Every time a bell rings, a gangster gets a bullet!

James Stewart always rises above his material....

"Since he was a Communist, we knew he wasn't going to church."

Yankee Stadium - E. 161st Street & River Avenue, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

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James Stewart and Vera Miles in The FBI Story (1959)

Webster's International Dictionary defines murder as the unlawful taking of human life by another human being. On a November evening in 1955, the definition became obsolete. A mass murder was being planned.

James Stewart and Murray Hamilton in The FBI Story (1959)

James Stewart, Murray Hamilton, and Vera Miles in The FBI Story (1959)

James Stewart, Vera Miles, and Larry Pennell in The FBI Story (1959)

James Stewart, Theona Bryant, Murray Hamilton, and Vera Miles in The FBI Story (1959)

James Stewart

Vera Miles

Murray Hamilton

Richard L. Breen

John Twist

Don Whitehead

A dedicated FBI agent recalls the agency&apos;s battles against the Klan, organized crime and Communist spies.

Mervyn LeRoy

The FBI Story

Disappointing Docu-drama!

&quot;The FBI Story&quot; tries to tell the story of the evolution of the FBI over 35 years, through the eyes of a veteran agent, Chip Hardesty (James Stewart). It spins off into several segments covering Hardesty&apos;s career. There&apos;s a segment on the Klu Klux Klan (with nary an African American in sight), one showing the cheating of native Americans out of their oil leases in Texas and several brief run-ins with the well known gangsters of the 1930s.

Inrerspersed with these episodes are home life interludes where Stewart&apos;s character turns into George Bailey (&quot;Its a Wonderful Life&quot; (1946)). He meets and marries Lucy (Vera Miles) and we follow their lives through the birth of three children, a miscarriage, a separation and a war time tragedy.

Told in a documentary style, this film, in my opinion is far too long at 149 minutes. The action sequences, such as they are, are brief and with no character development of the gangsters. They are simply confronted by the FBI and either arrested or gunned down. The Hardesty character is hardly involved in these segments and he does not confront any of the gangsters directly.

The at home sequences while well played, look like something out of &quot;Father Knows Best&quot;, the popular TV series of the day. Another thing I found unusual was the fact that Stewart and Miles basically carry the whole film. Other characters appear briefly then either get killed off or disappear altogether. While Stewart and Miles do their best, they hardly seem to have aged 35 years over the course of the story. And there are no name actors to speak of in the supporting cast. Murray Hamilton, Larry Pennell and Nick Adams do appear briefly, but were not that well known in 1959.

James Cagney&apos;s &quot;G-Men&quot; (1935) covered the FBI&apos;s early years much better.

Trailer for this thrilling look at the inside of the FBI

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzQ4NjM3NWYtZjJmNy00Yjg3LTkyZWEtYWUyMmM4YmVjNjFlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzU1NzE3NTg@._V1_.jpg

"The FBI Story" tries to tell the story of the evolution of the FBI over 35 years, through the eyes of a veteran agent, Chip Hardesty (James Stewart). It spins off into several segments covering Hardesty's career. There's a segment on the Klu Klux Klan (with nary an African American in sight), one showing the cheating of native Americans out of their oil leases in Texas and several brief run-ins with the well known gangsters of the 1930s.

Inrerspersed with these episodes are home life interludes where Stewart's character turns into George Bailey ("Its a Wonderful Life" (1946)). He meets and marries Lucy (Vera Miles) and we follow their lives through the birth of three children, a miscarriage, a separation and a war time tragedy.

Told in a documentary style, this film, in my opinion is far too long at 149 minutes. The action sequences, such as they are, are brief and with no character development of the gangsters. They are simply confronted by the FBI and either arrested or gunned down. The Hardesty character is hardly involved in these segments and he does not confront any of the gangsters directly.

The at home sequences while well played, look like something out of "Father Knows Best", the popular TV series of the day. Another thing I found unusual was the fact that Stewart and Miles basically carry the whole film. Other characters appear briefly then either get killed off or disappear altogether. While Stewart and Miles do their best, they hardly seem to have aged 35 years over the course of the story. And there are no name actors to speak of in the supporting cast. Murray Hamilton, Larry Pennell and Nick Adams do appear briefly, but were not that well known in 1959.

James Cagney's "G-Men" (1935) covered the FBI's early years much better.

A dedicated FBI agent recalls the agency's battles against the Klan, organized crime and Communist spies.

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The FBI Story

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