By Richard Harland Smith
Finger Of Guilt
Brief Synopsis
Blackmail threatens an American filmmaker's attempts to rebuild his career in England.
Cast & Crew
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Joseph Losey
Director
Richard Basehart
Mary Murphy
Constance Cummings
Frederick Steger
Andre Mikhelson
Film Details
Also Known As
Intimate Stranger, The
Genre
Drama
Thriller
Release Date
1956
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 35m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Synopsis
Blackmail threatens an American filmmaker's attempts to rebuild his career in England.
Director
Joseph Losey
Director
Cast
Richard Basehart
Mary Murphy
Constance Cummings
Frederick Steger
Andre Mikhelson
Edna Landor
Vernon Greeves
David Lodge
Roger Livesey
Michael Ward
Mervyn Johns
Basil Dignam
Katherine Page
Jay Denyer
Wilfrid Downing
Grace Denbigh-russell
Giacomo Rossi Stuart
Faith Brook
Crew
Wilfred Arnold
Art Director
Trevor Duncan
Music
Gerald Gibbs
Director Of Photography
Howard Koch
Screenplay
Howard Koch
Source Material (From Novel)
Joseph Losey
Producer
Richard Macdonald
Production Designer
Alice Mclaren
Costume Designer
Geoffrey Muller
Editor
Tony Owen
Executive Producer
Bill Shore
Assistant Director
Alec C. Snowden
Producer
Richard Taylor
Music
Videos
Movie Clip
Film Details
Also Known As
Intimate Stranger, The
Genre
Drama
Thriller
Release Date
1956
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 35m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Articles
Finger of Guilt -
Finger of Guilt is the American release title of Joseph Losey's Intimate Stranger (1956), a psychological thriller that the American expatriate directed in Great Britain after having been branded a Communist sympathizer in Hollywood. After directing one film in Italy and having been asked to leave France, a penniless Losey migrated to England, where he struck a deal with producer Nat Cohen to make three low budget features for a meager payment of £1,000 per film (plus percentages). Scripted by Howard Koch (another Tinseltown refugee, who was "grey listed" after scripting Warner Bros.' Stalin-friendly Mission to Moscow in 1943), Finger of Guilt is Losey's only film about the film industry, the story of an American producer who assumes control of his British father-in-law's film studio, only to become the target of a blackmailer. It is to Losey's credit as an artist that Finger of Guilt was not a roman à clef by which he might have painted himself as a victim but rather an honest appraisal of a man whose fate is tied to his inability to accept responsibility for his past transgressions. While Koch signed the film as "Peter Howard," Losey allowed directorial credit to go to producer Alec C. Snowden, though publicity materials for foreign markets gave him credit as "Joseph Walton." Made on the cheap (with Shepperton Studios playing the fictitious "Commonwealth Studios"), Finger of Guilt nonetheless boasts a topflight supporting cast in Roger Livesey (The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp), Mervyn Johns (Dead of Night), and Mary Murphy, Marlon Brando's leading lady in The Wild One (1954).
By Richard Harland Smith
By Richard Harland Smith
Finger of Guilt -
Finger of Guilt is the American release title of Joseph Losey's Intimate Stranger (1956), a psychological thriller that the American expatriate directed in Great Britain after having been branded a Communist sympathizer in Hollywood. After directing one film in Italy and having been asked to leave France, a penniless Losey migrated to England, where he struck a deal with producer Nat Cohen to make three low budget features for a meager payment of £1,000 per film (plus percentages). Scripted by Howard Koch (another Tinseltown refugee, who was "grey listed" after scripting Warner Bros.' Stalin-friendly Mission to Moscow in 1943), Finger of Guilt is Losey's only film about the film industry, the story of an American producer who assumes control of his British father-in-law's film studio, only to become the target of a blackmailer. It is to Losey's credit as an artist that Finger of Guilt was not a roman à clef by which he might have painted himself as a victim but rather an honest appraisal of a man whose fate is tied to his inability to accept responsibility for his past transgressions. While Koch signed the film as "Peter Howard," Losey allowed directorial credit to go to producer Alec C. Snowden, though publicity materials for foreign markets gave him credit as "Joseph Walton." Made on the cheap (with Shepperton Studios playing the fictitious "Commonwealth Studios"), Finger of Guilt nonetheless boasts a topflight supporting cast in Roger Livesey (The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp), Mervyn Johns (Dead of Night), and Mary Murphy, Marlon Brando's leading lady in The Wild One (1954).
By Richard Harland Smith
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Fall October 1956
Losey and Koch were blacklisted durning the McCarthy era and made this film under psuedonyms.
Released in United States Fall October 1956
