''Border Incident'' is a 1949 American

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

featuring Ricardo Montalbán,

George Murphy George Lloyd Murphy (July 4, 1902 – May 3, 1992) was an American actor and politician. Murphy was a song-and-dance leading man in many big-budget Hollywood musicals from 1930 to 1952. He was the president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1944 to ...

, and Howard Da Silva. Directed by

Anthony Mann Anthony Mann (born Emil Anton Bundsmann; June 30, 1906 – April 29, 1967) was an American film director and stage actor. He came to prominence as a skilled director of ''Film noirs, film noir'' and Western film, Westerns, and for his Epic film ...

, the

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

production was written by John C. Higgins from a story by John C. Higgins and George Zuckerman. The film was shot by

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

John Alton John Alton (October 5, 1901 – June 2, 1996), born Johann Jacob Altmann, in Sopron, Kingdom of Hungary, was an American cinematographer of Hungarian-German origin. Alton photographed some of the most famous films noir of the classic period and w ...

, who used shadows and lighting effects to involve an audience despite the fact that the film was shot on a low budget.

Plot

Two agents, one Mexican ( PJF) and one American, are tasked to stop the smuggling of Mexican

migrant worker A migrant worker is a person who Human migration, migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have an intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work. Migrant workers ...

s across the border to California. The two agents go undercover, one as a poor migrant.

Cast

* Ricardo Montalbán as Pablo Rodriguez *

as Jack Bearnes * Howard Da Silva as Owen Parkson * James Mitchell as Juan Garcia *

Arnold Moss Arnold Moss (January 28, 1910 – December 15, 1989) was an American character actor. Early years Born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Flatbush, Moss was a third-generation Brooklyn native. He attended Brooklyn's Boys High School (Brooklyn), Boys ...

as Zopilote * Alfonso Bedoya as Cuchillo * Teresa Celli as Maria Garcia *

Charles McGraw Charles McGraw (born Charles Crisp Butters; May 10, 1914 – July 29, 1980) was an American stage, film and television actor whose career spanned more than three decades. Early life McGraw was born to Beatrice (née Crisp) and Francis P. B ...

as Jeff Amboy * José Torvay as Pocoloco *

John Ridgely John Ridgely (born John Huntington Rea, September 6, 1909 – January 18, 1968 ) was an American film character actor with over 175 film credits. Early years Ridgely was born in Chicago, Illinois,Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: ...

as Mr. Neley *

Arthur Hunnicutt Arthur Lee Hunnicutt (February 17, 1910 – September 26, 1979) was an American actor known for his portrayal of old, wise, grizzled rural characters. He received an Academy Awards, Academy Award nomination for Academy Award for Best Supporting ...

as Clayton Nordell *

Sig Ruman Siegfried Carl Alban Rumann (October 11, 1884 – February 14, 1967), billed as Sig Ruman and Sig Rumann, was a German-American character actor known for his portrayals of pompous and often stereotypically Teutonic officials or villains in ...

as Hugo Wolfgang Ulrich * Jack Lambert as Chuck *

Otto Waldis Otto Waldis (born Otto Glucksmann-Blum, May 20, 1901 – March 25, 1974) was an Austrian-American character actor in films and television from the 1930s through the 1960s. He was also billed as Otto Blum. Years in Germany Waldis was born Otto ...

as Fritz

Production

The film was among a number of lower budgeted movies produced at MGM under the regime of

Dore Schary Isadore "Dore" Schary (August 31, 1905 – July 7, 1980) was an American playwright, director, and producer for the stage and a prolific screenwriter and producer of motion pictures. He directed one feature film, ''Act One (film), Act One'', th ...

. According to Mann, "Metro said: ‘Make whatever picture you want.' John ltonand I had thought of doing ''Border Incident'', because the guys there were also involved with the Federal agents and ''T Men''. Through the research we had made with ''T Men'' we found the fantastic story of the Border Incident boys. We made it on location, but it was really not Metro’s cup of tea. When it came out, they were flabbergasted. It wasn’t anything they thought a motion picture should be!"

Reception

According to MGM records the film earned $580,000 in the US and Canada and $328,000 overseas resulting in a loss of $194,000.

Critical response

Roger Westcombe compared the film to classic

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

s: "Yet far from a typical Western's sense of freedom, ''Border Incident'' shares with irector Mann's previous film noir''

T-Men ''T-Men'' is a 1947 semidocumentary and police procedural style film noir about United States Treasury agents. The film was directed by Anthony Mann and shot by noted noir cameraman John Alton. The production features Dennis O'Keefe, Mary M ...

'' that film's inky, submerged visual quality. These are 'wide' but not 'open' spaces, as Alton's beautifully registered grey-toned but grim visuals make the distant horizons as closed as the American border. The constant presence of vulnerable, innocent peasants adds a piquancy to ''Border Incident'', raising the stakes from the destiny of a mere two police agents to that of an entire underclass."Westcombe, Roger
. Big House Film, review. Last accessed: December 25, 2007.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Harry Tomicek: Das grosse Schwarz. ''Border Incident'', von Anthony Mann, Kamera: John Alton (1949). In: Christian Cargnelli, Michael Omasta .(eds.): Schatten. Exil. Europäische Emigranten im Film noir. PVS, Vienna 1997, .

External links

* * * {{Anthony Mann 1949 films 1949 crime films American crime films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films Film noir Films scored by André Previn Films about illegal immigration to the United States Films directed by Anthony Mann Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Procedural films 1940s American films English-language crime films