Lloyd Nolan in "The House On 92nd Street" (1945) - feat. Gene Lockhart & Leo G. Carroll

Officials at the German Embassy in Washington are actively recruiting spies. A German spy is killed. The FBI is alarmed to find a message among his possessions regarding America's most closely guarded secret, Process 97, the atomic bomb project.

An American university student, Bill Dietrich (William Eythe), is approached by German recruiters offering him a well-paying job. He feigns interest, then notifies the FBI. Inspector George A. Briggs (Lloyd Nolan) recruits Dietrich as a double agent. The Germans send Dietrich to Hamburg, Germany, where he undergoes six months of training in espionage. The Germans then send him back to the United States to set up a radio station to relay secret information, and act as paymaster to the spies already there.

The 92nd Street residence is a multi-storied building with a dress shop, serving as a front for German agents, on the first floor. Dietrich's contact is dress designer Elsa Gebhardt (Signe Hasso).

Gebhardt instructs Dietrich to transmit a key portion of Process 97 to Germany, he notices a cigarette butt in non-smoker Gebhardt's otherwise empty ashtray. He surreptitiously secures the butt and sends it to the FBI. Agents trace the clue to Luise Vadja (Renee Carson), and her friend, Charles Ogden Roper (Gene Lockhart), a scientist working on Process 97. Roper is picked up, questioned, and breaks under interrogation. Roper confesses to hiding last part of Process 97. Briggs orders the immediate arrest of Gebhardt's ring.

Gebhardt receives news from Germany, confirming her suspicions of Dietrich's limited authority, and his true loyalties. He is abducted and brought to 92nd Street. Gebhardt injects him with scopolamine in an attempt to obtain information, but her building is surrounded by FBI agents. Gebhardt orders her underlings to hold them off while she disguises as a man and tries to sneak out with the final vital papers on Process 97 that she has just received. Unable to climb down the fire escape, she returns, only to be accidentally shot by one of her own men. The rest are captured, and Dietrich is rescued.

A 1945 American Black & White mystery thriller film-noir war spy film directed by Henry Hathaway, produced by Louis De Rochemont, screenplay by Barré Lyndon, Charles G. Booth, John Monks Jr., story by Charles G. Booth, cinematography by Norbert Brodine, starring William Eythe, Lloyd Nolan, Signe Hasso, Gene Lockhart, Leo G. Carroll, Lydia St. Clair, William Post Jr., Harry Bellaver, Bruno Wick, Harro Meller, Charles Wagenheim, Alfred Linder, and Renee Carson. Narrated by Reed Hadley.

Gene Lockhart's character, Charles Ogden Roper, is based on the spy Herman Lang who delivered the top secret Norden bombsight to Germany.

Leo G. Carroll's character, Col. Hammersohn, inspired by the spy ring leader Captain Fritz Joubert Duquesne).

The actual house used in the filming of the movie stood at 53 E 93rd street. It is no longer there - it is now a pathway leading to premises behind the original house.

This is the first film produced by Louis De Rochemont, credited as a pioneer of the semi-documentary style police thriller. Hathaway discovered the script, loved it and agreed to make it without stars. Charles G. Booth won the 1946 Academy Award for Original Motion Picture Story.

This was made with the full cooperation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose director, J. Edgar Hoover, appears during the introductory montage. The FBI agents shown in Washington, D.C. were played by actual agents.

The film was inspired by the real life case of William G. Sebold, who was involved in bringing down the Duquesne Spy Ring in 1941. The Duquesne Spy Ring is the greatest spy roundup in U.S. history. A total of 33 spies in a Nazi German espionage network, headed by Nazi ring leader Frederick "Fritz" Joubert Duquesne (also known as "The man who killed Kitchener"), were convicted. The FBI roundup delivered ‘the death blow’ to their espionage efforts in the United States. Of those indicted, 19 pleaded guilty. The remaining 14 were brought to jury trial in Federal District Court, Brooklyn, New York, on September 3, 1941; all were found guilty on December 13, 1941. On January 2, 1942, the group members were sentenced to more than 300 years in prison. The agents who formed the Duquesne Ring were placed in key jobs in the United States to get information that could be used in the event of war and to carry out acts of sabotage: one opened a restaurant and used his position to get information from his customers; another worked on an airline so that he could report Allied ships that were crossing the Atlantic Ocean; others worked as delivery people as a cover for carrying secret messages.

Lloyd Nolan would reprise his role as Inspector Briggs in the sequel, "The Street with No Name" (1948).

An interesting and exciting classic of the semi-documentary genre, with strong narration. Some gripping scenes, along with a glimpse into the attitude of 1945 America. Well worth seeing.