Evening star., 1952-07-17

has rified the hles Of the Fedora
Bureau Of InveStigation-with the
Bureaus full approval, naturally
for another Of those spy thrillers
he makes so expertly.
This one Is called "Walk East
On Beacon" It is q companion
piece to "The House on 92d
Street" and it opened at the
Trans-Lux theater yesterday. II
should be there a long time, pro-
viding us neighbors of j. Edgar
Hoover with q lively lot to talk
about. Spying and counter-spyine
have developed into such Super
man arts that there is nothing for
normal humans to do but swing
between terror Of the one and ad-
miration for the other.
De Rochemont makes the most
Of our vulnerability on that score
in walk East On Beacon" q
street that has seemed innocent.
dignified and invincible since the
American Revolution.
x X \ \
Hoover's Readers Digest article,
1.-THE Crime of The Century" is the
basis Of the new melodrama at the
Trans-Lux. The FBI director deals
with much hotter materials than
mere imaginative writer's of Holly
wood thrillerS. In this case, his
subject apparently is the most
stratospheric of military secrets,
possibly the H-bomb. Some Rus
slams are trying to get it from an
elderly refugee whose son they
hold in Germany. The Americans
naturally are trying to keep them
from this heinous theft and such
an electronically electrifying con-
1lict never was fought before.
That sonorous style which he
developed in the heyday Of March
of Time still serves De Rocllemont
well in walk East On Beacon" It
provides for that old familiar
doom-like voice on the sound track
Of the Aim while the cameras are
poking into all kinds of secret cav
erns Of precious military intelli-
gence.
Among the latter, incidentally
are a number Of places in. and ad-
jacent to. Washington which puts
an additional shiver into the melo-
drama locally.
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The most interesting single dra-
matte aspect Of walk East On
Beacon" is its revelation that the
eounter-espionage Of the FBI is SC
effective. The scientific instru-
ments at the bureaus disposal in
this profoundly vital work are
enormously impressive and dra-
matte. The latest Of these, and q
beautiful supplement to the care
fully planted microphone, is q
camera which turns the doings o1
enemy agents into closed circuit
television broadcasts. It is quite
consoling to know that such un-
deadly defensive weapons are al
the disposal Of our intelligence
forces.
Walk East On Beacon" which
has that De Rochemont air of au.
thenticity, of actually being there
is q rapidly moving moving pic
ture. It skins the streets Of Bos-
ton and Washington and the
harmless looking suburban lane.
around each.
The focal character in all thi.
lively movement is the elderly for
eign scientist played by stalwart
old Finlay Currie. Operating ouj
on a remote fringe of mathe.
matics, he is the man with the
secret the Communists want
What they have as a trump card
In forcing him to surrender his
vital data is his beloved son, held
prisoner in an East German camp
Leading the counter-attack or
the Russians is George Murphy
He matches wits, weapons anc
forces with an enemy gang which
is RuSSian-led but manned-anC
womaned-by a number of Amer.
leans who have succumbed to thu
poison Of communism. Before vic.
tory comes to the Murphy team
Trans-Lux audiences have beer
given a hair-raising closeup o.
the rapidly dropping temperatur,
in the cold war.
It should chill them which
come to think Of it, is an excellen
idea in this weather.