Act of Violence (1948 film)
Encyclopedia
Act of Violence is a 1948 film noir
directed by Fred Zinnemann
and adapted for the screen by Robert L. Richards
from a story by Collier Young
, featuring performances by Van Heflin
, Robert Ryan
, and Janet Leigh
.
), returns home from World War II
after surviving a German
POW camp where the rest of his comrades were murdered. The "war hero" is respected and praised for his fine character and good works in the California community of Santa Lisa. What he does not know is that Joe Parkson (Robert Ryan
), once his best friend, also lived through the ordeal, though he was left with a crippled leg. Frank helped their captors in exchange for food, and Joe is determined to exact justice.
Frank's wife Edith (Janet Leigh
) is completely in the dark about his transgressions, while Joe's girlfriend knows everything about her man, but cannot dissuade him from his passion to set past wrongs right by seeing Frank dead. Frank must confront his dark past and the truth that he is a coward, not a hero.
Doggedly pursued by Joe, Frank goes into hiding, leaving his confused wife behind. He enlists the aid of a past-her-prime prostitute, Pat (Mary Astor
), and a hitman, Johnny (Berry Kroeger
).
simplicities of good/evil but of the art one associates with Zinnemann’s Europe
an background. This contains a clue. Fred and his brother escaped their native Austria
in 1938, but their parents, waiting for U.S.
visas that never came, perished – separately – in concentration camps. The "survivor guilt
" this awful closing engendered must resemble the emotional see-saw ride which fiction like the ethical pendulum of Act of Violence can only start to expiate."
The staff at Variety
magazine liked the film and gave it a positive review. They wrote, "The grim melodrama implied by its title is fully displayed in Acts of Violence...tellingly produced and played to develop tight excitement...The playing and direction catch plot aims and the characterizations are all topflight thesping. Heflin and Ryan deliver punchy performances that give substance to the menacing terror...It's grim business, unrelieved by lightness, and the players belt over their assignments under Zinnemann's knowing direction. Janet Leigh points up her role as Heflin's worried but courageous wife, while Phyllis Thaxter does well by a smaller part as Ryan's girl. A standout is the brassy, blowzy femme created by Mary Astor – a woman of the streets who gives Heflin shelter during his wild flight from fate."
The film was entered into the 1949 Cannes Film Festival
.
Currently, it holds a 100% "Fresh" rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
based on 9 reviews.
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
directed by Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann was an Austrian-American film director. He won four Academy Awards and directed films like High Noon, From Here to Eternity and A Man for All Seasons.-Life and career:...
and adapted for the screen by Robert L. Richards
Robert L. Richards
Robert L. Richards was a film screenwriter.Richards worked on a number of notable films of the 1940s and 1950s including Winchester '73, Johnny Stool Pigeon, and Act of Violence. His radio work included writing for the Suspense series which aired on the CBS network from 1942 until 1962...
from a story by Collier Young
Collier Young
Film producer and writer Collier Young worked on many films in the 1950s before becoming a television producer for such shows as NBC's Ironside and CBS's The Wild, Wild West as well as the supernatural series One Step Beyond .Young was married to actress and director Ida Lupino from 1948 to 1951,...
, featuring performances by Van Heflin
Van Heflin
Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. was an American film and theatre actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man...
, Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
, and Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....
.
Plot
Frank Enley (Van HeflinVan Heflin
Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. was an American film and theatre actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man...
), returns home from World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
after surviving a German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
POW camp where the rest of his comrades were murdered. The "war hero" is respected and praised for his fine character and good works in the California community of Santa Lisa. What he does not know is that Joe Parkson (Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
), once his best friend, also lived through the ordeal, though he was left with a crippled leg. Frank helped their captors in exchange for food, and Joe is determined to exact justice.
Frank's wife Edith (Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....
) is completely in the dark about his transgressions, while Joe's girlfriend knows everything about her man, but cannot dissuade him from his passion to set past wrongs right by seeing Frank dead. Frank must confront his dark past and the truth that he is a coward, not a hero.
Doggedly pursued by Joe, Frank goes into hiding, leaving his confused wife behind. He enlists the aid of a past-her-prime prostitute, Pat (Mary Astor
Mary Astor
Mary Astor was an American actress. Most remembered for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart, Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s.She eventually made a successful transition to talkies, but almost...
), and a hitman, Johnny (Berry Kroeger
Berry Kroeger
Berry Kroeger was an American film, television, and stage actor.Born in San Antonio, Texas, Kroeger got his acting start on radio as an announcer and actor, playing for a time The Falcon and The Shadow...
).
Cast
- Van HeflinVan HeflinEmmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. was an American film and theatre actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man...
as Frank R. Enley - Robert RyanRobert RyanRobert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
as Joe Parkson - Janet LeighJanet LeighJanet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....
as Edith Enley - Mary AstorMary AstorMary Astor was an American actress. Most remembered for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart, Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s.She eventually made a successful transition to talkies, but almost...
as Pat - Phyllis ThaxterPhyllis Thaxter-Early life and career:Born Phyllis St. Felix Thaxter, she was the daughter of Maine Supreme Court Justice Sidney Thaxter and his wife, a former actress. Thaxter worked on Broadway in the 1930s and signed an MGM contract in 1944...
as Ann Sturges - Berry KroegerBerry KroegerBerry Kroeger was an American film, television, and stage actor.Born in San Antonio, Texas, Kroeger got his acting start on radio as an announcer and actor, playing for a time The Falcon and The Shadow...
as Johnny - Taylor HolmesTaylor HolmesTaylor Holmes was an actor who appeared in over 100 Broadway plays in his five-decade career. However, he is probably best remembered for his film roles, which he began in silent movies in 1917. By the 1940s, he was working more on film than on stage...
as Gavery - Harry AntrimHarry AntrimHarry Antrim was an actor in vaudeville, film and television.By 1906, Antrim was working in vaudeville. During the early 1930s, he moved to Los Angeles and secured uncredited parts in several films, beginning with 1936's Small Town Girl...
as Fred Finney - Connie GilchristConnie GilchristConnie Gilchrist was a stage, film and television character actress.Born Rose Constance Gilchrist in Brooklyn, New York...
as Martha Finney - Will WrightWill Wright (actor)William Henry "Will" Wright was an American character actor. He was frequently cast in curmudgeonly roles. He was sometimes credited as Will J. Wright....
as Boat Rental Man at Redwood Lake
Critical reception
Roger Westcombe, writing for the Big House Film Society, considers the film unsettling, and wrote, "Act of Violence... with a profundity, through its unsettling moral continuum, redolent not of HollywoodHollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
simplicities of good/evil but of the art one associates with Zinnemann’s Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an background. This contains a clue. Fred and his brother escaped their native Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
in 1938, but their parents, waiting for U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
visas that never came, perished – separately – in concentration camps. The "survivor guilt
Survivor guilt
Survivor, survivor's, or survivors guilt or syndrome is a mental condition that occurs when a person perceives themselves to have done wrong by surviving a traumatic event when others did not...
" this awful closing engendered must resemble the emotional see-saw ride which fiction like the ethical pendulum of Act of Violence can only start to expiate."
The staff at Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
magazine liked the film and gave it a positive review. They wrote, "The grim melodrama implied by its title is fully displayed in Acts of Violence...tellingly produced and played to develop tight excitement...The playing and direction catch plot aims and the characterizations are all topflight thesping. Heflin and Ryan deliver punchy performances that give substance to the menacing terror...It's grim business, unrelieved by lightness, and the players belt over their assignments under Zinnemann's knowing direction. Janet Leigh points up her role as Heflin's worried but courageous wife, while Phyllis Thaxter does well by a smaller part as Ryan's girl. A standout is the brassy, blowzy femme created by Mary Astor – a woman of the streets who gives Heflin shelter during his wild flight from fate."
The film was entered into the 1949 Cannes Film Festival
1949 Cannes Film Festival
The 3rd Cannes Film Festival was held on September 2-17, 1949. No festival was held in 1948.- Jury :The entire jury for this festival were French.*Georges Huisman *Jules Romains *Mme...
.
Currently, it holds a 100% "Fresh" rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
based on 9 reviews.