State Department File 649
Cast & Crew
Peter Stewart
William Lundigan
Virginia Bruce
Jonathan Hale
Frank Ferguson
Richard Loo
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
At the State Department in Washington, D.C., ex-marine Kenneth R. Seeley, whose file number is 6-4-9, is trained for a new post as a foreign service officer in the northern regions of China. While in training, Ken falls in love with foreign service officer Margaret Waldon. When he was a boy, Ken's missionary parents were murdered by Mongolian bandits, and consequently, he has a desire to return to China to do his part in keeping the peace there. Ken flies to Peiping and finds himself in the middle of a revolution that has killed numerous Americans. Immediately upon his arrival, Ken is nearly killed, but escapes unharmed to his post at Ming-Goo. Ken, along with Marge and American Don Logan, are to aid consul Howard Brown, who is being watched by an elaborate spy network. When the Americans see a caravan of armed men pass through Ming-Goo, they begin to suspect that exiled warlord Marshal Yun Usu is preparing for a coup. Within days, Yun Usu arrives in a trailer and takes control of the consulate, holding the Americans hostage. After Johnny Han, the consulate's radio operator, calls for help, his arms are cut off by the marshal's guards, and he dies. Wonto, the village undertaker, who is friendly with the Americans, smuggles dynamite into the consulate in Johnny's crematory urn. Meanwhile, Yun Usu orders the execution of several villagers whom he accuses of being government sympathizers. Later, when the American embassy at Nanking calls and promises to send an airplane if they receive no word from the consulate within twenty-four hours, Yun Usu orders Ken to fix the radio. While retrieving glass tubes from the marshal's trailer, Ken plants the dynamite on the battery beneath it. During the return call to Nanking, Ken purposefully says that the marshal is on the air to tip off the embassy. To protect himself from an American assault, Yun Usu takes Ken hostage in his trailer, and leaves the village. After the trailer hits a peasant child in the road and the marshal refuses to stop, Ken reconnects the battery wire. The marshal then boasts that his revolution cannot proceed without him, and Ken calls him a "mad dog," for which he is shot in the stomach. Before he collapses, Ken turns on the trailer radio, triggering an explosion that kills all onboard. Later, in Washington, D.C., Ken's name is added to a list of foreign service officers who died while serving their country.
Director
Peter Stewart
Cast
William Lundigan
Virginia Bruce
Jonathan Hale
Frank Ferguson
Richard Loo
Philip Ahn
Raymond Bond
Milton Kibbee
Victor Sen Yung
Lora Lee Michel
John Holland
Harlan Warde
Carole Donne
Barbara Woodell
Robert Stephenson
Lee Bennett
H. T. Tsiang
Joseph Crehan
Ray Bennett
Nana Bryant
Crew
George Bahr
Lucien Cailliet
David Chudnow
Jack Greenhalgh
Dr. Yu-shan Han
Rudy Harrington
Edward Jewell
Ray Mercer
Sigmund Neufeld
Stanley Neufeld
Milton Raison
Elias H. Reif
Harry Ross
Clifford Shank
Bert Sternbach
Holbrook N. Todd
Ben Winkler
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film's working title was File 649-State Department. The film's title was also shown as State Department-File 649. The foreword on the viewed print stated that the film was dedicated to "the unsung and often unhonored heroes" of the Foreign Service of the United States "who have given their health and their lives in obscurity." Although the film is presented as a recreation of a case history, several reviewers questioned the authenticity of the film's story. Said Bosley Crowther in his New York Times review: "Film Classics has not broken any new ground. Nor can we believe that its 'documentary' tribute is based on an actual file." In addition, Alton Cook, whose review was excerpted in Hollywood Reporter's Reviews of reviews column, noted: "Hollywood has opened a new offensive against the Chinese. During the war years, filmdom's old-fashioned heathen Chinese was replaced by our gallant Chinese allies. Recent Communist victories there apparently have made China a fair hunting ground for villainy once more...This picture's importance lies in serving notice that the makers of B pictures have gone back to their pre-war notion that Charlie Chan is one of the few good Chinese walking this earth." A pre-production news item in the Los Angeles Times stated that Gene Raymond was to star in the film, but he was later replaced by William Lundigan. From 1928 to 1949, Peking, China's capital city, was known as Peiping, and Nanking was the capital. In 1949, Peking surrendered to Communist forces and was again made the Chinese capital.
