The movie I Was A Communist for the F.B.I., it seems, was on television a LOT when I was a kid. And I’d usually watched it.
We only had two TV stations. One was the CBS affiliate, Channel 12, WNBF-TV at the time, which also carried some ABC shows. The other was the NBC affiliate, Channel 40, WINR-TV. And one or both of them would play this 1951 melodrama regularly, to fill their weekend afternoon programming.
From the Wikipedia:
“The story follows [Pittsburgh steelworker Matt] Cvetic, who infiltrated a local Communist Party cell for nine years and reported back to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on their activities.
“The film and [1952-1953] radio show are, in part, artifacts of the McCarthy era, as well as a time capsule of American society during the Second Red Scare. The purpose of both is partly to warn people about the threat of Communist subversion of American society. The tone of the show is ultra-patriotic…”
From Rotten Tomatoes:
“The real Matt Cvetic was a borderline alcoholic with a nasty disposition (he once allegedly beat his sister-in-law so badly she required hospitalization). But Cvetic was also a fervent anti-communist, and so, for a brief period in the early 1950s, he was a folk hero. I Was a Communist for the F.B.I. is the semi-true story of how Cvetic (played by Frank Lovejoy) renounced his friends and family and embraced the Red cause–on behalf of the F.B.I., for whom he was a volunteer undercover agent.”
It was a film so important to the Hollywood film collective that “it was nominated for the 1952 Academy Awards in the Best Documentary Feature category, though it’s about as much a documentary as On the Waterfront.” It rightly lost to Kon-Tiki.
Oddly, I think the movie had the opposite effect on me than it was supposed to. I haven’t watched it again. But YOU can here.
For ABC Wednesday.
Never heard of it but then again, you reveal your massive “intelligence” of the world of music, films, and politics.
Leslie
abcw team
Like Leslie I had never heard nor read about this movie… but I think I would not watch it, not my ‘çup of tea’ so to speak .
But still… in our childhood years, there barely was tv so that what was on, became watched ofcourse ;-0
Have a splendid, ♥-warming ABC-Wednes-day / -week
♫ M e l ☺ d y ♫ (abc-w-team)
http://melodymusic.nl/21-i/
1952 I was 3 years old, and wasn’t in Holland yet, but living in Indonesia, so this is all new to me. Sad that the “hero” was in real life an abuser:(
I have not heard of this movie.
My ABC WEDNESDAY
This again is new to me. Great presentation for I.
Happy ABCW!
Fun and always informative post with new information ~ thanks, ^_^
(A ShutterBug Explores)
Not a movie I ever saw, and probably wouldn’t bother watching now…
The movie’s poster says- ‘not suitable for children’.
Still you watched it when you were a kid?
These days, our kids are exposed to a lot more owing to the gruesome news…
Have a great week!
It was on broadcast TV and presumably edited.
Don’t know the movie but remember that the Americans were completely hysterical about communists ! When we went to States in 71, we had to fill in miles of papers that we were no communists ! And my aunt had to guarantee for us !
Hmmm, I wonder how I missed this when I was a kid. Maybe it was shown only on your side of the continent. Californians were probably a lost cause back then.
I don’t know this movie, but I’ve seen a lot of other ones, where Americans fight communists 😉
I believe I’m old enough, but I don’t remember this movie. I’m sure it was shown since we had all the New York City stations growing up. I was probably too busy watching Highway Patrol, Dragnet, and the one where the guy went around giving away a million dollars.