William Cameron Menzies, who would later direct the supremely paranoid Invaders from Mars, triggered a subgenre of Commie menace movies with this rarely shown Cold War oddity. When an injury disrupts his fishing trip, Matt Corbin (Elliott Reid), a big-city reporter, seeks medical assistance in nearby Winnoga, Wisconsin. He's met with cold indifference by the townspeople, particularly those associated with a secluded lodge set beside a strangely lifeless lake. Determined to find the cause behind his malign reception, the jittery journalist soon discovers that this pastoral burg has been infiltrated by a terrorist cell bent on developing WMDs. Menzies's great (paranoiac) coup is in showing how the Commie menace has spread throughout the everyday life of small-town U.S.A., undetectable apart from the soulless gaze of the citizens. Set in sinister noirish tones, The Whip Hand began with a different story, quickly scuttled by producer Howard Hughes-in the original script, Hitler, still alive, sneaks onto our sacred shore.