646f9e108c Matt Corbin, a vacationing magazine writer, takes a fishing trip to Minnesota, and stumbles across a lake in which all the fish have mysteriously died. The locals are tight-lipped about it, but Corbin learns that a group of former-Nazis-turned-Communists have purchased a lodge on an island in the middle of the fish-killing lake, and have built some kind of laboratory. Never one to pass up a chance to sell a story to a magazine, Matt decides to investigate. His only ally is Janet Keller, the sister of the local doctor who has been caught up in whatever those nefarious Commie-Nazis are up to. What they are up to, with Soviet financing, is the development of diseases to use in bacteriological warfare against the United States, starting right there in Minnesota. A reporter on a fishing vacation stumbles into a town where all the local fish have mysteriously died and the population is either too afraid to talk or is downright hostile. After some digging, the reporter discovers that a secretive group of men has bought a local lodge and apparently turned it into some kind of mysterious scientific laboratory. The reporter and the sister of the local doctor set out to discover exactly what is going on up there. A photo-journalist on vacation arrives at a small town in Mid America to relax and do a little fishing. First, he finds that all the fish have died. Next he finds the residents all paranoid and secretive, especially the owner of the local lodge. When he accidentally trespasses on lodge property, he is attacked by guard dogs, and threatened by armed guards.<br/><br/>None of the local townsfolk will talk to him except the doctor&#39;s sister (read love interest) and the crusty old storekeeper. Little by little he comes to realize that the entire town is on a mission to develop germ and bacteria weapons which they intend to use to cripple America. I know - the plot is preposterous. But you ain&#39;t heard nothing yet. In the original story, all the bad guys were Nazi&#39;s and they even had Adolf Hitler hidden away at the lodge, but this movie was released in 1951 at the height of the McCarthy hearings and the Commie scare. So - all the bad guys became Communists.<br/><br/>Only in the movies. This is One Odd Movie. Starting with the Title that is Meaningless Unless One Knows About a &quot;Riding&quot; Term Meaning the Upper Hand or Some Such Thing, Suffice to Say it is Meaningless. Add to That the Story was Changed Midstream from Nazis to Communist at the Insistence of Howard Hughes.<br/><br/>Still, Director Menzies Manages to Make the Thing Look Good, Despite Some Bad Acting that He Left Unattended. The Film Still Manages to Bring the Paranoia of the Time Front and Center with Bizarre Scenes and a Foreboding Atmosphere.<br/><br/>It Really Kicks In with the Third Act that Includes Mad Lab Scenes, Female Bondage, Zombie Like People UsedGuinea Pigs, and Some Communist Nut-Case Speeches. This is One of Quirkiest Entries in the Anti-Communist Movies Made During the McCarthy Era and that is Saying Something because Most of Them were Really Quirky.<br/><br/>The Commie Characters All Look Like Something Out of a Comic Book with Exaggerated Features and Props. They&#39;re One Scary Looking Bunch. The Protagonist and His Love Interest are So Sanitized and &quot;Normal&quot; Looking They Seem to have Stepped Out of a Disney Movie. The Contrast is Quite Startling and Add to the Surreal Nature of the Movie When Watched Today.
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