Real Footage in The House on 42nd Street

The way in which The House on 42nd Street gives the audience the idea that this story is not only based on a true story, but it is a small part of a true story. The footage allows us to see real people who were being questioned by the FBI in order to find out who were spies. Close to the end of the film, we are shown a line of people being brought in because they were suspected of being spies. This small amount of footage alone seems to give more credibility to the film because we are seeing people that had no part in the film, but are being used to show that real people were spying on U.S. agencies. The filmmaker could have easily filmed people from the actual film being brought into custody, but he chose to show the real people who were the basis for the villains in the film. This intentional change from staged events to what really happened brings a new level of realism to the film, which allows the viewer to have a stronger belief that the events that were portrayed in the film actually happened.

Throughout the film, we are aware that we are watching actors simply doing their job, but the archival footage allows us to believe that these actors may only be acting, but they are acting in order to show us what really happened in the U.S. The film is almost being used to document history in order for the American public to see that these people may have tried to deceive the U.S., but we were too smart for their tactics. The film may be trying to create the idea in people that the U.S is great and powerful and the archival footage is used in a way that supports this idea. Instead of being shown problems that occurred due to the spies, we are being shown the spies in order to think that the U.S. was successful in stopping their plan to destroy America.