Film Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

The House on Carroll Street
Directed by Peter Yates
MGM Home Entertainment 1987 DVD/VHS Feature Film
PG

This film stars Kelly McGillis as Emily, a photo editor whose career is destroyed when she refuses to cooperate with a Red-hunting Congressional committee. Set in New York City in 1951, this political thriller is directed by Peter Yates from a screenplay by Walter Bernstein. While working as a reader for a blind woman, Emily stumbles upon a group organized by U.S. Senator (Mandy Patinkin) to smuggle ex-Nazi scientists into the country. Eventually, the FBI agent (Jeff Daniels) who is tailing Emily joins her in an attempt to foil their secret operation. Although The House on Carroll Street lacks dramatic punch, the filmmakers deserve credit for raising moral issues involved in recruiting former Nazis to secure America’s scientific lead over the Russians in the Cold War.

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat