The Red Menace [The Enemy Within] [Underground Spy] * (1949, Robert Rockwell, Hanne Axman, Betty Lou Gerson, Barbra Fuller, Shepard Menken) – Classic Movie Review 12,891

Republic Pictures’ virulently anti-Communist 1949 film noir thriller The Red Menace [The Enemy Within] stars Robert Rockwell, Hanne Axman, Betty Lou Gerson and Barbra Fuller. It is a scarily strident propaganda piece.

‘Wanted… by every secret agent! Hunted… by alien killers! The most talked about drama of our time! Trapped… by her own helpless love! So shocking it was filmed behind locked studio doors!’

Director R G Springsteen’s 1949 Republic Pictures’ American black and white virulently anti-Communist film noir drama thriller The Red Menace [The Enemy Within] stars Robert Rockwell, Hanne Axman, Betty Lou Gerson, Barbra Fuller, and Shepard Menken. It is a scarily strident propaganda piece.

Robert Rockwell stars as a World War Two war veteran, an ex-GI named Bill Jones, who is tricked by the reds, and becomes involved with the Communist Party USA, believing the party’s line.

While in training, Jones falls in love with one of his instructors, Nina Petrovka (Hanne Axman), but they witness party leaders murder a member who questions the party’s ideas, and they run off into the wilds of America hunted by the party’s assassins, in this blatant, rabid and desperately unattractive piece of American postwar Commie-bashing.

Today, with its impossible-to-believe story, rough acting and crude handling, it seems just a badly dated curio that may raise a few concerned eyebrows over its sinister aspects or even some justifiable anger over its desperate propagandising naivety.

The deeply devious and dodgy screenplay is by Albert DeMond and Gerald Geraghty, based on the story by Albert DeMond. To be fair, both the writers and the studio itself were victims, as were audiences, as it is an important example of one of many anti-Communist movies made by Hollywood studios to escape being blacklisted. The studio executives themselves were living in fear, not just their employees.

It marks the film debuts of actresses Barbra Fuller, Betty Lou Gerson, Kay Riehl and Mary DeGolyer.

Hanna Axmann-Rezzori, born on 14 July 1921 in Bochum, Germany, is billed as Hanne Axman.

The cast are Robert Rockwell as Bill Jones, Hannelore Axman [billed as Hanne Axman] as Nina Petrovka, Betty Lou Gerson as Yvonne Kraus, Barbra Fuller as Mollie O’Flaherty, Shepard Menken as Henry Solomon, Lester Luther as Earl Partridge, William Lally as Jack Tyler, Lloyd G Davies as Inspector O’Toole, Norman Budd as Reachi, Leo Cleary as Father O’Leary, Kay Riehl as Mrs. O’Flaherty, William Martell as Immigration Inspector Riggs, James Harrington as Martin Vejac, Duke Williams as Sam Wright, Napoleon Simpson as Tom Wright, Robert H Purcell as Sheriff of Talbot, Royal Raymond as Benson, Gregg Martell as Schuitz, and Jimmy Hawkins as Jimmy.

It is also known as The Enemy Within (UK alternative title and Australia).

Reissue title: Underground Spy (US).

Barbra Fuller signed a contract with Republic Pictures in 1949. The Red Menace, made at the height of the HUAC and the McCarthy persecution, is her first screen credit. Republic sought to cast an unknown as Mollie O’Flaherty and her unaffected acting is ideal for their purposes. Unfortunately, the film was hardly a great start for her short-lived movie career. Nevertheless, Republic kept her busy and she starred in nine films in 1950 alone.

She followed it with Flame of Youth (1949), Alias the Champ (1949), Harbor of Missing Men (1950), Women from Headquarters (1950),  Trial without Jury (1950), Unmasked (1950), Crosswinds (1951) and City of Bad Men (1953). Her last movie parts came in How Sweet It Is! (1968) and The Roommates (1973).

Before her film career, she was featured in 25 radio serials by the age of 18. After her contract with Republic expired, she worked mainly in TV, and made many TV performances, beginning with a 1953 episode of The Adventures of Superman, and including two episodes of Perry Mason (1960, 1964), reuniting her with Raymond Burr.

Barbara Deane Fuller was born in Nahant, Massachusetts, on July 31, 1921. She married Western star Lash LaRue on February 23, 1951, in Yuma, Arizona, but divorced him on June 2, 1952, claiming he ‘treated her mean’. She did not remarry or have children.

Barbra Fuller died on May 15, 2024, aged 102.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,891

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com