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The Whip Hand

Play trailer Poster for The Whip Hand 1951 1h 22m Sci-Fi Play Trailer Watchlist
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Journalist Matt Corbin (Elliott Reid) is traveling through the Midwest on a fishing trip and comes across a nearly deserted town where the few inhabitants left are secretive and hostile. A shifty lodge owner named Steve Loomis (Raymond Burr) warns Matt away, claiming all the fish died off mysteriously years ago. The story just makes Matt more curious, and his investigations soon uncover a Kremlin plot to poison the American water supply. Now he just needs to get back to the city alive.

Critics Reviews

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Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews 04/22/2002
B
The story of a Commie town made up of ex-Nazis prospering in the middle of America is hard to swallow, but as sheer entertainment value this one somehow works. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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03/15/2016 Interesting "cold war" thriller, nicely shot and directed by legendary production designer William Cameron Menzies. See more 01/29/2016 This movie is so bad....that it's difficult to stop watching! The background music is annoying as its mysterious monotony doesn't stop throughout. It's interesting to see Raymond Burr in this. The acting of the entire cast is plastic. The "over-acting" is on the level of a high school drama class or sci-fi B-movie of the same era. The film was originally filmed to deal with a quiet American town with Nazis and Hitler, but when Howard Hughes, who owned RKO at the time, he stated that Nazis are no longer our enemy but Communists are. So, they had to re-shoot all pertinent scenes about a Communist takeover plot! My favourite scene is the mad scientists room of old people aimlessly walking around, and referred to as grotesque by anyone who sees them...hilarious! See more 11/10/2014 the premise is hard to swallow but still watchable. See more 02/02/2014 Most historians will tell you part of the reasons of war in the 1940's was that Nazi and Communist ideology was just too incompatible, this film throws that out of the window as a post-war conspiracy film against the USA. There's a wider post-war fear this film taps into and actually does it with some effect and the mystery surrounding everything works whilst it remains a mystery, however not too well after it's revealed. See more Read all reviews
The Whip Hand

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Movie Info

Synopsis Journalist Matt Corbin (Elliott Reid) is traveling through the Midwest on a fishing trip and comes across a nearly deserted town where the few inhabitants left are secretive and hostile. A shifty lodge owner named Steve Loomis (Raymond Burr) warns Matt away, claiming all the fish died off mysteriously years ago. The story just makes Matt more curious, and his investigations soon uncover a Kremlin plot to poison the American water supply. Now he just needs to get back to the city alive.
Director
William Cameron Menzies
Production Co
RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Genre
Sci-Fi
Original Language
English
Runtime
1h 22m