Hollywood creation could actually win an Oscar as best documentary is a kind of sick joke and a telling product of its time. My general point is that viewers should be on utmost guard when taking either historical or political wisdom from a Hollywood commercial product. Just because we don't have a ministry of truth doesn't mean our leading institutions don't act in concert when their common interests (here it's private capital) are threatened. And that goes for any developed country, whether communist or capitalist.Anyway, the movie's now little more than an obscure artifact. Still, for thoughtful folks, it remains a good object lesson in America's 1951 version of Pravda.

According to the Wikipedia, "I Was a Communist for the FBI" was the name of a series of articles written by Matt Cvetic that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. The stories were later turned into a best-selling book, an American espionage thriller radio series, and also this motion picture. Mr. Cvetic's articles were the true story of his undercover life, but the radio show and this film were largely fictionalized for dramatic effect. Matt Cvetic was actually an undercover agent for the FBI posing as a Communist for nine years. It is true that he alienated his family and friends as a result of them believing that he was actually a Communist, and even wound up divorced as a result of his assignment, although the divorce is not mentioned in the film. It is not true that the Communists posed as big a threat to the U.S. from within as is shown in the motion picture. The film itself is quite interesting and a pretty good thriller in its own right. It will keep you guessing as to whether or not Cvetic's true identity will be revealed before he is finished collecting information.You just have to forget about the stretching of the truth that goes on here and enjoy this film for what it is - a window into a particularly paranoid time in America with a good pace to it. A film that is equivalent to it and made about the same time is the better known "Big Jim McLain" starring John Wayne. It too has many wild stereotypes, but the action is good and you just have to remember when and why it was made. If you do that, you should thoroughly enjoy both films.

I'm tired of people coming up with the idea of communism being a harmless little flirtation.It was a serious threat to America and our way of life for many years. I spent many years of my life to defeat it. To minimilize the threat of communism is nothing but sophistry and needs to be called such.The movie needs to be seen as such, as did the TV series which I remember from my younger years.Is communism good? Look at what it has done ... it builds walls to keep people in. There are only two countries that still practice it ... China and Cuba. Does that say anything?