WALK EAST ON BEACON (1952)

Directed by Alfred Werker with a screenplay inspired by a J. Edgar Hoover article on the case of treason against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, this ninety-eight-minute Columbia Pictures release uses a pseudo-documentary format like so many low-budget FBI-themed films of the era. It is melodramatically narrated by the then-familiar voice of Westbrook Van Vorhees. Authenticity is the keyword. Whether real or imagined. I will say, without the frequent narration, it might be difficult to keep track of the many characters or procedural shifts in the film. To help sell the authenticity, the narration includes a superimposed “date stamp” as events unfold. Canadian composer, Louis Applebaum, known for his documentaries and short films, wrote the score. There are not many actors of note for the viewer to identify with but three are mentioned below. 

An FBI agent, the pre-Senator George Murphy (center above), is assigned to locate the Communist spies behind a plot to infiltrate a secret government project on a high-speed, basement-sized, IBM Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator. Murphy comes off genuine in his last Hollywood role and he adds credence to the film. The Communist’s plan is to extort information from a top mathematician, played by Finlay Currie, with the added incentive that his son will remain a hostage in East Berlin until he surrenders the information they want. The film highlights cutting-edge investigative work of the FBI like surveillance car spotlights—pre-GoPro days—converted to nifty concealed cameras. After reviewing an undercover film of a suspicious male-to-female exchange in a park, the bureau sends out a police bulletin about a woman who carries a shoulder-strapped purse and has a peculiar walk. This would be Virginia Gilmore (pictured with Currie below). I could never determine the cause for her walking—perhaps only a broken heal—nor did the director provide any clues. Gilmore may be the one actress who could pass as Jane Greer given the correct angle and hairstyle.

As suspected during this era, Soviet operatives meet secretly, hiding under the guise of legitimate businesses. Their operations make up a good chunk of the film. The FBI shows a few frames of silent surveillance film of suspect Communists to members of a Boston school of international lip reading to determine their nationality and conversations. The information gleaned suggests a late-night escape along the Atlantic shoreline. Some fairly tense moments as the Navy and Coast Guard pinpoint the exact location of the cabin cruiser. The end of the film wraps in quick order as Applebaum’s score cranks up the intensity. Currie barely escapes with his life, his son is actually released and the Moscow mastermind is apprehended for a positive climax.

Note: Noted director, George Roy Hill, in his first of four acting gigs, has the unenviable role as the suggested Julius Rosenberg. Louisa Horton plays his wife. Both have fictitious character names in the film to protect the guilty. Finally, this film is perhaps one of only a handful—if not the only one—that makes reference to J. Edgar Hoover’s first name, John.