Joe Smith, American

Last updated
Joe Smith, American
Joe Smith American - Film Poster.jpg
Theatrical Film Poster
Directed by Richard Thorpe
Written by Allen Rivkin
Based onstory by Paul Gallico
Produced byJack Chertok
Starring
Cinematography Charles Lawton Jr.
Edited by Elmo Veron
Music byDaniele Amfitheatrof (uncredited)
Production
company
Distributed by Lowes, Inc.
Release date
  • February 1942 (1942-02)
Running time
63 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$236,000 [1]
Box office$708,000 [1]

Joe Smith, American is a 1942 American spy film directed by Richard Thorpe and stars Robert Young and Marsha Hunt. [2] The film, loosely based on the story of Herman W. Lang, and the theft of plans of a top-secret bombsight, is the account of a worker at an aviation factory who is kidnapped by enemy spies. The opening credits contained the following written prologue: "This story is about a man who defended his country. His name is Joe Smith. He is an American. This picture is a tribute to all Joe Smiths." [3]

Contents

Joe Smith, American was the first in a series of B films made at MGM under the supervision of Dore Schary who also wrote the initial treatment, based on "his own yarn". [3] His story was later adapted to a postwar setting and new characters to become The Big Operator (1959). [4]

Plot

In 1942, Joe Smith is a "buck an hour" crew chief on the Lockheed P-38 Lightning assembly line in a Los Angeles defense plant. When plant president Mr. Edgerton and his supervisor Blake McKettrick calls him into his office, Joe is grilled by two men from Washington, Freddie Dunhill and Gus, who later ask him to draw from memory a blueprint put in front of him. When Joe shows he can draw the plans accurately, Edgerton promotes him to head up a new project based on the top secret Norden bombsight.

Unable to tell his wife Mary and fourth-grade son Johnny or even his co-workers, about his new job, Joe is targeted by a group of men who want the secrets of the bombsight. While he leaves the plant late at night, his car is forced off the road and Joe is brought to a deserted house. The four men who have kidnapped him, blindfold Joe and beat him, trying to force him to draw the plans of the bombsight. Remembering that his son also had a secret he was keeping no matter what he and his wife asked, and that Johnny was studying about Nathan Hale, Joe refuses to cooperate and is beaten severely.

When the spies realize they have no option but to kill Joe, he is driven away but takes the opportunity to throw himself out of their car. An elderly couple come upon Joe lying in the street while the four kidnappers make their getaway. In recovery, even though he is blindfolded, he had sneaked some peeks at the men who held him and tried to memorize sounds in their car that would identify where he was. When the police take Joe on a reconstruction of his drive, he slowly puts together the route and takes them back to a house where three men are confronted. Each of them has some identifying feature, but the ringleader is missing.

Finally back home, Joe receives Gus, Freddie, Edgerton and McKettrick who are there to thank him for his bravery. When McKettrick shakes his hand, Joe recognizes the distinctive ring worn by the leader of the kidnappers. The police, who are also there, arrest McKettrick before he can escape. One month later, on Father's Day, Mary and Joe have a party with their friends from work and Johnny gives Joe his "secret" gift, a tie. When his friends call Joe a hero, he rebuffs them, saying that there are no heroes in America, just people, "who don't like being pushed around."

Cast

Production

Although considered a war propaganda film, principal photography on Joe Smith, American took place from October 20 to November 11, 1941, prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. The prewar arrest of a German factory worker who stole the plans of the Norden bombsight was the basis of the story, with stock photography of the Lockheed Aircraft company incorporated to provide a wartime look. [5]

Contemporary sources list both Ava Gardner and John Raitt in the cast. Their appearances are uncredited in the film and likely they were extras. [2]

Reception

In his review Theodore Strauss wrote, in The New York Times ,"In its own simple and unassuming way, Joe Smith, American, now at the Criterion, does more to underscore the deep and indelible reasons why this country is at war than most of the recent million-dollar epics with all their bravura patriotism. In this film there is no martial music, there are no displays of armed armadas and no one pins a medal on anybody's chest. Instead, the author and director have simply taken one commonplace American and shown, in one tense and sharply cut event when his country's safety was at stake, how it was the little things, the small remembrances of what his life had been, that pulled him through." [6] Time Magazine also gave a positive review, "Joe Smith, American is the man Hollywood forgot while it was busy glamorizing World War 1 doughboys. An aircraft factory worker, he is one of the 14 to 20 civilians it takes to keep a modern fighting man in the field. His story is just the kind of propaganda the U.S. would like to have Hollywood make more of." [7]

The New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther gave Joe Smith, American an "honorable mention" in his "Ten Best Films of the Year" list, and several consumer magazines praised the low-budget film for its excellence. According to an article in The Hollywood Reporter on October 27, 1942, Joe Smith, American was one of 10 films selected by the East and West Association to be sent for exhibition in Asian countries as, "most nearly representative of life in the U.S." [3]

Box office

According to MGM records, Joe Smith, American made $487,000 in the US and Canada and $221,000 elsewhere, making a profit of $222,000. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lionel Barrymore</span> American actor, director, screenwriter (1878–1954)

Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul (1931) and is known to modern audiences for the role of villainous Mr. Potter in Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Lawford</span> British actor (1923–1984)

Peter Sydney Ernest Lawford was an English-American actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norden bombsight</span> Targeting device on US bombers during World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War

The Norden Mk. XV, known as the Norden M series in U.S. Army service, is a bombsight that was used by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and the United States Navy during World War II, and the United States Air Force in the Korean and the Vietnam Wars. It was an early tachometric design, which combined optics, a mechanical computer, and an autopilot for the first time to not merely identify a target but fly the airplane to it. The bombsight directly measured the aircraft's ground speed and direction, which older types could only estimate with lengthy manual procedures. The Norden further improved on older designs by using an analog computer that continuously recalculated the bomb's impact point based on changing flight conditions, and an autopilot that reacted quickly and accurately to changes in the wind or other effects.

<i>Boys Town</i> (film) 1938 film by Norman Taurog

Boys Town is a 1938 American biographical drama film based on Father Edward J. Flanagan's work with a group of underprivileged boys in a home/educational complex that he founded and named "Boys Town" in Nebraska. It stars Spencer Tracy as Father Edward J. Flanagan, and Mickey Rooney with Henry Hull, Leslie Fenton, and Gene Reynolds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freddie Bartholomew</span> American actor

Frederick Cecil Bartholomew, known for his acting work as Freddie Bartholomew, was an English-American child actor who was very popular in 1930s Hollywood films. His most famous starring roles are in Captains Courageous (1937) and Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lou Adler</span> American record producer (born 1933)

Lester Louis Adler is an American record and film producer and the co-owner of the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California. Adler has produced and developed a number of high-profile musical artists, including The Grass Roots, Jan & Dean, The Mamas & the Papas, and Carole King. King's album Tapestry, produced by Adler, won the 1972 Grammy Award for Album of the Year and has been called one of the greatest pop albums of all time.

Anatole "Tolly" de Grunwald was a Russian British film producer and screenwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duquesne Spy Ring</span> Nazi German spy ring in the U.S. during World War II

The Duquesne Spy Ring is the largest espionage case in the United States history that ended in convictions. A total of 33 members of a Nazi German espionage network, headed by Frederick "Fritz" Duquesne, were convicted after a lengthy investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Of those indicted, 19 pleaded guilty. The remaining 14 were brought to jury trial in Federal District Court, Brooklyn, New York, on September 3, 1941; all were found guilty on December 13, 1941. On January 2, 1942, the group members were sentenced to serve a total of over 300 years in prison.

<i>Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon</i> 1943 film by Roy William Neill

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942) is the fourth in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series of 14 Sherlock Holmes films which updated the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the then present day. The film is credited as an adaptation of Conan Doyle's 1903 short story "The Adventure of the Dancing Men," though the only element from the source material is the dancing men code. Rather, it is a spy film taking place on the background of the then ongoing Second World War with an original premise. The film concerns the kidnapping of a Swiss scientist by their nemesis Professor Moriarty, to steal a new bomb sight and sell it to Nazi Germany. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson have to crack a secret code in order to save the country.

<i>Cry Havoc</i> (film) 1943 film by Richard Thorpe

Cry 'Havoc' is a 1943 American war drama film, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Richard Thorpe. It stars Margaret Sullavan, Ann Sothern and Joan Blondell, and features Fay Bainter, Marsha Hunt, Ella Raines, Frances Gifford, Diana Lewis, Heather Angel, Dorothy Morris and Connie Gilchrist.

<i>Nazi Agent</i> 1942 film by Jules Dassin

Nazi Agent is a 1942 American spy film directed by Jules Dassin, in his first feature-length film for MGM. It stars Conrad Veidt playing identical twins, one loyal to the United States (U.S.), the other a dedicated German Nazi.

<i>The Next Voice You Hear...</i> 1950 film

The Next Voice You Hear... is a 1950 American drama film starring James Whitmore and Nancy Davis. It was based on a short story of the same name by George Sumner Albee, published in a 1948 issue of Hearst's International Cosmopolitan. An exhaustive description of the making of the film is the subject of producer Dore Schary's book Case History of a Movie.

<i>Tarzans Secret Treasure</i> 1941 Tarzan film directed by Richard Thorpe

Tarzan's Secret Treasure is a 1941 American adventure film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan and Johnny Sheffield. Based on the Tarzan character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, it is the fifth in the MGM Tarzan series to feature Weissmuller and O'Sullivan. Original prints of the film were processed in sepiatone.

<i>Blindfold</i> (1966 film) 1966 film by Philip Dunne

Blindfold is a 1966 American romantic comedy film co-written and directed by Philip Dunne that was his last feature film. It starred Rock Hudson in his 50th film and the first for his own film production company, Gibraltar Productions. It co-starred Claudia Cardinale, Jack Warden and Guy Stockwell. The film was distributed by Universal Pictures. It was based on Lucille Fletcher's 1960 novel of the same name. Sequences were filmed in Central Park in New York City and in Silver Springs, Florida.

<i>Bombardier</i> (film) 1943 film by Richard Wallace and Lambert Hillyer

Bombardier is a 1943 film war drama about the training program for bombardiers of the United States Army Air Forces. The film stars Pat O'Brien and Randolph Scott. Bombardier was nominated for an Oscar in 1944 for the special effects used in the film. It was largely filmed at Kirtland Army Air Field, New Mexico, site of the first bombardier training school.

So's Your Aunt Emma is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Jean Yarbrough and starring ZaSu Pitts and Roger Pryor. The film is also known as Meet the Mob.

<i>The Big Operator</i> (1959 film) 1959 film

The Big Operator is a black and white 1959 American crime/drama film starring Mickey Rooney as a corrupt union boss, with Steve Cochran, Mel Torme and Mamie Van Doren as co-stars. The film is a remake of Joe Smith, American (1942) with labor union thugs replacing Axis spies.

<i>Professional Soldier</i> 1935 film by Tay Garnett

Professional Soldier is a 1935 American adventure film based on a 1931 story by Damon Runyon, "Gentlemen, the King!" It stars Victor McLaglen and Freddie Bartholomew. The film was directed by Tay Garnett, and produced by Twentieth Century Fox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Babnik Brown</span>

Mary Babnik Brown was an American who became known for having donated her hair to the United States military during World War II. Thirty-four inches (86 cm) long, her blonde hair had never been chemically treated or heated with curling irons.

<i>Sky Murder</i> 1940 American film

Sky Murder is a 1940 detective film starring Walter Pidgeon as detective Nick Carter in his third and final outing for MGM as Nick Carter. The film was part of a trilogy based on original screen stories starring the popular literary series character. In the heightened tensions prior to World War II, Hollywood produced many films in the spy film genre such as Sky Murder.

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 "The Eddie Mannix Ledger". Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study, Los Angeles.
  2. 1 2 Nixon, Rob. "Articles: 'Joe Smith American'." Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved: September 21, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 "Notes: 'Joe Smith American'." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: September 21, 2016.
  4. ↑ Eames 1982, p. 294.
  5. ↑ "Original print information: 'Joe Smith American'." Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved: September 21, 2016.
  6. ↑ Strauss, Theodore (T.S.). "Movie review." The New York Times, April 2, 1942.
  7. ↑ "The New Pictures". Time Magazine. 16 February 1942.

Bibliography

  • Eames, John Douglas. The MGM Story: The Complete History of Fifty Roaring Years. London: Octopus Books Limited, 1982, First edition 1979. ISBN   978-0-51752-389-6.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.