Details

Release year: 1951

Storyline

A teenager comes of age while seeking revenge on the man who beat up his father.

Top credits

Directors

Joseph Losey

Writers

Cast

John Drew Barrymore — George La Main
Preston Foster — Andy La Main
Joan Lorring — Marion Rostina
Howard St. John — Al Judge

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Did you know

• According to interviews that director Joseph Losey gave in the mid-1970s to Michel Ciment, the FBI wanted to spy on him in Europe, where he relocated to work after being blacklisted by Hollywood because of his political activities. So they paid John Drew Barrymore (who became a good friend after this movie) to furnish information about Losey's political activities, if any, in London. Barrymore later met Losey in London and confessed to him about the money and expense account the FBI had given him to spy on Losey. Losey, recalling that the young actor had been under tremendous pressure at the time, forgave him and, in fact, suggested that they have several lavish meals together and put the cost on Barrymore's FBI expense account, which they promptly did.

• This film marks the only screen acting appearance by future director Robert Aldrich. He was Joseph Losey's assistant on the film (not their only collaboration), and Aldrich often said that he felt closest to Losey of all the directors he had worked with during his long apprenticeship as an assistant - others included Charles Chaplin, Jean Renoir, and Lewis Milestone. He also said, jokingly, that Losey had only used him as an actor "because he knows how self-conscious I am".

• Dorothy Comingore was so appalled by the extensive testimony given to the House Un-American Activities Committee by her husband Richard Collins that she cut off almost all her hair with a pair of scissors, telling director Joseph Losey that this was what had happened to girls in occupied France if they slept with German soldiers. She was required to wear a wig throughout her time on this film to disguise this.