fuller’s relationship to communism is really interesting and ambiguous. in Pickup on South Street, it’s clear enough that his representation of the “communist threat” is intended to be at least parodic, paralleling the US intelligence apparatus. but i was very much not sensitive to that on my first viewing. this film, too, really hits like a slap in the face of anti-communism—i think because it’s a B film, proletarian cinema, devoid of any pretension. but there is still something complex going on in this film, and in fuller’s representation of communism and the US more generally. not to the extent, obviously, that he is “pro-communism.” just that he does not have any illusions about the sanctity of american resistance to that supposed threat. really makes you think about the inability of contemporary political discourse to negotiate between being both simultaneously anti-NATO and anti-war.