A Riot Made to Order - I Was a Communist for the FBI - Hit Radio Dramas of the FBI Undercover

I Was a Communist for the FBI is a 1951 American film noir crime film directed by Gordon Douglas starring Frank Lovejoy, Dorothy Hart, Philip Carey and James Millican. The film was produced by Bryan Foy who was head of Warners B picture unit until 1942.

It was also a radio show starring Dana Andrews with 78 episodes that ran from April 23, 1952 until October 14, 1953.

The film was based on a series of stories written by Matt Cvetic that appeared in The Saturday Evening Post.The stories were later turned into a best-selling book and radio series.

The story follows Cvetic, who infiltrated a local Communist Party cell for nine years and reported back to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on their activities.

The film and radio show are, in part, artifacts of the McCarthy era, as well as a time capsule of American society during the Second Red Scare. The purpose of both is partly to warn people about the threat of Communist subversion of American society. The tone of the show is ultra-patriotic, with Communists portrayed as racist, vindictive, and tools of a totalitarian foreign power, the Soviet Union. (Wikipedia)