The Woman on Pier 13 (1950)

Sadly Over-hyped

The acting in this movie is really good.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

I MARRIED A COMMUNIST (aka THE WOMAN ON PIER 13) is a thoroughly reprehensible noir, wherein the "Communist menace" is depicted as a well-organized cabal of murderous agitators on the San Francisco waterfront, headed up by Thomas Gomez. The always-solid Robert Ryan stoops just as low as Gomez does by playing a "reformed" Commie who gets sucked back into the Party in order to do dirty deeds at the docks.One has to wonder just how much power Howard Hughes, who reputedly would "test" RKO contract players' loyalty by trying to get them to make this film, really held over his charges. After all, Ryan surely cringed his way through the production considering he was running roughshod over his own strong political views, and Gomez had only a year earlier brilliantly portrayed a small-time mobster with a conscience in Polonsky's FORCE OF EVIL.But the film holds sway over the viewer in large part due to the brilliant Nicholas Musaraca cinematography, filled with inky black shadows and harsh angles, and a crackling pace which almost makes you forget what tripe you are listening to. And as noted above, at least the Commies are depicted as intellectuals who throw interesting parties (and have Cubist art on the walls), even while they're faking suicides and throwing tied up people into the San Francisco Bay.

RKO studio was making some terrific noir films during the late 40's and used that same formula in this 1950 thriller. The problem with the film arises because of the Red scare propagated by Senator Joseph McCarthy who saw "commies" behind every tree. The Red scare theme dates the story to the point that it is almost embarrassing........but it is still worth seeing.Robert Ryan, who was such a powerful actor, stars as a successful man who once was a Communist, lured by his then-mistress, played by Janis Carter. He has now moved on with his life, married to Laraine Day and has learned to love the "American way". Trouble rears its ugly head as labor union troubles bring his old cronies out of the woodwork and the fun begins.This film played on the fears of 1950's audiences and it is hard to relate to those feelings now; however, the craftsmanship of the film is quite good and the players are up to their usual standards. Of course, the exception is John Agar,who as always is bad, bad, bad. So for a look at another time when people built bomb shelters and suspected their neighbors of being "fellow travelers", take a gander at this film. It's a time capsule unto itself.

Caution: there is a sickening amount of propaganda in this film.Another caution: this a below-average time filler.However, if you love film noir like I do, then this film is a must-see.There is some good lighting in the exterior shots and no matter how average a film is (this is about a 6 on a 1-10 scale); if Robert Ryan and Laraine Day are in it, it's going to scream "noir". And Ryan does a good job here, but has a bad script to work with. The subject of the film is way out of date; yet, it's still an intriguing time machine.As I recall, this film is very short (maybe 62-67 minutes long?) and thus, isn't listed in most film guides. I had no idea what I was getting into when I watched it the first time. Don't miss it if you like film noir/crime types.

A film for Robert Ryan fans, for this shows how handsome he was. Fit and virile, and before smoking began to take its toll. He was 40 yrs old by the time he made this film. He got the chance to be something of a hero for a change. He does some pretty good acting, for him, and romantics everywhere will love the way he desperately tries to save his wife in dramatic scenes. This movie pushes home the paranoia of anti-communist views as it was in the 50's. People scoff at the fear of communism in todays climate, but things were different then. People have forgotten how men died because of communist spies. British soldiers and some Americans and Polish too, died at the hands of communist spies such as Guy Burgess, Kim Philby and Anthony Blunt. They mainly operated from Whitehall, London, and spilled secrets to Russian Communists in the 40's during the war. They leaked details of planned operations that got back to the Russians. When they started being discovered by the British and American Intelligence they fled to live in Russia and they died in the 70's. However, this film expresses a fear and nothing more than that of dark forces at work among men. Essentially a "B" movie but certainly adequate and worth a look for Robert Ryan alone, and probably as a history lesson for movie makers.