Stolen Identity (1953)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Over the opening credits, a train delivers someone mysterious to Vienna. The mysterious American man sends a telegram to coolly attractive Joan Camden (as Karen), which is secretively picked up by her maid. The unhappy wife of successful concert pianist Francis Lederer (as Claude Manelli), Ms. Camden is expecting the telegram. Alas, it is intercepted and delivered to Mr. Lederer. He wants to keep his wife and believes getting rid of the mysterious man would prevent Camden from running away to the United States. Meanwhile, handsome immigrant Donald Buka (as Toni Sponer) finds an older friend drunk and agrees to drive his taxicab on New Year's Eve. Down-on-his-luck, Mr. Buka would like to go back to America, but he can't get a passport due to illegally selling cigarettes. Driving his drunk friend's taxi, Buka crosses paths with Lederer...This relatively unknown classic was produced by actor Turhan Bey and is his only credit in that category. More active in other capacities, Gunther von Fritsch directed only four feature films, beginning with "Curse of the Cat People" (1944). He guides his cast and photographer Helmut Ashley very effectively. Nearly every camera shot and actor's gesture is substantive. The director fully engages during the long sequence wherein Buka loses track of his taxi passenger, from the construction worker and busy traffic to the drunken man with his balloon, then body disposal. Earlier, note the way best supporting actress-worthy Inge Konradi (as Marie) looks at Buka in their first scene together; she's not the leading lady, but we know she would like Buka to drive her cab. The minor flaw is an ending that reaches for something that really wasn't there.********Stolen Identity (1953-04-03) Gunther von Fritsch ~ Donald Buka, Joan Camden, Francis Lederer, Inge Konradi

Its a good film set in Vienna about a cab driver, Toni (Donald Buka), who steals a passenger's identity when the passenger is shot whilst sitting in the back of his cab. This gives him an identity as he is an illegal immigrant, but he needs to play out the role of the victim until he catches a flight to the U.S. with a ticket in the victim's name. Mrs Manelli (Joan Camden) rumbles him but she is accused of having mental problems by her husband, Claude (Francis Lederer), a concert pianist. As a result, Toni is let off the hook. Claude does not want to part from his wife, but she runs away from him. There are several plot twists and eventually both Toni and Mrs Manelli make a run for it together - they are both trying to escape from their lives in Vienna. There is a tense, exciting build-up to the finale. Are they going to get away.....??...Unfortunately, the picture quality isn't fantastic and there is a line that runs down the middle of the picture for a while. The cast are all very good in their roles, especially Francis Lederer's portrayal of Claude. Also important to the story are Heinth (Manfred Inger) as the cab company owner, Marie (Inge Konradi) as Toni's hometown girlfriend and the inspector (Hermann Erhardt). Its a good film.

For one thing, he produced this movie. It has the feel of later movies with international casts that are dubbed. The opening credits tell us it was filmed in Vienna.Bey was a delight in the Universal adventure movies of the 1940s. He was also superb in a movie I saw maybe ten years ago but have never heard of since: "The Amazing Mr. X." Maybe it was Dr. X. I remember it as a thrilling and frightening movie.This one is pretty wooden, unfortunately. The plot isn't easy to follow. When I got the hang of it, I was disappointed anyway.Francis Lederer looks great as a concert pianist. He was a very handsome leading man ten or 15 years earlier. He never really caught on as a major star, though he should have.This isn't terrible but it's pretty heavy going.

There's a "Third Man" look to the shadowy B&W photography of STOLEN IDENTITY, a thriller produced by Turhan Bey, ex-star of Universal pictures during the '40s. It's an expertly filmed tale of jealousy that leads to murder when a famous pianist (FRANCIS LEDERER) becomes overly possessive of his wife (JOAN CAMDEN) and is soon intent on carrying out a scheme to murder a man she's having an affair with.A taxi-driver (DONALD BUKA) happens to be giving the woman's lover a lift to the hotel when he steps outside a moment to chat with a worker digging up the street. Lederer uses the sound of the drill to muffle the sound of the bullet he puts in the head of the passenger from outside the back of the car. When Buka returns to his cab, he finds a dead man in the passenger seat.Enroute to report the murder to the police, he changes his mind and decides to switch identities with the dead man who has an American passport which means Buka could realize his ambition to return to the United States. The stolen identity plot becomes thicker when the man's girlfriend (Lederer's wife) shows up at the hotel to accuse Buka of impersonating the dead man.It's the sort of plot movie-goers have probably seen countless times, but it gets a nice workout here, with plenty of tense scenes as Buka and Lederer's wife plan how to run from the authorities until a final confrontation with the murderer and the police.It's extremely absorbing, well done and holds the interest throughout with some excellent atmospheric photography of Vienna that will remind most movie-goers of "The Third Man".Well worth viewing.