The Steel Fist

The Steel Fist stars Roddy McDowall as a student leader in an unnamed country behind the Iron Curtain who has to flee because heled a student protest against the Russian occupiers. Though the country is unnamed given the German names in the cast I tend to think this is East Germany.

This one was done on the cheap by Monogram which of course is a redundancy. McDowall is lucky to meet up with brother and sister Harry Lauter and Kristine Miller of the underground. When you need friends.............

Miller is the local vamp of the underground pumping Russian major Rand Brooks for information. In fact Brooks comes off as Russian as Keye Luke. Of course as Germans Lauter and Miller aren't much better.

What this film does do is help the cast with their anti-Communist credentials at the time the blacklist and Joe McCarthy.

There were good anti-Communist films made during this period. The Steel Fist ain't one of them.