Russell Rouse - The Thief (1952)

Russell Rouse - The Thief (1952) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045230 http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005UQ8G.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg A telephone rings in the dark—three times, pauses, then rings three times again. A fully-clothed figure lights a cigarette before rising from bed, dons a raincoat, then sets out into the night. Another figure emerges from the shadows, lights a cigarette, then discards a crumpled cigarette pack, which the first picks up and carries home. Back in his room, the first man places the refuse on his desk, paces apprehensively about his apartment before he finally removes the inner foil and examines it. After letting what it reveals sink in, he sets it on fire, and a cold look comes over his face... Thus begins The Thief, a 1952 cold war, espionage thriller—unique in that it is completely without dialogue—directed by Russell Rouse, and produced by Clarence Greene, who co-wrote the screenplay. Allan Fields (Ray Milland) is an award-winning nuclear scientist working at the Atomic Energy Commission research laboratory. He is also a spy, photographing top secret documents, then relaying the miniature film canisters back through an elaborate network to enemy agents in Egypt. His signal is the telephone, and his liaison outlines his assignments through instructions on his cigarette refuse, with nary a word spoken. It is a dangerous business, and one that creates many close calls—too close for comfort. When one of his assignments goes awry, the FBI begins to close in, and the race is on to leave the country before he is caught. The Thief has all the trappings of classic noir. Produced at the height of the "Red Scare," the film manages to maintain a constant state of tension, relying heavily on reaction shots and Herschel Burke Gilbert's riveting musical score. The cinematography heightens the effect, utilizing lighting and camera angles to convey the unspoken. Milland, who won an Oscar for his role in Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend, carries the part off to perfection, letting the audience read his character's thoughts solely through facial expression and body language. The direction also fools the audience into anticipating dialogue, then cleverly avoiding it. Only the Oscar-nominated score and sound effects break the silence. This is a fascinating use of visuals to tell a story, and a gripping suspense film, which held my interest throughout, and aside from one sequence where Fields' conscience begins to plague him, the narrative is fairly straight forward, without much in the way of gimmickry. For those interested in cold war-era film noir, this is certainly worth a look, if for no other reason than its uniqueness. http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b200/ScreaminJayHawkins/sd/bscap0139.jpg http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b200/ScreaminJayHawkins/sd/bscap0141.jpg http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b200/ScreaminJayHawkins/sd/bscap0143.jpg http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b200/ScreaminJayHawkins/sd/bscap0144.jpg -----------not my rip----- Filesize.....: 698 MB (or 715,314 KB or 732,481,536 bytes) Runtime......: 01:26:27 (124,353 fr) Video Codec..: XviD Video Bitrate: 1053 kb/s Audio Codec..: 0x0055(MP3) ID'd as MPEG-1 Layer 3 Audio Bitrate: 70 kb/s (35/ch, stereo) VBR LAME3.97b Aspect Ratio...: 560x416 (1.35:1) [=35:26] FPS...: 23.976 Sample Freq...: 32000 Hz File Type...: OpenDML AVI Frame Quality...: 0.189 bits/pixel Video Bitrate...: 1053 kb/s Length...: 01:26:27 (124,353 fr) Interleave...: 1 vid frame (42 ms), p=504 Split: No ******************************** Freakyflicks is a free and open community dedicated to preserving and sharing cinematic art in the digital era. Our goal is to disseminate such works of art to the widest audience possible through the channels provided by P2P technology. The Freakyflicks collection is limited to those films that have played an exceptional role in the history of cinema and its progression in becoming a great art. Films that are usually described as classic, cult, arthouse and avant-garde. If you have films that fit this description feel free to share them and participate in our community. All you need do is include this tag in your upload and join us at the forum to announce your release. https://board.freakyflicks.org/index.php 'If we all seed just 1:1, give at least what we take, this torrent will NEVER DIE"

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