Night People 1954

This is a topnotch, exciting cloak-and-dagger thriller, modernly-paced and with a contemporary feel. An added touch is CinemaScope, making it the first updated meller in that medium. Nunnally Johnson gets a clean triple for his smart handling of the production, direction and scripting.
The screenplay is based on a story by Jed Harris and Thomas Reed, which tells of the kidnaping of a young American soldier and how a CIC officer manages to get him back safely to the western zone by being quicker-witted than the GI's captors and their agents. Peck plays the colonel, Van Dyke, and how he brings off the rescue makes for plenty of suspense-laden, and credibly conceived footage, since he has to fool the East Berlin Reds; the hangover Nazis working with them; handle Leatherby (Broderick Crawford), stateside industrial tycoon who has come to Berlin to rescue his son; and placate the State Department, which wants no illegal trafficking that might have serious international repurcussions. Chief heavy in the melodrama is ably enacted by Anita Bjork, who through most of her footage appears to be a friendly agent trying to help Van Dyke.

A still battle-scarred Berlin provides interesting backgrounds for the melodramatics. The stereophonic sound is not allowed to distract except in opening and closing shots, when it booms out noisily.

NYTimes.

March 13, 1954
Gregory Peck Stars in 'Night People' at Roxy -- Story Was Shot in Berlin
By BOSLEY CROWTHER
Published: March 13, 1954
A lively bit of undercover skulduggery between the Russians and an American counterespionage officer in Berlin is recounted with great glee and excitement on the expanse of the CinemaScope screen in Twentieth Century-Fox' "Night People," which hit the Roxy yesterday. Written, produced and directed by Nunnally Johnson, with Gregory Peck as his star, it is first-rate commercial melodramaΓΓé¼ΓÇ¥big, noisy, colorful and good.

Be warned of one thing, however: you must place yourself in the state of mind of a fellow trying to outwit the shell-game when you sit down to watch this film. For the skillful and wily Mr. Johnson manipulates his pieces with such speed and such trickery in some places that you may very well be confused. He also pulls a key switch with a double-cross by a nifty woman spy that may be a little hard to fathom. It beats us, even now. But that's okay.

The main thing is that Mr. Johnson gets going with becoming speed and keeps his melodrama mounting right up to "Stars and Stripes Forever" at the end. En route, he works in plenty of mystery, romance, tension, sex and comedy.

Tries to Obtain Release of G. I.

What he is telling is a story that could or could not occurΓΓé¼ΓÇ¥ that is a critical matter for the wise ones in Berlin to decideΓΓé¼ΓÇ¥of a bit of midnight maneuvering whereby this American officer contrives to obtain the release of a G. I. whom the Russians have kidnapped in exchange forΓΓé¼ΓÇ¥well, that's it. Whom he delivers for the hostage is the ironic twist in the film.

Actually, the people whom the Russians are demanding in exchange are a man and a wife who are hated for their activities during the late war. And the G. I. held as hostage just happens to be the son of a big Toledo manufacturer who flies to Berlin to "get things done." These are complicating factors that make it a slightly tougher job, albeit a more picturesque one, for Mr. Peck.

Perhaps we should note in passing that Mr. Johnson directs a film head-on. He does not resort to such devices as character and mood subtleties. He has Mr. Peck play a "fixer" with no more refinement or finesse than the big, booming, blundering, bumptious magnate that Broderick Crawford plays. Rita Gam as his slinking secretary (and mistress, it certainly appears), Buddy Ebsen as his droll Man Friday, Anita Bjork as the tricky lady spy and Walter Abel as a comic Army doctor are all in uncomplicated grooves. His trick is to keep them all moving and saying snappy things at breakneck speedΓΓé¼ΓÇ¥crossing, criss-crossing and clipping, but never becoming complex.

In this wayΓΓé¼ΓÇ¥and with the assistance of some very good color-camera work, which makes a lot of the background of Berlin, where the film was shotΓΓé¼ΓÇ¥Mr. Johnson has brought forth a picture that is plenty of fun to watch. It may be the sheerest piece of fiction, and a reckless piece at that, but it is fun.


NIGHT PEOPLE, screen play by Nunnally Johnson from a story by Jed Harris and Thomas Reed; directed and produced by Mr. Johnson for Twentieth Century-Fox. At the Roxy.
Colonel Van Dyke . . . . . Gregory Peck
Leatherby . . . . . Broderick Crawford
Hoffy . . . . . Anita Bjork
Miss Cates . . . . . Rita Gam |
Foster . . . . . Walter Abel
Sgt. McColloch . . . . . Buddy Ebsen
Frederick S Hobart . . . . . Casey Adams
Frau Schindler . . . . . Jill Esmond
Petrochine . . . . . Peter Van Eyck
Kathy . . . . . Marianne Koch
Johnny . . . . . Ted Avery
Burns . . . . . Hugh McDermott
Whitby . . . . . Paul Carpenter
Stanways . . . . . John Horsley
Lakeland . . . . . Lionel Murto