to warn Joe. Johnny is waiting with a gun, but as he fires, Frank jumps in front of Joe and is hit. Frank manages to grab Johnny as he speeds off in his car, causing it to crash into a lamppost, killing Johnny. Frank falls into the street near the fiery crash and dies. Joe, realizing what Frank has done, kneels by his old captain and tells the surrounding crowd that he will be the one to tell Frank's wife about her husband's death. Cast Van Heflin as Frank R. Enley Robert Ryan as Joe Parkson Janet Leigh as Edith Enley Mary Astor as Pat Phyllis Thaxter as Ann Sturges Berry Kroeger as Johnny Taylor Holmes as Gavery Harry Antrim as Fred Finney Connie Gilchrist as Martha Finney Will Wright as Pop Production Principal photography on Act of Violence took place from May 17 to mid-July 1948, with added scenes shot in late August 1948. Location shooting included scenes at Big Bear Lake and the San Bernardino National Forest, California, accompanied by filming at the MGM Studios in Culver City. Some of the nighttime city scenes were shot in the slum neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Originally adapted from unpublished story by Collier Young, before he embarked on a career as an independent producer with his future wife Ida Lupino, the film was intended to be a small, independent film. Howard Duff was to be the star, but when MGM picked up the rights, Gregory Peck was to be paired with Humphrey Bogart in the leading roles. Robert Ryan was lent to MGM by RKO Pictures for the production. Act of Violence was the third film made by Ryan in 1948, following Berlin Express and Return of the Badmen. Director Fred Zinnemann said that Act of Violence was the first film in which he felt he had full control of all the aspects of film-making. Reception According to MGM records, Act of Violence earned $703,000 in the US and Canada and $426,000 overseas, resulting in a loss of $637,000. Critical response Bosley Crowther, reviewing the film for The New York Times, emphasized that it was a director's "tour de force. For this latter asset of the picture, we have Mr. Zinnemann to thank. He has pictured, at least, a visual setting for terror and violence and he has kept the pursued and the pursuer going at a grueling pace. In the