The Man Between / One Way Street

THE MAN BETWEEN, 1953, Paramount, 100 min. Dir. Carol Reed. Naïve Claire Bloom arrives in a newly divided Berlin to visit her doctor brother (Geoffrey Toone), but immediately senses underlying conflict from German sis-in-law Hildegarde Neff and Neff’s “friend”, cynical former lawyer James Mason. Soon shady Mason is caught in the middle when his Commie business associates plot to put a permanent stop to the outflow of smuggled East Germans making it into the West. When they kidnap Bloom, Mason has to decide where his true loyalties lie.

ONE WAY STREET, 1950, Universal, 79 min. Dir. Hugo Fregonese. Even though he had just started his American career, James Mason is a disillusioned doctor who feels responsible for his wife’s death and believes he’s only worthy of patching up wounded criminals. Deciding to take a gamble, he tricks Los Angeles gang boss Dan Duryea out of his latest haul, as well as absconding with Duryea’s more than willing moll, Marta Toren.