A Tense Crime Drama with Complex Characters and Film Noir Style: Borderline (1950)

The 1950s film Borderline is a crime drama directed by William A. Seiter and starring Fred MacMurray, Claire Trevor, and Raymond Burr. The film follows two undercover agents who are tasked with investigating a drug trafficking ring operating along the border between Mexico and the United States. As they delve deeper into the case, they begin to question each other's motives and loyalties, leading to a dramatic conclusion. The film features classic elements of film noir, including shadowy cinematography, complex characters, and a tense, morally ambiguous plot.Show more

Fred MacMurray as Johnny Macklin
Claire Trevor as Madeleine Haley
Raymond Burr as Pete Ritchie
José Torvay as Julio
Morris Ankrum as Mr. Lawton
Roy Roberts as Wanger
Nacho Galindo as Pablo
John Hubbard as Dave Shepard
Don Diamond as Vasquez

Borderline is a 1950 American crime film noir directed by William A. Seiter and starring Fred MacMurray and Claire Trevor. It was filmed from late May to early July 1949 at Republic Studios.[2]
Plot

Pete Ritchie (Raymond Burr) runs a narcotics smuggling operation to the US from Mexico, which the Los Angeles Police Department and the US federal government have unsuccessfully tried to stop. Because of Ritchie's careful operating procedures, US authorities haven't even been able to find out the identities of his sources or customers and are desperate for a breakthrough. As a last resort, Madeleine Haley (Claire Trevor), an LAPD officer and former OSS operative, is sent undercover to Mexico to charm her way into Ritchie's confidence.

Once there, Haley manages to establish contact with Ritchie's gang, but is kidnapped by Johnny Macklin (Fred MacMurray), a federal agent posing as a hoodlum working for a rival of Ritchie's and who also steals a load of Ritchie's narcotics. Haley is unaware that he is also undercover. She joins Macklin on a smuggling trip to maintain her cover and nab Macklin and the ring, all while Ritchie is in hot pursuit.
Cast

Character names are not indicated in on-screen cast credits

Actor Role
Fred MacMurray Johnny McEvoy, posing as Johnny Macklin
Claire Trevor Madeleine Haley, posing as Gladys LaRue
Raymond Burr Pete Ritchie
Jose Torvay Miguel
Morris Ankrum Bill Whittaker
Roy Roberts Harvey Gumbin
Don Diamond Deusik
Nacho Galindo Porfirio
Pepe Hern Pablo
Grazia Narciso Porfirio's Wife
Clifton Young Suspect questioned by Whittaker
Charles Lane Peterson, customs officer
Johnny Indrisano Gumbin's henchman
Chrispin Martin Pepi, hotel clerk
Claire Trevor, Nacho Galindo and Fred MacMurray
Roy Roberts, Claire Trevor, Jose Torvay and Fred MacMurray in Borderline
Richard Irving and Claire Trevor
Production

The film was based on a story by Norman Krasna. The budget was kept down by the key creatives deferring their pay.[1]
Evaluation in film guides

Steven H. Scheuer's TV Movie Almanac & Ratings 1958 & 1959 gives Borderline a "Fair" rating of 2 stars (out of 4), summarizing its plot as "[A] policewoman is sent to get the goods on dope smugglers working from Los Angeles to Mexico" with the evaluation, "[U]ncertain melodrama wavers between seriousness and farce, is successful at neither". 35 years later, in the 1993–1994 edition, the plot was revised to "[A] policewoman goes undercover as a chorus girl to crack a ring of drug smugglers".

Leonard Maltin's TV Movies & Video Guide (1989 edition) slightly raises the rating to 2½ stars (out of 4) and concludes that "Trevor and MacMurray work well together as law enforcers each tracking down dope smugglers on Mexican border, neither knowing the other isn't a crook". By the time of the third edition (2015) of Maltin's Classic Movie Guide, the rating had been lowered to the Scheuer level of 2 and the write-up changed to "[O]dd thriller-comedy in which L.A. cop Trevor attempts to gather evidence against wily drug smuggler Burr while mixing with tough guy MacMurray in Mexico. Starts out promisingly, but soon bogs down in silliness. Burr makes a vivid villain."
See also

Public domain film
List of American films of 1950
List of films in the public domain in the United States

References

HOLLYWOOD DIGEST: New York Times 19 June 1949: X5.

"Home". aficatalog.afi.com. Retrieved Aug 9, 2022.

External links

Media related to Borderline (1950 film) at Wikimedia Commons
Borderline at IMDb
Borderline is available for free download at the Internet Archive
Borderline at AllMovie
Borderline at the TCM Movie Database
Borderline at the American Film Institute Catalog

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Films directed by William A. Seiter

The Kentucky Colonel (1920) Eden and Return (1921) Hearts and Masks (1921) The Foolish Age (1921) Passing Through (1921) Boy Crazy (1922) Gay and Devilish (1922) Up and at 'Em (1922) When Love Comes (1922) The Understudy (1922) The Beautiful and Damned (1922) Little Church Around the Corner (1923) Daddies (1924) His Forgotten Wife (1924) The White Sin (1924) Listen Lester (1924) The Family Secret (1924) Helen's Babies (1924) The Fast Worker (1924) The Mad Whirl (1925) Dangerous Innocence (1925) The Teaser (1925) Where Was I? (1925) What Happened to Jones (1926) Skinner's Dress Suit (1926) Rolling Home (1926) Take It from Me (1926) The Cheerful Fraud (1927) The Small Bachelor (1927) Thanks for the Buggy Ride (1928) Good Morning, Judge (1928) Waterfront (1928) Outcast (1928) Why Be Good? (1929) Smiling Irish Eyes (1929) Footlights and Fools (1929) The Love Racket (1929) Strictly Modern (1930) Back Pay (1930) The Truth About Youth (1930) Sunny (1930) Going Wild (1930) Kiss Me Again (1931) Big Business Girl (1931) Too Many Cooks (1931) Caught Plastered (1931) Way Back Home (1931) Girl Crazy (1932) Young Bride (1932) Is My Face Red? (1932) Hot Saturday (1932) Hello, Everybody! (1933) Diplomaniacs (1933) Rafter Romance (1933) Chance at Heaven (1933) Sons of the Desert (1933) Love Birds (1934) We're Rich Again (1934) The Richest Girl in the World (1934) Roberta (1935) The Daring Young Man (1935) If You Could Only Cook (1935) The Case Against Mrs. Ames (1936) The Moon's Our Home (1936) Dimples (1936) Stowaway (1936) Life Begins in College (1937) This Is My Affair (1937) Sally, Irene and Mary (1938) Room Service (1938) Thanks for Everything (1938) Susannah of the Mounties (1939) Allegheny Uprising (1939) It's a Date (1940) Hired Wife (1940) Nice Girl? (1941) Appointment for Love (1941) Broadway (1942) You Were Never Lovelier (1942) Destroyer (1943) A Lady Takes a Chance (1943) Four Jills in a Jeep (1944) Belle of the Yukon (1944) The Affairs of Susan (1945) That Night with You (1945) Little Giant (1946) I'll Be Yours (1947) Up in Central Park (1948) One Touch of Venus (1948) Borderline (1950) Dear Brat (1951) The Lady Wants Mink (1953) Champ for a Day (1953) Make Haste to Live (1954)

Categories:

1950 filmsFilm noir1950 crime drama films1950 romantic drama filmsAmerican black-and-white films1950s English-language filmsUniversal Pictures filmsFilms directed by William A. SeiterFilms set in MexicoAmerican romantic drama filmsAmerican crime drama filmsFilms scored by Hans J. Salter1950s American films

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderline_(1950_film)