Walk_East_on_Beacon Knowpia

Walk East on Beacon!
Walk East on Beacon!
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alfred L. Werker
Written by	Leo Rosten; Virginia Shaler; Laurence Heath; Emmett Murphy
Based on	The Crime of the Century by J. Edgar Hoover
Produced by	Louis De Rochemont
Starring	George Murphy; Finlay Currie; Virginia Gilmore
Cinematography	Joseph C. Brun
Edited by	Angelo Ross
Music by	Jack Shaindlin; Louis Applebaum (uncredited)
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	April 29, 1952;
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.35 million (US rentals)

Walk East on Beacon is a 1952 American film noir drama film directed by Alfred L. Werker and starring George Murphy, Finlay Currie, and Virginia Gilmore. It was released by Columbia Pictures. The screenplay was inspired by a May 1951 Reader's Digest article by J. Edgar Hoover entitled "The Crime of the Century: The Case of the A-Bomb Spies." The article covers the meeting of German physicist and atomic spy Klaus Fuchs and American chemist Harry Gold as well as details of the Soviet espionage network in the United States. Gold's testimony would later lead to the case against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for treason. The film substitutes real atomic spying with vague top secret scientific programs. Extensive location shooting was done in New England, around Washington Union Station and in FBI laboratories.

Plot edit

Federal agent Belden is assigned to locate the communist mastermind behind the leak, and to trace all avenues of informational access utilized by the Communists. Professor Albert Kafer is the space-weapons scientist who is being forced by the Reds into cooperating with them, as his son is under threat, while Alexi Laschenkov is the top Eastern-Bloc spy.^[2]

Using state of the art technology, such as an early miniature video camera, and ingenious methods like a roomful of foreign language lip readers, the G-men crack the case and with the help of the US Coast Guard rescue the professor before he can be spirited away by submarine.

Cast edit

George Murphy as Inspector James 'Jim' Belden
Finlay Currie as Professor Albert Kafer
Virginia Gilmore as Millie / Teresa Zalenko
Karel Stepanek as Alexi Laschenkov / Gregory Anders
Louisa Horton as Mrs. Elaine Wilben
Peter Capell as Chris Zalenko / Gino
Bruno Wick as Luther Danzig
Jack Manning as Melvin Foss / Vincent
Karl Weber as FBI Agent Charlie Reynolds
Robert A. Dunn as Dr. Wincott (as Rev. Robert Dunn)
Vilma Kurer as Mrs. Rita Foss
Michael Garrettas Michael Dorndoff / Frank Torrance
Lotte Palfi Andor as Mrs. Anna Kafer (as Lotte Palfi)
Ernest Graves as Robert Martin
Robert Carroll as Boldany
George Roy Hill as Nicholas Wilben
Helen Mitchell as one of the lip readers

Comic book adaption edit

Fawcett Motion Picture Comics #113 (November 1952)^[3]

References edit

^ 'Top Box-Office Hits of 1952', Variety, January 7, 1953
^ "Walk East on Beacon (1952) - Alfred L. Werker | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
^ "Fawcett Motion Picture Comics #113". Grand Comics Database.