The Whip Hand (1951)

You can always rely on William Cameron Menzies for striking visuals and tingling atmosphere. This fascinating little movie, "The Whip Hand", proves to be no exception -- even though the final revelation is actually rather disappointing. Originally the film was made under the title The Man He Found, the "found man" being Adolf Hitler, not only living on but actually plotting postwar stratagems with the connivance of the citizenry of a small American town. But executive producer Howard Hughes thought that the Communists who were really active at the time not only presented a far greater menace than a vanquished Fascist, but would really intrigue American audiences. So the film was partly re-shot. As it happened Hughes's hunch was wrong. The film lost money, even on its comparatively modest (at least for a competitive "A" feature) negative cost of only $376,000. It could even be argued that the climax is hardly worth all the build-up, but nonetheless, when the movie is directed and designed by the brilliant William Cameron Menzies, as far as I am concerned, it rates as a must-see item on any account.

A young reporter on vacation injuries himself and finds himself in a small town called Winnoga which seems to harbour a dark secret. The Whip Hand is a suspenseful and taut thriller. There are plenty of colourful characters as a town full of fear are helped by a confident reporter who senses things are not as they seem. Elliott Reid is convincing as the reporter and Raymond Burr is quietly menacing as one of the conspirators. The plot although featuring a sinister subject is fairly routine and predictable to today's audience but probably packed much more of a punch in the post war paranoid 1950's. Although by no means a classic, this is a fairly enjoyable thriller and well worth watching at least once.

It's odd that I would give a propaganda film like this such a high score, but despite the odd plot the film IS very entertaining and tense and is still well worth seeing.Matt Corbin (Elliott Reid) is a reporter for a news magazine. When he arrives in a small town in rural Minnesota, his reporter senses start tingling because things just don't add up there. Despite always being known as a great place to fish, all the fish are dead. And, despite there being no local industry or jobs, folks have moved INTO the town despite the crash of the fishing industry. And, finally, there is a compound nearby that is guarded like Fort Knox! Clearly something is going on here...and little does Corbin know that it's actually a base for germ warfare run by Commie-Nazis!! Why they didn't build it in the good 'ol USSR, I have no idea!The plot is silly...but the sign of a good film is taking a ridiculous idea and making it seem possible and engaging. So don't worry that it's filled with mostly no-name actors and is a relatively low-budget picture, it's surprisingly good.

This is a fairly ordinary anti-communist film from the early 50s, slightly below the standard of other films from this period like Pickup on South Street (1953), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), I Married a Communist (1950), and My Son John (1952). It falls way short of allegorical anti-communist films such as High Noon (1952) and The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), although there are some who will argue that those films are not anti-communist but rather anti-American.In a nutshell, a vacationing magazine reporter stumbles (Elliott Reid) on a plot to destroy America with biological weapons. The devious plot is devised by former Nazi and current Communist Otto Waldis, who is assisted by Raymond Burr.William Cameron Menzies directs, but don't expect to see the marvelous work he did in such films as "The Black Book", "GWTW", "The Thief of Bagdad" and "Duel in the Sun".