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| Act of Violence | |
|---|---|
 theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Fred Zinnemann |
| Produced by | William H. Wright |
| Written by | Story: Collier Young Screenplay: Robert L. Richards |
| Starring | Van Heflin Robert Ryan Janet Leigh |
| Music by | Bronislau Kaper |
| Cinematography | Robert Surtees |
| Editing by | Conrad A. Nervig |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | December 21 1948 (US) |
| Running time | 82 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| IMDb • Allmovie | |
Act of Violence is a 1948 film noir directed by Fred Zinnemann and adapted for the screen by Robert L. Richards from a story by Collier Young, featuring performances by Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, and Janet Leigh.1
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Plot
Frank Enley (Heflin), a World War II soldier, returns home from the war after surviving a German POW camp while the rest of his comrades have been murdered. What he does not know is that one of his prison mates, Joe Parkson (Ryan), has survived. Parkson knows that Enley helped the Nazis in exchange for food while a prisoner, and Parkson is on a manhunt to destroy the so-called "war hero."
Enley, who is now married to Edith (Leigh), must confront his dark past and the truth that he's a coward not a war hero. Meanwhile, Parkson gets closer and closer to getting his revenge. Enley goes into hiding by leaving his confused wife behind and living on the lam.
Enley enlists the aid of a prostitute, Pat (Mary Astor), and a hitman (Berry Kroeger).
Cast
- Van Heflin as Frank R. Enley
- Robert Ryan as Joe Parkson
- Janet Leigh as Edith Enley
- Mary Astor as Pat
- Phyllis Thaxter as Ann Sturges
- Berry Kroeger as Johnny
- Taylor Holmes as Gavery
- Harry Antrim as Fred Finney
- Connie Gilchrist as Martha Finney
- Will Wright as Boat Rental Man at Redwood Lake
Critical reception
Roger Westcombe, writing for the Big House Film Society, considers the film unsettling, and wrote, "Act of Violence... with a profundity, through its unsettling moral continuum, redolent not of Hollywood simplicities of good/evil but of the art one associates with Zinnemann’s European background. This contains a clue. Fred and his brother escaped their native Austria in 1938, but their parents, waiting for U.S. visas that never came, perished – separately – in concentration camps. The "survivor guilt" this awful closing engendered must resemble the emotional see-saw ride which fiction like the ethical pendulum of Act of Violence can only start to expiate."2
The staff at Variety magazine liked the film and gave it a positive review. They wrote, "The grim melodrama implied by its title is fully displayed in Actors of Violence...tellingly produced and played to develop tight excitement...The playing and direction catch plot aims and the characterizations are all topflight thesping. Heflin and Ryan deliver punchy performances that give substance to the menacing terror...It's grim business, unrelieved by lightness, and the players belt over their assignments under Zinnemann's knowing direction. Janet Leigh points up her role as Heflin's worried but courageous wife, while Phyllis Thaxter does well by a smaller part as Ryan's girl. A standout is the brassy, blowzy femme created by Mary Astor - a woman of the streets who gives Heflin shelter during his wild flight from fate."3
The film was entered into the 1949 Cannes Film Festival. 4
References
Notes
- ^ Act of Violence at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Westcombe, Roger. Big House Film Society, film review, 2008. Last accessed: January 11, 2008.
- ^ Variety. Film review, December 21, 1948. Last accessed: January 11, 2008.
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Act of Violence". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved on 2009-1-7.
External links
- Act of Violence at the Internet Movie Database
- Act of Violence at Allmovie
- Act of Violence at the TCM Movie Database
- Act of Violence at Senses of Cinema
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Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 7 January 2009, at 18:48.
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