UnowPriceless
hyped garbage
Micah Lloyd
Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.
Nayan Gough
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
JohnHowardReid
Robert Ryan (entrapped hero), Laraine Day (unsuspecting wife), Janis Carter (title femme fatale), John Agar (youth), Thomas Gomez (ruthless Communist), Richard Rober (Jim), William Talman (Red sadist), Paul J. Burns (another super-evil Red henchman), Paul Guilfoyle (victim), Fred Graham (Grip), Harry Cheshire (avuncular boss), Iris Adrian (waitress).Director; ROBERT STEVENSON. Screenplay: Charles Grayson, Robert Hardy Andrews. Story: George W. George, George F. Slavin. Film editor: Roland Gross. Photography: Nicholas Musuraca. Art directors: Albert S. D'Agostino and Walter E. Keller. Producer: Jack J. Gross.Copyright 28 September 1949 by RKO. U.S. release: 8 Oct. 73 minutes.COMMENT: Is this movie a fantasy disguised as film noir or a film noir disguised as a fantasy? Take your pick. Me? I don't see any reason why a fantasy cannot also claim the mantle of film noir if it has a suitable atmosphere and appropriate themes. Look at "La Belle et La Bete" ("The Woman and the Beast") for instance. So to my mind, this one qualifies as both outrageous fantasy and gripping film noir. Mind you, Howard Hughes saw the film as a "melodrama" exposing members of the Communist Party as mobsters using blackmail and murder to start a West Coast shipping strike. I once had a still in which Robert Ryan (a reluctant Beast) and Laraine Day (ever a graceful Beauty) do not seem too worried about the various plot developments.
mark.waltz
Typical anti-red propaganda, made at the height of Hollywood's scary blacklisting chapter in its history. It's all because a promising businessman (Robert Ryan), once a registered communist under a different name, has been located by an old girlfriend (Janis Carter) and exposed to the big man (Thomas Gomez), even though he wants no part of them. Carter is now involved with the brother (John Agar) of Ryan's fiancée (Laraine Day) and is trying to convert him, even though he's a staunch democrat even if he is a bit liberal.This is actually pretty enjoyable even if the motivations in making it are extremely obvious. The commies are actually identifiable as human beings, not cartoonish like other anti-Communist films (in particular "The Red Menace" and "Big Jim McLain") where the message comes at you like a 3-D movie monster. There's some really horrific violence, pretty taut for a film made during the studio era, a sign that the production code was slowly loosing steam.
dbdumonteil
Like "pick up on south street" this is an anti-commies movie to the power of ten .This sinister party ,if we are to believe the screenwriters ,is responsible for three murders (plus a failed one) .The gorgeous woman represents fascism with a nice face ,thus a perfect weapon to indoctrinate green horn such as Ryan's brother -in-law (John Agar)Unlike "invasion of the body snatchers" which could also be considered a metaphorical depiction of communism ,"woman on pier 13" has not worn well ;it's impossible to take this story seriously ;a propaganda flick for conducting a witch hunt;a strange part for highly talented Ryan ,known for his liberal ideas .
lynn-101
The Woman on Pier 13 is what this movie was really called, the I Married a Communist (1949) title did not set well with all of the black list investigations in the early 1950's. This film was not released until 1950. It kept one interested and I feel it was mainly because of character actor Thomas Gomez (1905-1971). He always was an interesting character in his other films like the Sherlock Homes series with Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce. You noticed I don't mention the other actors in this film, it's because Thomas Gomez as Vinning was the STAR.
