The story was developed some years after the close of World War II, and as some of the techniques of Soviet agents of the time. The basic story, a "professor" is developing mathematics that can be used for the development of missiles and the like, with Soviet agents trying to find out details -- apparently some exotic math -- from a project code-named Falcon. The story follows the various mechanations of enemy agents, and the details of how the F.B.I. coped with the covert actions of the enemy agents. Since the film is in monochrome, it's a bitironic to point out that the plot is In black and white, as are the characters. This follows the tradition of such films during the World War II period. The covert activities of the F.B.I. are a bit humorous to a modern eye -- for example, the call litters of the local Bureau home radio transmitter are WFBI, which would be anything but a low profile in case of people monitoring frequencies. Bugging a suspect's business with an early TV camera and audio link was more to show off the latest postwar technology than to show any practical means of snooping. To a modern eye, the precomputer "calculating machine" used somehow to develop what in the brief glimpse we see of it looks like a set of differential equations, seems to the modern eye rather amusing, but accepting it for the sake of the story isn't difficult: the developed sheet of equations is what the spy ring is seeking. A rigid analysis of the espionage and counteroffer's makes little more sense than counting the number of shots a six-gun in a Roy Rogers western manages to fire without reloading; some things one can't take too seriously. Entertaining, but not documentary.
Review of Walk East on Beacon!
