Printer Friendly “Had observers known in the 1950s what they have learned since the 1970s, when the Freedom of Information Act opened the Bureau’s files, ‘McCarthyism’ would probably be called ‘Hooverism. I was a Communist for the FBI From 1941 to 1950 Matt Cvetic successfully infiltrated and spied on the Communist Party of the United States on behalf of the FBI. … Cvetic ultimately testifies against the Communists before the House Un-American Activities Committee and reconciles with his brother and son. The Federal Bureau of Investigation are the good guys, for a nice change. Direction of Gordon Douglas plays up suspense and pace strongly, and the cast, headed by Frank Lovejoy in the title role, punches over the expose of the Communist menace. During the Cold War, at a California atomic research plant, an FBI agent and a Scotland Yard inspector join forces to eliminate a foreign nuclear spy ring operating in the USA and the UK. OTRR, I was a Communist for the FBI, Old Time Radio Re-upload of OTRR files with corrected metadata for ease of use. This causes big problems in the normal life of the agent. The show had the tagline "I'm a communist for the FBI, I walk alone.". According to Warner Bros, records, the film earned $1,319,000 in the U.S. and $440,000 elsewhere. They also are shown fomenting discontent among blacks. During J. Edgar Hoover’s long tenure as Director, the FBI was very successful at spying on organizations hostile to the interests of the United States, including the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazi and Communist parties. This causes big problems in the normal life of the agent. The program was made without the cooperation of the FBI. I Was a Communist for the F.B.I. Listen to Radio Show: I Was A Communist For The FBI online using any of the 3 radio players below. I had to sell out my own girl – so would you! Search for "I Was a Communist for the F.B.I." She breaks with the party when it foments a violent strike. Nobody knows that he is with the FBI, neither his family. Listen to Radio Show: I Was A Communist For The FBI online using any of the 3 radio players below. Anti-Communist hysteria was at a peak during as taping began, and by the end of 1952, I Was a Communist for the F.B.I. [7], The staff at Variety magazine wrote a positive review: "From the real life experiences of Matt Cvetic [published in the Saturday Evening Post as "I Posed as a Communist for the F.B.I"], scripter Crane Wilbur has fashioned an exciting film. The man who loosely provided the inspiration for the B-Grade cult movie I Was a Communist for the FBI had a life that was marred by alcoholism, damaged expectations, and greed.Cvetic, at the request of the FBI, joined a Pittsburgh branch of the CPUSA in 1943. A Communist For The FBI and Stars Over Hollywood – Relic Radio The man who loosely provided the inspiration for the B-Grade cult movie I Was a Communist for the FBI. This time, the FBI approved all of the show's scripts. I Was A Communist For The FBI was a show that came from the anti-Communist hysteria at a peak in the 1950s, and by the end of 1952 I Was a Communist was scheduled on more than 600 stations. This has caused him tremendous conflicts with his high-school son and his many brothers. It ran for 72 episodes between 1952 and 1954. was scheduled on more than 600 stations nationwide. Luis Carvacho . In Pittsburgh, PA, an F.B.I. The radio version of I Was a Communist for the FBI consisted of 78 episodes syndicated by the Frederick W. Ziv Company to more than 600 stations, including KNX in Los Angeles, California, with original episodes running from March 30, 1952 to September 20, 1953. Aired 1952 - 1954 I Was a Communist for the FBI rode the coattails of the Red Scare, aired even though the FBI refused to cooperate with its production. The film and radio show are, in part, artifacts of the McCarthy era, as well as a time capsule of American society during the Second Red Scare. By 1955, Cvetic had been largely discredited as a witness regarding communist activities in the USA because of Justice Department and FBI concerns regarding Cvetic's embellishment of the facts, including an instance in which he claimed to have defused a Nazi spy plot single-handedly. What was my Aunt Martha trying to ask me. This is the story of an F.B.I. He saw the party as being hypocritical and a great danger to society. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. The film was produced by Bryan Foy who was head of Warners B picture unit until 1942. Finally he would pass away largely unnoticed in 1962. I Was A Communist For The FBI was a show that came from the anti-Communist hysteria at a peak in the 1950s, and by the end of 1952 I Was a Communist was scheduled on more than 600 stations. Watch trailers, read customer and critic reviews, and buy I Was a Communist for the FBI directed by Gordon Douglas for $5.99. Cvetic, at the request of the FBI, joined a Pittsburgh branch of the CPUSA in 1943. View production, box office, & company info. Part of our over 12,000 show library of old time radio. During this time he has been unable to tell his family about his dual role, so they assume that he is a genuine believer in communism and despise him. Matthew "Matt" Cvetic (March 4, 1909 – July 26, 1962) was a Pittsburgh native who was a spy and informant working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation inside the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) during the 1940s. We offer 3 different ways for you to listen to our old time radio shows so that no matter what device you are using (PC, laptop, Android phone, iPhone, iPad, Kindle, tablet, etc.) The show had a budget of $12,000 per week, a very high cost to produce a radio show at the time.[6]. The tone of the show is ultra-patriotic, with Communists portrayed as racist, vindictive, and tools of a totalitarian foreign power, the Soviet Union. In 1941 he was contacted by agents of the F.B.I. [5] The stories were later turned into a best-selling book and radio series. But it plays a bit recklessly with fire". I Was a Communist for the FBI is a 1951 American film noir drama directed by Gordon Douglas, and featuring Frank Lovejoy, Dorothy Hart, Philip Carey, and James Millican.. Nobody knows that he is with the FBI, neither his family. A retired mob accountant is drawn back in when his brothers, who have recently made a hit for the organization, decide to go to the authorities. [3] The film was produced by Bryan Foy who was head of Warners B picture unit until 1942. Many of the … I Was a Communist for the FBI is a 1951 American film noir crime film directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Frank Lovejoy. Later he would testify before the HUAC, and be labeled as "Cvetic the Rat" by his former associates in the Party. When a woman he meets is murdered, a soon-to-ship-out sailor has until dawn to find the killer, aided by a weary dance hall girl. Obviously this is nothing new – during the Cold War the US government harnessed the film industry in order to churn out anti-communist propaganda; producing such ‘classics’ as I was a Communist for the FBI, which portrayed the Communist Party of the USA as being behind 1943’s race riots in Harlem and Detroit – therefore drawing a connection between the African American struggle … I Was A Communist for the FBI (1951) In 1945 John E. Rankin, the long serving, bombastic, and racist congressman from Mississippi stated “one of the most dangerous plots ever instigated for the overthrow of this government has its headquarters in Hollywood … Dana Andrews-Wikipedia. It was also a radio show starring Dana Andrews that ran for 78 episodes from April 23, 1952 until October 14, 1953.[4]. Based on the book by the same name by Matt Cvetic, an undercover operative who joined the Communist Party to spy from within.. In 1953, Ziv created I Led Three Lives, based on the life of Herbert Philbrick, an advertising executive who also infiltrated the U.S. Communist Party on behalf of the FBI in the 1940s. The program was made without the cooperation of the FBI. The film was based on a series of stories written by Matt Cvetic that appeared in The Saturday Evening Post. The purpose of both is partly to warn people about the threat of Communist subversion of American society. I Was a Communist for the F.B.I. Cvetic helps her escape the Communists in violent sequences in which two Communists and an FBI agent are killed. This is the story of an F.B.I. He becomes emotionally involved with a Communist school teacher (Dorothy Hart), who is becoming disenchanted with the party. It is hard to know just what is true and what isn't because BOTH sides, Hoover's FBI and the Liberal revisionists keep spinning their own version.But after the fall of the USSR, the KGB files affirmed that there were many successful infiltrations and manipulations of the media and govt. Was this review helpful to you? He did infiltrate the CPUSA. Communists are portrayed in the film as cynical opportunists, racists who are interested only in seizing power on behalf of the Soviets and not in improving social and labor conditions in the U.S. had a life that was marred by alcoholism, damaged expectations, and greed. They are shown as cynical racists, calling blacks "niggers" and Jews "kikes". After marrying her long lost love, a musician finds the relationship threatened by a wealthy composer who is besotted with her. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p. 31, http://www.radioechoes.com/?page=series&genre=OTR-Thriller&series=I%20Was%20A%20Communist%20For%20The%20FBI, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=I_Was_a_Communist_for_the_FBI&oldid=1011038448, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 8 March 2021, at 18:03. During the "Red Scare" of the 1950s, FBI agent and Slovenian-American Matt Cvetic (Frank Lovejoy) poses as a Communist to infiltrate the U.S. Communist Party. While recuperating from wartime back injuries at a hospital, veteran Bob Corey is visited on Christmas Eve by a beautiful stranger with an even stranger message. made it a point to not cooperate with the production. The program frequently dealt with the great stress that Cvetic was under, as he covertly infiltrated a local Communist Party cell. I Was a Communist for the FBI (Motion Picture) Part 2 of 2 View agent who is inserted into a communist cell in Pittsburg and who witnesses the under-the-belt tactics of these operators, vis a vis the unions and their efforts at demonstrations and strikes, in the steel industry. ‘MLK/FBI’ Film Review: J Edgar Hoover’s Victimization of Martin Luther King Tells Just Part of the Story, Review: "A Bullet For Joey" (1955) Starring Edward G. Robinson And George Raft; Blu-ray Edition From Kino Lorber. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. He became one of many plants in the Party during that decade and gained the nickname "Pennsylvania’s most significant mole." A New York socialite climbs the ladder of success man by man until a life among rich gangsters gives her what she thought she always wanted. While the film focused on the end of Cvetic’s career, this focused on the beginning and middle. Based on the book by the same name by Matt Cvetic, an undercover operative who joined the Communist Party to spy from within.. This series capitalized on the new Red scare of the early 1950s: 78 episodes were recorded, without any … on Amazon.com, Title: The Communists in the movie are shown to be violent thugs who kill informers. Although asked for input as well as endorsement, the F.B.I. I Was a Communist for the FBI is a 1951 American film noir crime film directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Frank Lovejoy. A fact-based story about a man who posed as an American Communist for years as part of a secret plan to infiltrate their organization. The man who loosely provided the inspiration for the B-Grade cult movie I Was a Communist for the FBI. The program was made without the cooperation of the FBI. While there were many others who did the same, what is unique about Cvetic is the speed … San Quentin prison inmate Arnie Judlow asks his twin brother Bill and his wife Ruth to assist him in a daring escape plan. When he learns that a gangster has taken over his nightclub and murdered his partner, returning WW2 hero Joe Miracle steals the money from the club's safe and hides in a settlement home, while the mob is on his tail. The radio version of I Was a Communist for the FBI consisted of 78 episodes syndicated by the Frederick W. Ziv Company to more than 600 stations, including KNX in Los Angeles, California, with original episodes running from March 30, 1952 to September 20, 1953. Pittsburgh celebrated the film's April premiere with a "Matthew Cvetic Day," complete with parade. Harvey Matusow played a similar role as ex-communist. Use the HTML below. It is the details that connect these facts that are argued. He wrote, "In many respects, this heated item bears comparison to the hearings before the House Un-American Activities Committee—which, incidentally, it extols...For instance, in glibly detailing how the Communists foment racial hate and labor unrest in this country...[it] hint[s] that most Negroes and most laborers are 'pinks'. Matt Cvetic (Frank Lovejoy), who works in a Pittsburgh steel mill, has been infiltrating the Communist Party for the FBI in Pittsburgh for nine years. [1], When the film was released, The New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther was critical of the message in the film. Middle-aged European pianist Paul Marvan (Hugo Haas)is brought to America by wealthy widow Diana Fowler (Mona Barrie)and he meets and weds a canary-blonde named Margo (Cleo Moore), who is a... See full summary », The FBI infiltrates one of their agents in the US Communist Party. "[8], This dramatic film was nominated for an Academy Award as the Best Documentary Feature of the year. 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