TCM is Showing an anti-Communist Film Noir! On Friday, October 9, at 6:45 p.m. ET, TCM Presents Robert Stevenson’s The Woman on Pier 13 (1950), with an Excellent Cast Starring Robert Ryan, with Laraine Day, Janis Carter, John Agar, Thomas Gomez and William Talman

By David in TN
Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 4:37:00 P.M. EDT

TCM is showing an anti-Communist Film Noir! On Friday, October 9, at 6:45 p.m. ET, TCM shows The Woman on Pier 13 (1950) There is an excellent cast with Robert Ryan, Laraine Day, Janis Carter, John Agar, Thomas Gomez and William Talman, directed by Robert Stevenson.

Film Noir Guide: “Ryan, the newly married vice-president of a shipping company, has a secret past: As a young member of the Communist Party, he killed a man during a party-agitated riot. Unfortunately for him, Commies Gomez and Carter (Ryan’s former lover) want him back now that he holds such an influential position. They blackmail him into sabotaging labor negotiations with the longshoreman's union, forcing a strike.

“Ryan’s bride (Day) is in the dark about his tainted past and is justifiably confused by his violent mood swings. Her impressionable brother (Agar) falls in love with Commie temptress Carter and begins spouting Party propaganda at union meetings. Carnival worker Talman doubles as a contract killer for the Party.

“... this standard Red hysteria film was produced by billionaire Howard Hughes (see Hughes’ other Red films I was a Communist for the FBI and The Whip Hand. Carter is enjoyable as the Party’s femme fatale.”

David in TN: You notice the Film Noir Guide had to attack the film. On its own terms, The Woman on Pier 13 is a typical RKO product; short (73 minutes), with plenty of plot and action, a good noir-style plot, good acting, and Janis Carter was one of the best femmes fatale.

Incidentally, Robert Ryan was a very left-wing actor. Usually, he played a vicious Bad Guy. This time, he’s heroic.

On this day, TCM features a series of films noir set in San Francisco, starting at 7:45 a.m. ET with Nora Prentiss, followed by Born to Kill, Dark Passage (Bogey and Bacall), Out of the Past, Race Street, Impact, and finally, The Woman on Pier 13.