Border Incident

"The Shame of Two Nations!"

1949 1h 34m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

★6.9TMDB · 47

CrimeDramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The story concerns two agents, one Mexican (PJF) and one American, who are tasked to stop the smuggling of Mexican migrant workers across the border to California. The two agents go undercover, one as a poor migrant.

“The Shame of Two Nations!”

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Cast

Ricardo Montalban
Pablo Rodriguez
George Murphy
Jack Bearnes
Howard Da Silva
Owen Parkson
James Mitchell
Juan Garcia
Arnold Moss
Zopilote
Alfonso Bedoya
Cuchillo
Teresa Celli
Maria
Charles McGraw
Jeff Amboy

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Anthony Mann
Writers: John C. Higgins, John C. Higgins, George Zuckerman
Languages: Spanish, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

77 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Anthony Mann, shot by John Alton. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by André Previn. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Conrad A. Nervig shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Ricardo Montalban and George Murphy and Howard Da Silva carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The Shame of Two Nations!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0041198 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Anthony Mann directs. John Alton behind the camera. André Previn scores. Conrad A. Nervig cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

177 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.
3Directed by Anthony Mann, shot by John Alton. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by André Previn. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Conrad A. Nervig shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Ricardo Montalban and George Murphy and Howard Da Silva carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The Shame of Two Nations!".
8IMDB entry: tt0041198 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 47 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: John Alton
Original score: André Previn
Editing: Conrad A. Nervig
Makeup / hair: Jack Dawn
Runtime: 94 min · 1h 34m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Border Incident (1949)

Also by

Anthony Mann

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-05-03
★ 8/10
The Police and Snakes Are First Cousins. Border Incident is directed by Anthony Mann and adapted to screenplay by John C. Higgins from the George Zuckerman story. It stars Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, Howard Da Silva, Charles McGraw, Arthur Hunnicutt and James Mitchell. Music is by Andre Previn and cinematography by John Alton. The great Anthony Mann creates what is the perfect crossover movie that blends film noir style with western shadings. Mann would next go on to make the well regarded psychological westerns with James Stewart, Border Incident is the tasty meat in his noir/western sandwich. In essence it's a remake of T-Men, only Mann and his team have shifted away from a hustle and bustle city setting to tell a story down on the sweaty American/Mexico border. We are probing into immigration issues, human smuggling and the abuse of such, Mann and his writers daring to portray the human suffering of farm workers from Mexico, lured in as slave labour, only to then be abused and used and much worse... Having the legendary Alton on photography duties aids the downbeat thematics considerably, whilst also deftly averting attention from what is a pretty bog standard script, the low budgets never a problem where Mann and Alton were concerned. In fact, in noirville they worked it to their advantage with some striking lighting techniques and camera movements. The pic is often vicious, sadistic even, landing violent scenes in the conscious that refuse to move until it's all over and the screen goes blank. Suspense is never far away in Border Incident, with a mostly on form cast (George Murphy is uneven as McGraw does nasty brilliantly) bringing the material to life as the dream team cloak it all in pictorial assertiveness. Not in the same league as Raw Deal, but highly recommended for reasons already stated. 8/10

Production companies