atlasmb Oh brother! How ironic that this film purports to expose the vast communist conspiracy in America, with its endless resources, its sinister agents, its goal to subvert American values and to ridicule religion. Yet this is such a crock of propaganda, in which the FBI is the hero.Years later, Americans would find out that just about everyone was deemed an enemy of the FBI. They were spying on and compiling dossiers on many many Americans. Hoover targeted anyone he didn't like. He was a real piece of work.Everyone should watch this film, which is modeled after other undercover movies where the protagonist is deemed a hero for being persecuted for his cause. During WWII, for example, other films championed American spies who suffered while infiltrating Axis organizations. Yes, it's a lousy film filled with misinformation, designed to alert and rile up "loyal" American citizens, but it serves as a warning of how the powers that be manipulate facts and create bogeymen to suit their needs.

calvinnme According to the Wikipedia, "I Was a Communist for the FBI" was the name of a series of articles written by Matt Cvetic that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. The stories were later turned into a best-selling book, an American espionage thriller radio series, and also this motion picture. Mr. Cvetic's articles were the true story of his undercover life, but the radio show and this film were largely fictionalized for dramatic effect. Matt Cvetic was actually an undercover agent for the FBI posing as a Communist for nine years. It is true that he alienated his family and friends as a result of them believing that he was actually a Communist, and even wound up divorced as a result of his assignment, although the divorce is not mentioned in the film. It is not true that the Communists posed as big a threat to the U.S. from within as is shown in the motion picture. The film itself is quite interesting and a pretty good thriller in its own right. It will keep you guessing as to whether or not Cvetic's true identity will be revealed before he is finished collecting information.You just have to forget about the stretching of the truth that goes on here and enjoy this film for what it is - a window into a particularly paranoid time in America with a good pace to it. A film that is equivalent to it and made about the same time is the better known "Big Jim McLain" starring John Wayne. It too has many wild stereotypes, but the action is good and you just have to remember when and why it was made. If you do that, you should thoroughly enjoy both films.

bkoganbing There are so very few films where just the title tells you all you need to know about the film. Such a film is I Was A Communist For The FBI. Another example would be I Married A Monster From Outer Space.The really interesting thing about this film is how in heaven's name did this get nominated for an Oscar in the documentary category? It is not a documentary in any sense of the word, it's not even in that hybrid category of docudrama. It's just a rather exploitive film about the work of an FBI undercover agent named Matt Cvetic who infiltrated the Communist Party in Pittsburgh and got active in trying to take over the Steelworker's Union for the Communists and reporting on said activities to his handlers in the FBI.A documentary of that work might have been interesting, but what we got was a film to fit those paranoid times. I found it fascinating that when Cvetic finally broke his cover it was to the House Un-American Activities Committee rather than the trial in New York of the Communist Party leaders. There was a moment in the film where head Communist James Millican tells his followers to start spreading the word that the House Un American Activities Committee was composed of a bunch of right wing yahoos looking to get their names in front of the camera. Now what could have given him that idea? Anyway just connect the dots and no doubt the word their came from J. Edgar Hoover trying to give some credence to HUAC by having an effective undercover come out there rather than at an actual trial. Little thing there called cross examination.Warner Brothers who produced I Was A Communist For The FBI later produced Big Jim McLain which starred John Wayne about a HUAC investigator in Hawaii. HUAC did grab on to credit for the work done by the Honolulu PD in breaking up a Communist spy ring there among the dockworkers. But at least in John Wayne's film nobody claimed it was a documentary.Frank Lovejoy is in the title role as Cvetic and his FBI handlers are Richard Webb and Philip Carey. Dorothy Hart plays a Pittsburgh school teacher who says that there are 30 or so like here in that school system indoctrinating the young among whom is Ron Hagerthy, Lovejoy's son. She has a change of heart about the Communists and Lovejoy has to save her from a homicidal fate planned by his superiors. Ironically Hart left the movies and went to work for all places, the United Nations which as we know has been accused often of being a Communist nest in the USA.Over half a century later and we really have very few objective works on film or in print about the Communist Party of the USA. They were in fact a very active bunch in the labor movement. The real heroes in stopping them were labor organizers like Walter Reuther in the UAW or David Dubinsky in the ILGWU. But since they were people of the left they just don't have the following on the right to be suitable propaganda material.Anyway I Was A Communist For The FBI is an exploitive work based on a real life character and a testament to those paranoid times.

browser-4 I'm tired of people coming up with the idea of communism being a harmless little flirtation.It was a serious threat to America and our way of life for many years. I spent many years of my life to defeat it. To minimilize the threat of communism is nothing but sophistry and needs to be called such.The movie needs to be seen as such, as did the TV series which I remember from my younger years.Is communism good? Look at what it has done ... it builds walls to keep people in. There are only two countries that still practice it ... China and Cuba. Does that say anything?