Bogart And Operation UNDERWORLD

[Albert Doyle]

I saw the movie All Through The Night on Turner Classic Movies. The plot has Bogart's New York City nightclub mafia teaming up with government in order to break up a Nazi spy ring in New York. This is a rare movie that is almost never shown. It struck me that the reason this movie is not aired too often is because it captures a very real teaming up of US intelligence with the mafia in America during World War Two. A similar reference is shown in Hitchcock's movie Saboteur when the Nazi saboteur Frank Frye glances at the alleged Nazi handywork of the ship Normandie sunk at a Brooklyn dock. The truth is the Normandie sinking was one of OSS's first false flags where they got the mafia to sink the ship in order to create fear in the American public.


This teaming of US Intel with the mob is something that the government did not want to advertise hence the noticeable lack of any public screening of All Through The Night in recent times. The movie was active 1942 era WWII propaganda designed to get real mafia members on board with the war effort. This effort was highly successful and continued on after WWII. It was a little too obvious so the movie was swept under the rug. I recommend catching this movie because it captures an honest swath of OSS executing Operation UNDERWORLD through Hollywood propaganda.

[Albert Doyle]

Next time you get a chance to watch the beginning of John Wayne's movie The Green Berets 1968 take notice of the scene at Ft Bragg where they have a banner saying "John F Kennedy" behind some Green Berets giving a press conference over Viet Nam. This scene is ripe with zeitgeist so pay careful attention. Particularly interesting is the speaking of German by the trained Green Berets at the conference. Though seemingly not meant that way there's an unavoidable Nazi elan to their German speech. The main double entendre is how one of the reporters takes a pseudo Kennedy political line on their briefing saying it was the Viet Namese's war to fight and that the justification at the press conference wasn't convincing. There's no doubt that Kennedy's position is being indirectly portrayed, but in a pro-government propaganda way. This doubting reporter is drawn in to the plot by going to Viet Nam with Green Beret John Wayne as an imbedded reporter in the hottest combat areas.


Try to catch this movie sometime and pay attention to this scene because I think you'll see what I mean right away. The Kennedy ghost is strong in that first scene. Almost like an indirect apology. Like John Wayne coming in to set the Kennedy mistake straight.

[Tracy Riddle]

In the 1965 film The Bedford Incident with Sidney Poitier and Richard Widmark, there is a former German U-Boat commander (now a NATO officer) on the ship helping them track a Soviet sub. The Nazi character is actually more level-headed and sympathetic than Widmark's character, who is a hot-headed Cold War-era American yearning to kick some commie butt.

[David Guyatt]

I believe I'm right in saying that the Green Berets grew out of the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) that was stationed in the former SS barracks at Bad Tolz in Germany.

I believe, but can't be certain now, that it was Chip Tatum who told me that the Green Berets had a good number of members in those days who favoured Nazi ideals.

What a blast from the past! The Bedford Incident used to be a favourite film of mine, Tracey.

[Albert Doyle]

Arabesque (1966) with Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren is a silly movie but towards the end the arab leader who was to be assassinated is switched with a double who then denounces the treaty he was supposed to sign before he was shot. The real leader would have signed the treaty, which is why he was switched for a double and the double was then assassinated. Sophia explains to Peck that the whole idea was to give the impression that the leader was against the treaty as his final wish.


The double entendre towards NSAM 263 is ripe. The movie had an espionage theme.

[Albert Doyle]

Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent has an identical double for the international peace negotiator who ends up being assassinated.


The bad guys are shown torturing the real peace negotiator in order to get treaty secrets from him. Of course the context is that these guys are bad because they use dark side techniques and torture. The movie shows them using sleep deprivation, constant loud music, bright lights, physical abuse, etc in their torture. All things employed by the US government under Bush.


Hitchcock and his writers obviously used intelligence sources for their scripts.

[Albert Doyle]

The Robert Redford movie The Candidate was about a young democrat running against an entrenched republican for senator. Redford's character was supposed to be the son of a previous senator. They joked that he had previous experience in office in diapers and showed a picture of him as a boy in diapers in his father's office. The movie had overtones of a young democrat upsetting the republicans and winning the election. It makes me wonder if the diaper thing wasn't a veiled hint that John John was still a Kennedy and would eventually reach the age of political office some day.


All The President's Men needs no interpretation because its content is a CIA role call. Interesting that they showed a big picture of Jack Kennedy in the Watergate office where the plumbers were arrested.

[Albert Doyle]

Sand Pebbles shows a scene where the captain is giving a speech to his crew saying the rebels are trying to get us to attack them so the nationalists can use it as an excuse to rid China of the Americans. And the commmunists are trying to get the Americans to attack them so they can use it as an excuse to take over China.


Worth watching for the zeitgeist of a Naval captain similar to Jack Kennedy giving a speech that contains Kennedy's progressive foreign policy beliefs vs the old colonial guard issues being shown in Sand Pebbles. ​The movie was from 1966.