House on 92nd Street

The film opens with the following prologue: “The story is built on the basis of real espionage cases conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation . Created in full collaboration with the FBI, the film could not be made public until the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan . The film was shot in the very places where the described events originally took place - in New York , Washington and their environs. Wherever possible, filming was carried out in the very place where this or that event took place. With the exception of actors with the main roles, all the FBI employees shown in the film are genuine employees of this service. ” Then, in a short introduction, the official voice speaks about the activities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, called America's quietest service, which protects the peace of Americans. For the FBI, the war began long before its official announcement. In 1939, Germany began to introduce its spies in the United States, in connection with which the FBI significantly expanded the network of its agents and increased the level of their professional training. One of the very centers of subversive work against the United States was the German Embassy in Washington, for which the FBI established constant monitoring. In particular, there was a constant operational survey of all who entered and left the embassy building, part of these chronicles were included in the film. Personal surveillance was conducted of intelligence officers working under the roof of the embassy, ​​whose task was to obtain secret information, the formation of subversive pro-Nazi organizations and the recruitment of Americans for undercover work.

In particular, Nazi emissaries come to Bill Dietrich ( William Eyt ), a talented American student of German descent who graduates from the graduate course in engineering at the University of Ohio , offering him a good job in Germany. Bill is suspicious of such a proposal, and he reports it to the FBI to Bureau Inspector George Briggs ( Lloyd Nolan ). When Bill is explained the essence of the German proposal, he offers his services to the FBI as an agent. With the money received from the Germans, Dietrich travels to Hamburg, where he undergoes six-month intensive training at a specialized intelligence school.

Meanwhile, on one of the busy streets of New York, an unknown person gets under a car. Before an ambulance picks up the downed one, someone approaches him and quietly picks up the briefcase that has fallen from his hands. On the way to the hospital, an unknown person dies and the police begin an investigation. It turns out that according to the passport, the deceased is a Spanish citizen, however, with him, doctors discover a notebook with strange military-technical notes in German. This is reported to the FBI, which concludes that the dead is a German spy Franz von Wirth. An encrypted letter is found in him, in which they read in secret text “Mr. Christopher will focus on Process 97”. This message is alarming for Briggs, as Process 97 is one of the most carefully guarded US military secrets, the atomic bomb project . Briggs is tasked with concentrating fully on Christopher's case.

After completing a training course in Hamburg, Bill Dietrich receives instructions from the leadership of German intelligence and leaves for New York. During an interim stop in Lisbon, he secretly meets with an FBI spokesperson who examines Bill’s credentials and sends them to Washington. Bill's powers indicate that he has the right to contact with three Nazi spies in New York - Gebhardt, Hammerson and Klein. However, the FBI corrects the microfilm with Bill's authority in such a way that he has the right to come into direct contact with all members of the espionage group. In addition, Bill's powers indicate that he is obliged to follow instructions if they come from Mr. Christopher. Bill's task is to pay for paid informants, as well as to establish direct radio communications with a spy center in Germany.

Arriving in New York, Bill goes to the house on 92nd Street, where the large Elsa fashion studio is located, the owner of which is Elsa Gebhardt ( Signe Hasso ), a secular lady with an Aryan appearance of more than 30 years. After verifying Bill's authority, Elsa takes him to a secret room where he introduces other members of the espionage organization - Max Cobura (Harry Bellaver), Conrad Arnulf (Harro Meller) and Gestapo agent Johanna Schmidt (Lydia St. Clair). Bill reports that his task is to install a shortwave radio station with which he will transmit intelligence to Hamburg.

Elsa is suspicious of Bill's authority, in particular, the fact that she should bring him into contact with all the agents known to her. She decides to double-check these powers in Hamburg, however, due to the lack of operational secret communication channels, she will have to wait for a response from the center for several weeks. As a result, she is forced to gradually bring Bill up to date, including introducing him to the agents, but at the same time establishes secret surveillance of him.

Bill meets with his second contact, an experienced Colonel Hammerson ( Leo J. Carroll ), who sells secrets about the latest American weapons to the Nazis for money. Attempts to find out from him who Mr. Christopher is, do not lead to success. Bill rents an office and installs radio equipment in it, which should transmit secret messages to Hamburg. In fact, his radio station is able to transmit messages only to the FBI station, located at a distance of 25-30 kilometers, and from there, after studying and appropriate processing, the message will be sent to Germany.

Gradually, Nazi agents began to visit Bill's office to receive payment, as a result of which he managed to create a database on an extensive spy network of dozens of agents.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States officially entered World War II . The FBI has stepped up work to identify and detain foreign spies on its territory, resulting in the arrest of all agents who came in contact with Bill. However, so that Bill could continue to carry out the building to identify Mr. Christopher, several of his contacts were left free - Elsa, Hammerson, Arnulf and Schmidt.

Hammerson is organizing a meeting between Bill and Mr. Klein (Alfred Linder) in one of the inconspicuous bars in the port area of ​​New York. At the meeting, Kline sells Bill secret information regarding the Navy 's New York Harbor schedule. Suddenly, a drunken man comes up to their table, claiming that he is getting all the information for Klein and would like to work directly. Drunk raises his voice and there is a threat of scandal, then, at the direction of Johan Schmidt, who is present at the meeting, her people take the man out of the bar and kill him. Left alone, Bill and Klein try to find out from him the identity of Mr. Christopher, but gets a sharp rebuff.

Soon Elsa calls Bill to her office and demands that he urgently send the materials that she just received, saying that this is an order from Mr. Christopher. Bill notices in her ashtray a recently extinguished cigarette butt with traces of female lipstick. Knowing that Elsa does not smoke, Bill suggests that the cigarette butt could have been left by the one who delivered the envelope with the materials and quietly steals the cigarette butt. Through secret channels, Bill immediately transfers materials and a cigarette butt to the FBI. Briggs discovers that the materials received relate to the top-secret Process 97. Dr. Appleton, who is in charge of the development of Process 97, invited to consult, reports that the folder contains the results of experiments that were carried out two days ago. With the help of Appleton, the FBI distorts the materials in such a way that they look authentic, and sends them to Germany. To find a source of information leakage, the FBI intensifies its activities at the Appleton Institute.

At the same time, the cigarette butt and lipstick on it are thoroughly studied in the laboratories of the FBI. As a result, it is possible to identify a beauty salon in which a woman using such lipstick can work. Her name is Louise Waja (Rene Carson), and she has long been known to the FBI as an information transfer agent deeply embedded by the Nazis. When questioned by Waji, the FBI finds out that she was in contact with Charles Ogden Roper ( Gene Lockhart ), a scientist who is working on a project of the atomic bomb in Appleton's laboratory. Briggs manages to figure out how, with super-strict control at the institute, when it is literally impossible to take out any pieces of paper from there, the spy managed to forward such a large amount of information. Having carefully studied Roper's biography, Briggs understands that he has outstanding memory abilities, and in his youth even tried to perform in a variety show with a number showing a phenomenal memory. At the next meeting, Briggs tells Roper that the FBI knows everything about how he stole data from the institute. Briggs then shows him the secret intercepted telegram from Germany, which instructs him to eliminate Roper after he finishes delivering the information. Frightened, Roper confesses that he had an Adolf Lang bookstore as an alternative channel for transmitting information. In particular, he put the latest information on Process 97 into Herbert Spencer 's specially prepared book , The Basic Principles , which was on a shelf in a store. The FBI go into the store and interrogate Lang, but he says that the book has already been taken. The FBI scans the records of all those leaving the store, eventually identifying the man who was noticed and entering Elsa’s house, but he carefully conceals his face under a hat. After that, Briggs gives the order to detain all the people who are in the house of Elsa.

Meanwhile, Elsa sends one of her agents for Bill. Arriving at his laboratory, this man notices that the equipment installed by Bill is capable of sending signals no further than 30 kilometers. Bill explains that in another place he has a more powerful station sending messages to Hamburg. Elsa’s man decides to verify this personally, and sends a message to the Nazi intelligence center. The FBI receiving the signal, realizing in a handwriting that it wasn’t Bill who sent it, gives an answer that convinces the sender that he came from Hamburg.

Waiting for Bill, Elsa receives a letter from Hamburg, which contains a duplicate of Bill’s credentials under a layer of paint on a postage stamp. Realizing that he had falsified his powers, Elsa gives Bill an injection of scopolamine , which suppresses her will, after which he is beaten and interrogated by Elsa’s assistants.

Meanwhile, FBI agents led by Briggs quietly surround a house on 92nd Street. Having contacted the spies on the phone, Briggs offers them to surrender, and after refusing gives an order to smoke them from the premises using tear gas . Elsa instructs to barricade herself, burn the documents and show armed resistance, and she leaves for the next room, takes off her wig, erases her make-up, dresses in a man’s suit and picks up the last documents on Process 97 that she received in Lang’s store. Elsa, who, as it becomes clear, is Mr. Christopher, is trying to escape the fire escape, but she is also controlled by the FBI. She is forced to return to a room where, in the smoke, Arnulf takes her for an FBI agent who has burst in, shoots and kills her. Unable to tolerate the effects of gas, spies are forced to go out and surrender. FBI agents enter the building and save Bill.

In the final of the film, against the backdrop of newsreels, the official voice said: “This is how Christopher’s case ended. Elsa Gebhardt, she is Mr. Christopher, has achieved no more than other spies. Process 97, the atomic bomb, the American main military secret, remains a secret. After the United States entered the war on December 7, 1941, over 16 thousand foreign agents, pests and dangerous enemy allies were arrested, six were executed, thousands were interned, others were imprisoned for a total of 1880 years. All the enemy’s carefully designed plans for the fifth column were destroyed before they were put into action. Not a single act of sabotage organized by the enemy was carried out in the United States, not a single important military secret was stolen. The FBI remains the implacable enemy of all US enemies. ”

As movie historian Spencer Selby writes, “House on 92nd Street” was the first noir film produced by Louis De Rochemon , who is called the pioneer of a semi-documentary police thriller ” ^[2] . Film critic Dennis Schwartz points out that ““ De Roshmon is best known as a producer of the newsreel “ March of the Time ” of the 1930s and early 1940s, and therefore it is easy to understand why the chronicles fit so well into the narrative ” ^[3] . American film Institute , "the film was one of several dramatic semi-documentary films made by renowned documentary filmmaker Luis de Rochemont ... in other paintings, placed under the leadership of Rochemont that contained a similar mixture of facts, real people, ak orov and fiction were " Madeleine Street, 13 " (1947), which was based on the materials of the activities of the Office of strategic services in the US , as well as " Boomerang! "(1947) ^[4] , telling about a real lawsuit about the murder of a priest.

Кинокритик Ричард Харланд Смит отмечает, что режиссёр Генри Хэтэуэй , "едва успев завершить костюмированный мюзикл « Ноб Хилл » (1941) с Джорджем Рафтом , захотел попробовать что-то новое. Хетэуэй услышал, что по рукам ходит сценарий о ФБР, который нужно снимать в Нью-Йорке. Он достал копию сценария ^[5] , а затем договорился с главой студии Дэррилом Зануком о том, чтобы тот утвердил его в качестве режиссёра. Этот фильм был одним из восьми фильмов нуар, поставленных Хэтэуэем, наиболее успешные среди которых — « Тёмный угол » (1946), « Поцелуй смерти » (1947), « Звонить Нортсайд 777 » (1948), « Четырнадцать часов » (1951) и « Ниагара » (1953) ^[6] .

Смит отмечает, что ранее "Хэтэуэй уже сотрудничал с автором истории Чарльзом Дж. Бутом при постаовке военной драмы « Закат » (1941), которая получила три номинации на Оскар ^[5] . Другими памятными работами Бута в качестве сценариста были криминальный триллер « Генерал умер на рассвете » (1936), фильмы нуар « Джонни Эйнджел » (1945) и « За зелёными огнями » (1946) ^[7] .

На роли главных героев были взяты контрактные голливудские актёры Ллойд Нолан (который сыграл ставшего мучеником агента ФБР в « Джименах ») и Уильям Эйт , замеченный на Бродвее и приглашённый для исполнения ролей в нуаровом вестерне « Случай в Окс-Боу » (1943), исторической религиозной драме « Песня Бернадетт » (1943) и военной драме « Канун Святого Марка » (1944) ^[5] . Ллойд Нолан сыграл заметные роли в фильмах нуар « Где-то в ночи » (1946), « Улица без названия » (1948) и « За семью волнами » (1957), а также в драме « Дерево растет в Бруклине » (1945) ^[8] . Сигне Хассо известна по военной драме « Седьмой крест » (1943), криминальной исторической мелодраме « Скандал в Париже » (1946), фильмам нуар « Двойная жизнь » (1947), « До края земли » (1948) и « За стеной » (1950) ^[9] .

Как отмечает Ричард Харланд Смит, «у Гувера с кино были отношения любви-ненависти, которые начались ещё с фильма „ Джимены “ (1935) студии „ Уорнер “, в котором в художественной форме рассказывалось о рождении ФБР, выросшего из Министерства юстиции США ». Смит поясняет, что «первоначально Гувер одобрил создание „Джименов“ (дав Джеймсу Кэгни возможность плавно перейти от ролей гангстеров к ролям хороших парней, что порадовало как самого актёра, так и офис Хейса ), но он отказался поддерживать фильм после его выхода на экраны» ^[5] .

Then, Smith writes, Fox Studios created “ Roger Thuy the Gangster ” (1944) based on factual material, which was set up by Robert Flory in a documentary style and included full-scale shooting in the places where the events of the Thuy case took place. ” The film was conceived as a prestigious drama intended for release in 1943, but first “it was removed 30 minutes for censorship reasons”, then “the FBI abandoned it” and finally, when the film was released a year later, “ Tui’s adventures are erased in public memory ” ^[5] .

Smith believes that “the key reason for Hoover’s reluctance to support the films“ Jimena ”and“ Roger Tui, the gangster “was that both films could not show the bureau in a positive way. So, the key scene of the first film, a raid during a gangster gathering, became a fiasco for the FBI. In the second film, the key witness, as it later turned out, committed perjury , which led to the early release of Tui to freedom ” ^[5] .

However, “the incomparable success of the Dukvesn case gave Hoover a chance to boast about the work of the FBI, and he gave full support to“ House on 92nd Street ”(1945), and“ in 1949 the film was released again with archive shootings at the beginning and end " ^[5] .

Smith notes that the story of the film is "an artistically revised version of the real case of the defeat of the spy organization Dukvesna " ^[5] . According to the American Film Institute , “the film was largely based on the FBI arrest in 1941 of thirty-three German and German-American spies. This spy network, which was based in New York, was engaged in the abduction to send to Germany information about a valuable American military secret, the Norden bombing sight ” ^[4] .

The Institute’s website further indicates that “the most famous among the detained spies was Fritz Jaubert Dükvesn ”, which “according to the studio, became the prototype of Colonel Hammerson in the film. The prototype of Bill Dietrich was William J. Seebold, a German-born U.S. citizen who, with the help of the FBI, infiltrated the spy network and installed a shortwave radio station, like the hero of the film. Another exposed spy on this case was fashion designer and socialite Lilly Stein, who became the prototype of Elsa Gebhardt. "Hermann Lang, who kept in mind the details of the design of the Norden bombing sight, became the prototype of Charles Ogden Roper." According to the site, “all thirty-three spies were charged with espionage and refusing to recognize themselves as foreign agents. Dykvesn received 18 years, Stein - 10 years, and Lang - 18 years " ^[4] .

According to Time magazine, “On January 2, 1942, 33 Nazi spies, including their leader Fritz Jaubet Dykvesna, were sentenced to more than 300 years in prison. One German intelligence officer later suggested that the destruction of this network dealt a “fatal blow” to Nazi espionage work in the United States. J. Edgar Hoover called the rout of the Duquesn network the largest espionage raid in US history ” ^[10] . On the other hand, Richard Smith notes that “in the film’s finale, Reed Hadley informs in a voiceover“ of the harsh punishment that fell on the guilty spies, but in fact most of those arrested spent several months in prison, not years, and no one in the Dukvesn case was not executed ” ^[5] .

Smith points out that “the film’s atomic theme - the Third Reich's hunt for top-secret Process 97 (completely fictional) - was added at the post-production stage, after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki took place on August 6, 1945, and a month before the film’s premiere, which took place on September 10, 1945 ” ^[5] . The American Film Institute suppresses that "the working materials of the film contain information that until April 2, 1945, the very mention of the atomic bomb was forbidden, even in a studio copy of the script ... until the receipt of the appropriate permission." According to the Los Angeles Times , dated August 18, 1945, if the atomic bomb had not been used by the United States during World War II, “this story about spies and the work of the FBI would have received a different motivation for the version of the picture that was released on the screens” ^{[4 ]} .

Smith writes that “the head of the Twentieth Century Fox studio, Darryl F. Zanuk, set the goal of filming a documentary-style film using unknown actors, an economical way of telling the story, and real life. Although initially Zanuk promised work to Robert D. Webb (director of the second cast of Henry King , who had experience in creating documentaries), but in the end, he gave the director's chair to Hathaway and raised the project budget to 400 thousand dollars ... Feeling that the material is dry, Hathaway and screenwriter John Monks Jr. added to the story moments that arouse spectator interest, including a memorable and very unlikely climax in the finale ” ^[5] .

On the website of the American Film Institute , it is noted that “ J. Edgar Hoover agreed to create a film, and an article in the New York Times on September 13, 1945 says that“ one of Hoover’s three closest assistants personally controlled the process of creating the film with in order to ensure its authenticity. " Hoover appears in a short episode at the beginning of the picture, which featured filming of his office and FBI headquarters. " In addition, “according to the studio’s press release, the FBI assisted the filmmakers by providing the creative team with special surveillance vehicles from which they could shoot street scenes in New York without attracting the attention of the crowd ... Video showing employees entering and leaving from the German Embassy in Washington, was also taken from the bureau’s movie archives. ” And “before the shooting, the actors Lloyd Nolan and William Eyth spent a week at the FBI Academy in Quantico , Virginia , where they attended classes with cadets and took a special physical training course” ^[4] .

The site of the American Film Institute writes that "according to the studio, the role of Elsa Gebhardt / Mr. Christopher was originally supposed to be played by a man who will pose as a woman." The recordings of the meeting dated January 9, 1945 with the head of the studio, Darryl F. Zanuk, contain information that Zanuk wanted Christopher to be “the one the audience would least suspect ... We want to take on the role of a very good actor, maybe a theatrical, so that the audience thinks this is a woman. ” In the end, in the picture, Elsa appears as a woman who pretends to be a man ^[4] . Schwartz adds that “the censorship of that time established the rule that a man cannot play a woman, and therefore the filmmakers used the woman as a transvestite - the leader of the spy network” ^[3] .

As the American Film Institute points out, the film itself "was largely shot on location in New York , Long Island and Washington ... according to the studio, the shootings were also in the top-secret military laboratory on Long Island, at the California Institute of Technology , and Hamburg shots were taken from the review film “Hamburg City”. In addition, the picture “contains a significant amount of documentary material specially shot for this film, which shows the work of federal agents at the headquarters of the FBI, ... shows the fingerprint department of the bureau, as well as many scientific methods for analyzing evidence” ^[4] .

Smith notes that “having collected material from the FBI’s real surveillance, and using the bureau’s regular staff in episodic roles, Hathaway filmed with guerrilla methods in the streets of Manhattan (although by law he had to obtain consent from passers-by who fell into the frame) ... Reed Hadley's loud voiceover, who is known for reading texts in the documentary newsreel “The March of Time ” ” ^[5] .

Overall rating of the film

As noted on the website of the American Film Institute , immediately after the release of the screens, “the film received excellent reviews” ^[4] . In particular, Variety magazine wrote that the Twentieth Century Fox studio, using the techniques of the newsreel “ March of Time ”, successfully filled the film with FBI equipment and materials. The result was an immersive melodrama deeply immersed in the documentary basis. The film contains FBI filmed chronicles of the pre-war and wartime period associated with the discovery of the vast Nazi spy system in the United States. Into this factual basis ... the deep degree of the FBI involvement in the creation of the film is woven, as well as the drama of Hollywood cinema in general and the Twentieth Century Fox studio, in particular ” ^[11] . Film critic Thomas M. Pryor noted in his review of The New York Times that “the story is a complex account of Nazi espionage based on official documents, set out in a simple, laconic manner, which makes it believable and thus very dramatic ... Almost the only concession that the producers made theatricality in this magnificent film was a scene with the Nazis surrounded in their den on 92nd Street. This ending is designed for a purely spectator effect, but the film is so remarkable in its other aspects that it can easily be forgiven for this shortcoming ” ^[12] .

Highly praised by critics and magnificently accepted by the public in 1945, these days the film has begun to receive mixed responses. Thus, Richard Harland Smith noted that “for its time, the film was revolutionary in nature and set a new trend in cinema, but“ 60 years later it looks a little different. Despite the methods of journalistic investigation, the film immediately reveals itself as FBI propaganda, which freely treats facts and brings several real crimes into one fictitious “case of Mr. Christopher.” ” ^[5] A similar opinion is shared by TimeOut magazine, which wrote that the film was“ highly praised at the time as the first of the documentaries De Rochemon’s thrillers, made in full cooperation with the FBI. ”The magazine further indicates that the picture“ still looks good, even though there is a breathtaking demonstration of counterintelligence equipment (hidden cameras, Gesell mirrors , microfilms, etc.) a bit outdated ” ^[13] .

According to critic Christopher Null, “today the film appears a little soothing, pleasing to the FBI, doctrinaire and not at all noir” ^[14] . Film critic Dennis Schwartz praised the film as follows: “This Hathaway military spy film was shot in a semi-documentary style, in which a fictional story is mixed with a documentary. He uses the realism of full-scale filming, which has influenced films such as The Naked City and Treasury Agents . Despite its inexpressive tonality, and mostly unimpressive acting, stereotypical threatening Nazi villains, mainly propaganda motives, and once the most advanced technology that is outdated today, the film is quite captivating and gives a historically accurate picture of its time ” ^{[3 ]} . Lucia Bozzola wrote: “Made with the blessing of the FBI and produced by the creator of the March of the Time, Louis de Rochemon, the film was the first major semi-documentary crime thriller. Although the film has a clear documentary accent, it is nevertheless dense and fast-moving, eccentric spies and a clear noir, black-and-white shooting turn the facts into a fascinatingly restrained and stylish suspense ” ^[15] .

Movie Feature

Describing the film, Prior wrote that “producer De Rochemon and his director Hathaway have achieved the most successful combination of documentary and traditional cinematic techniques, thereby proving that realism can be fascinating. Most of the story was recreated in the vicinity of those very places in New York and on Long Island , where Nazi agents acted. ” He further notes that “the illusion of reality is further reinforced by the fact that the actors are mostly unfamiliar, taken - with the exception of William Ait , Lloyd Nolan , Signe Hasso and Gene Lockhart - from the theater. FBI agents are real, with the exception of Nolan, whose play is so restrained and not impressive in a theatrical sense that the viewer takes him for a real Inspector Briggs. This is the case when the actors were selected in order to fit the script, and not vice versa, as is often the case, ”Pryor concludes ^[12] .

Lucia Bozzola notes that “while working on the atomic bomb- related internal espionage case during World War II , director Henry Hathaway combined newsreels showing suspected espionage in favor of Germany with scenes shot in nature in New York and Washington to show the FBI’s introduction into the Nazi criminal network, which is housed in a New York house that gave the film its name. ” According to her, “Hathaway strengthened the documentary atmosphere of the picture with the help of the cast, assembled mainly from characteristic and theatrical actors, rather than chic movie stars, an impartial voiceover and captions that explain the actual basis of the story” ^[15] .

Schwartz draws attention to the fact that the FBI spy equipment featured in the film was an innovation at the time. This, in particular, hidden cameras, Gesell's mirrors , an amazing database of fingerprints and advanced laboratory equipment that can trace the way from the stain of lipstick on a cigarette to a beauty salon. These scientific tracking operations, now completely ordinary, will not impress the modern public to the same extent as they did to the public, which looked at all this with wide open eyes during the premiere of the film ” ^[3] .

Film critic Paul Korupe also noted that “filmed“ where it happened ”- in the streets of Manhattan and in the offices of the FBI - often with real FBI agents providing extras - the film certainly impressed viewers of the 1940s with its tangible authenticity. Not surprisingly, the film’s producer Louis De Rochemon was a brilliant creator of the popular multi-year newsreel “ March of the Time ”, and his sense of documentary realism fully fills this film. Strict scenes made in the style of “ cinema believe ” are interconnected by an off-screen narration by a deep baritone and are mounted with fragments in which American agents, with the help of science and technology, disrupt the plans of their enemies. An interesting mixture of fact and fiction is created, which was extremely influential at that time. Soon, elements of documentary drama began to seep into many similar films of the 1940s and 1950s, not to mention later detective television series such as Dragnet . ” However, Korupe noted that “although there is no doubt that the film opened new horizons, it has its own problems. Besides the few real stars of the film, the relatively inexperienced staff can barely cope, where the stereotypically neat bureau agents and arching eyebrows Germans with a heavy accent undermine the film’s claims for realism ... There is little doubt that the FBI will succeed in clearing the Nazis from the front and the film fails to hook the audience with some sense of obscurity or uncertainty, spending most of the story in a demonstration of revealing spies of revolutionary scientific developments, such as secret messages hidden in the mail "brand names and spectral analysis machines - which in themselves are cool spy tools, but that’s not enough for a 90-minute film." Korupe concludes his assessment with the words: “Unfortunately, in today's rich“ reality ”on-screen entertainment, it is not so easy to evaluate the precedent of authenticity, which in truth is the only aspect that distinguishes it from other, more ordinary products of the noir genre. Сегодня в историческом плане фильм остаётся интересным, но наше хорошее знание ныне обычного стиля документальной драмы вынуждает современных зрителей обратить внимание на болезненно посредственный актёрский состав и сценарий» ^[16] .

Оценка актёрской игры

« TimeOut » пишет, что «сдержанная игра актёров вносит свой сильный вклад в создание атмосферы достоверности, несмотря на неуклюжие ошибки, такие как не слишком убедительная маскировка таинственного лидера шпионской группы в исполнении Сигне Хассо в трансвестита » ^[13] . По мнению Прайора, « Уильям Эйт легко вписался в личность Уильяма Дитриха,… взаимодействие которого с безжалостными нацистскими агентами в Нью-Йорке наполнено напряжённостью» ^[12] . По словам Смита, «британский актёр Лео Дж. Кэрролл и шведка Сигне Хассо принесли ледяную сдержанность в свои роли щеголеватого шпиона и элегантной нацистской разведчицы, прикрытием для которой является высококлассный салон одежды» ^[5] . Прайор отмечает, что «если как главарь шпионской сети, мисс Хассо порой чересчур доминирует, то другие вражеские агенты разной степени коварства прекрасно прописаны Лео Дж. Кэрроллом, Лидией Сент Клер, Гарри Беллавером, Конрадом Арбулфом и Альфредом Линдером» ^[12] .

Фильм имел большой коммерческий успех. Как пишет Смит, «во времена, когда общий сбор в первый уикэнд в 80 тысяч долларов был более чем достойным, „Дом на 92-й улице“ собрал 125 тысяч долларов и окупился в течение трёх недель» ^[5] .

Чарльз Бут был удостоен премии Оскар за лучшую оригинальную историю, а Джон Монкс вынужден был утешиться Премией Эдгара По за свой вклад в качестве сценариста (разделив её с Бутом и Барре Линдоном) ^[5] .

Лючиа Боззола пишет, что "став критическим и коммерческим хитом, фильм вдохновил серию полудокументальных криминальных фильмов 1940-х годов, включая « Улица Мадлен, 13 » (1946), « Поцелуй смерти » (1947) и « Бумеранг! » (1947) ^[15] . Ричард Харланд Смит также считает, что «„Дом на 92-й улице“ оказал влияние на многие полудокументальные драмы, включая „ Агенты казначейства “ (1947) Энтони Манна , „ Обнажённый город “ (1948) Жюля Дассена и „ Он бродил по ночам “ (1948), поставленный совместно Веркером и Манном ,… а в центре запоздавшего фильма „ Идите в восточном направлении на маяк! “ (1952) Альфреда Л. Веркера, также спродюсированного Луисом де Рошмоном, были уже коммунистические шпионы в США» ^[5] .

В картине « Улица без названия » (1947) студии « Фокс » Ллойд Нолан повторил роль непреклонного правительственного агента Джорджа Бриггса. Фильм был поставлен Уильямом Кили как традиционная криминальная драма с Ричардом Уидмарком в роли социопата , взятого из его кинодебюта « Поцелуй смерти » (1947), который поставил Хэтэуэй ^[5] . Пол Корупе, назвав фильм «Улица без названия» квази-продолжением фильма «Дом на 92-й улице», написал, что он «не только подхватил догматичный по форме повествовательный стиль, но также и персонажа Ллойда Нолана в качестве босса из ФБР Джорджа Бриггса, который появляется, чтобы продемонстрировать последние технологические достижения бюро» ^[16] .

• House on 92nd Street on the website of the American Film Institute
• House on 92nd Street on the site Turner Classic Movies
• House on 92nd film is freely available on YouTube