<i>Joe Smith, American</i>

Joe Smith, American

<p><i><b>Joe Smith, American</b></i> is a 1942 American <a href="/en/Spy_film" title="Spy film" class="wl">spy film</a> directed by <a href="/en/Richard_Thorpe" title="Richard Thorpe" class="wl">Richard Thorpe</a> and stars <a href="/en/Robert_Young_(actor)" title="Robert Young (actor)" class="wl">Robert Young</a> and <a href="/en/Marsha_Hunt_(actress,_born_1917)" title="Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)" class="wl">Marsha Hunt</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Articles_2-0"><a href="#cite_note-Articles-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span> The film, loosely based on the story of <a href="/en/Duquesne_Spy_Ring" title="Duquesne Spy Ring" class="wl">Herman W. Lang</a>, and the theft of plans of a top-secret bombsight, is the account of a worker at an aviation factory who is kidnapped by enemy spies. The opening credits contained the following written prologue: "This story is about a man who defended his country. His name is Joe Smith. He is an American. This picture is a tribute to all Joe Smiths."<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Notes_3-0"><a href="#cite_note-Notes-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[3]</span></a></span></p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">1942 film by Richard Thorpe</div>
<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Joe Smith, American, Directed by, Written by,...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox vevent mobile-collapse-element"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above summary" style="font-size: 125%; font-style: italic;">Joe Smith, American</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><span class="mw-default-size mw-image-border"><a href="/en/File:Joe_Smith_American_-_Film_Poster.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Joe_Smith_American_-_Film_Poster.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/77/Joe_Smith_American_-_Film_Poster.jpg/220px-Joe_Smith_American_-_Film_Poster.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="258" data-file-height="385" data-file-type="bitmap" height="328" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/Joe_Smith_American_-_Film_Poster.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/Joe_Smith_American_-_Film_Poster.jpg 2x" alt="Joe_Smith_American_-_Film_Poster.jpg"></a></span><div class="infobox-caption">Theatrical Film Poster</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.65em;">Directed by</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Richard_Thorpe" title="Richard Thorpe" class="wl">Richard Thorpe</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.65em;">Written by</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Allen_Rivkin" title="Allen Rivkin" class="wl">Allen Rivkin</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.65em;">Based on</th><td class="infobox-data">story by <a href="/en/Paul_Gallico" title="Paul Gallico" class="wl">Paul Gallico</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.65em;">Produced by</th><td class="infobox-data">Jack Chertok</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.65em;">Starring</th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><div class="plainlist ">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Robert_Young_(actor)" title="Robert Young (actor)" class="wl">Robert Young</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Marsha_Hunt_(actress,_born_1917)" title="Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)" class="wl">Marsha Hunt</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.65em;">Cinematography</th><td class="infobox-data">Charles Lawton Jr.</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.65em;">Edited by</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Elmo_Veron" title="Elmo Veron" class="wl">Elmo Veron</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.65em;">Music by</th><td class="infobox-data">Daniele Amfitheatrof (uncredited)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.65em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Production<br>company</div></th><td class="infobox-data"><div style="vertical-align: middle;"><a href="/en/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer" title="Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer" class="wl">Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer</a></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.65em;">Distributed by</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer" title="Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer" class="wl">Lowes, Inc.</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.65em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;white-space: normal;">Release date</div></th><td class="infobox-data"><div class="plainlist ">
<ul><li>February<span>&nbsp;</span>1942<span style="display:none"><span>&nbsp;</span>(<span class="bday dtstart published updated">1942-02</span>)</span></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.65em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;white-space: normal;">Running time</div></th><td class="infobox-data">63 minutes</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.65em;">Country</th><td class="infobox-data">United States</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.65em;">Language</th><td class="infobox-data">English</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.65em;">Budget</th><td class="infobox-data">$236,000<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Mannix_1-0"><a href="#cite_note-Mannix-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.65em;">Box office</th><td class="infobox-data">$708,000<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Mannix_1-1"><a href="#cite_note-Mannix-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span></td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'><b>Close</b> <span class='arrow'>▲</span></footer></div>
<p><i>Joe Smith, American</i> was the first in a series of <a href="/en/B_movie" title="B movie" class="wl">B films</a> made at MGM under the supervision of <a href="/en/Dore_Schary" title="Dore Schary" class="wl">Dore Schary</a> who also wrote the initial treatment, based on "his own yarn".<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Notes_3-1"><a href="#cite_note-Notes-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[3]</span></a></span> His story was later adapted to a postwar setting and new characters to become <i><a href="/en/The_Big_Operator_(1959_film)" title="The Big Operator (1959 film)" class="wl">The Big Operator</a></i> (1959).<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-4"><a href="#cite_note-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[4]</span></a></span></p><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r886046785" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .toclimit-2 .toclevel-1 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-3 .toclevel-2 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-4 .toclevel-3 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-5 .toclevel-4 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-6 .toclevel-5 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-7 .toclevel-6 ul{display:none}</style><div class="toclimit-2" about="#mwt21"><meta property="mw:PageProp/toc"></div>



Joe Smith, American is a 1942 American spy film directed by Richard Thorpe and stars Robert Young and Marsha Hunt. Joe Smith, American was the first in a series of B films made at MGM under the supervision of Dore Schary who also wrote the initial treatment, based on "his own yarn". 