Blast from the Past: Cy Endfield, Blacklisted Filmmaker Revisited
Considering that it was made for a micro-budget of $125,000 and shot in eight days, Cy Endfield’s The Argyle Secrets is an impressive noir thirller that holds up the test of time rather well.
It is based on Endfield’s half-hour radio play, “The Argyle Radio,” originally heard on CBS’s “Suspense,” and presented twice, once with Robert Taylor in 1945, and another with Edmund O’Brien in 1947.
Grade: B
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Afer CBS sold the rights, tt was film was made by a new independent outfit, Cronel Productions, established by Sam X. Abarbanel and Alan H. Posner.
William Garagn plays reporter Harry Mitchell, tasked with tracking down incriminating papers showing that some leading Americans collaborated with the Nazis during the war.
Relyng on a fast-delivered dialogue, the B-level picture provides only a minimal plot that doesn’t explore its idea that the U.S. government secretly brought Nazis into the country to work for the military. That said, its use of visual codes of film noir, it creates a sustained mood of paranoia, especially in its nocturanl sequences.
Vet actor Gargan, who was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor for his role as Joe in the 1941 They Knew What They Wanted, elevates the movie with his powerful performance.
My Oscar Book:
In 1967, he became the fifth recipient of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Life Achievement Award, based on his numerous roles in film and TV, including 39 episodes of “The New Adventures of Martin Kane.”
Surprisingly, no future filmmakers have tried to take the interesting premise and make a longer, more fully realized movie.
Critical Status
The Argyle Secrets was preserved and restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
Cast
Harry Mitchell – William Gargan
Maria – Marjorie Lord
Lt. Samuel Sampson – Ralph Byrd
Panama Archie – Jack Reitzen
Winter – John Banner
Elizabeth Court – Barbara Billingsley
Jor McBrod – Alex Frazer
Scanlon – Peter Brocco
Allen Pierce – George Anderson
Gil Hobrey – Mickey Simpson
‘Pinky’ Pincus – Alvin Hammer
The Nurse – Carole Donne
Mrs. Rubin – Mary Tarcai
Melvyn Rubin – Cop – Robert Kellard
Gerald Rubin – Kenneth Greenwald
Credits:
Directed by Cy Endfield
Screenplay by Endfield, based on The Argyle Album, his 1945 radio play
Produced by Sam X. Abarbanel
Cinematography Mack Stengler
Edited by Gregg G. Tallas
Music by Raoul Kraushaar (as Ralph Stanley)
Production company: Eronel Productions:
Distributed by Film Classics (US)
Release date: May 7, 1948
Running time: 64 minutes
Budget $125,000
