Border Incident

For other uses, see Border incident (disambiguation).

Border Incident is a 1949 American film noir featuring Ricardo Montalbán, George Murphy, and Howard Da Silva. Directed by Anthony Mann, the MGM production was written by John C. Higgins from a story by John C. Higgins and George Zuckerman. The film was shot by cinematographer John Alton, who used shadows and lighting effects to involve an audience despite the fact that the film was shot on a low budget.^[2]

Border Incident
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Anthony Mann
Screenplay by	John C. Higgins
Story by	John C. Higgins George Zuckerman
Produced by	Nicholas Nayfack
Starring	Ricardo Montalbán George Murphy Howard Da Silva James Mitchell
Cinematography	John Alton
Edited by	Conrad A. Nervig
Music by	André Previn
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	October 28, 1949 (1949-10-28) (United States)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$749,000[1]
Box office	$908,000[1]

Plot

The film's trailer.

Two agents, one Mexican (PJF) and one American, 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.

Cast

• Ricardo Montalbán as Pablo Rodriguez
• George Murphy as Jack Bearnes
• Howard Da Silva as Owen Parkson
• James Mitchell as Juan Garcia
• Arnold Moss as Zopilote
• Alfonso Bedoya as Cuchillo
• Teresa Celli as Maria Garcia
• Charles McGraw as Jeff Amboy
• José Torvay as Pocoloco
• John Ridgely as Mr. Neley
• Arthur Hunnicutt as Clayton Nordell
• Sig Ruman as Hugo Wolfgang Ulrich
• Jack Lambert as Chuck
• Otto Waldis as Fritz

Production

The film was among a number of lower budgeted movies produced at MGM under the regime of Dore Schary.^[3]

According to Mann, "Metro said: ‘Make whatever picture you want.' John [Alton] and I had thought of doing Border Incident, because the guys there were also involved with the Federal agents and T Men. Through the research we had made with T Men we found the fantastic story of the Border Incident boys. We made it on location, but it was really not Metro’s cup of tea. When it came out, they were flabbergasted. It wasn’t anything they thought a motion picture should be!"^[4]

Reception

According to MGM records the film earned $580,000 in the US and Canada and $328,000 overseas resulting in a loss of $194,000.^[1]

Critical response

Roger Westcombe compared the film to classic Westerns: "Yet far from a typical Western's sense of freedom, Border Incident shares with [director Mann's previous film noir] T-Men that film's inky, submerged visual quality. These are 'wide' but not 'open' spaces, as Alton's beautifully registered grey-toned but grim visuals make the distant horizons as closed as the American border. The constant presence of vulnerable, innocent peasants adds a piquancy to Border Incident, raising the stakes from the destiny of a mere two police agents to that of an entire underclass."^[5]