Fritz Lang Movies
While the exact origins of film noir are impossible to pinpoint, no director worked within the genre more consistently or more brilliantly than Fritz Lang. Bringing to the screen an obsessive and fatalistic world populated by a rogues' gallery of strange and twisted characters, Lang staked out a uniquely hostile corner of the cinematic universe; despair, isolation, helplessness -- all found refuge in the shadows of his work. A product of German Expressionist thought, he explored humanity at its lowest ebb, with a distinctively rich and bold visual sensibility which virtually defined film noir long before the term was even coined.Born Friedrich Christian Anton Lang in Vienna, Austria, on December 5, 1890, he initially studied to become an artist and architect, later serving in the Austrian army during World War I and earning an honorable discharge after being wounded four times. He first entered the German film industry as a writer, penning a series of horror movies and thrillers beginning with 1917's Hilde Warren Und Der Tod. In 1919, he and director Robert Wiene teamed on the script of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and although Lang exited in the pre-production stages to begin work on another project, his major contribution to the story -- a framing device ultimately revealing the story line to have been a dream -- went on to rank among the most imitated structural techniques in history.
As a director, Lang debuted in 1919 with the now-lost Halbblut. Upon completing 1920's two-part The Spiders, his early rise to fame culminated with 1922's Doktor Mabuse der Spieler, which marked the full emergence of his striking Expressionist aesthetic and introduced his popular Mabuse character. Another two-part epic, Die Nibelungen, followed two years later, and in 1927 he filmed the science fiction landmark Metropolis. Lang's transition from the silents to sound began with his masterpiece M (1931). Written by wife Thea von Harbou, as were most of his principal films of the era, M documented the crimes of a deranged serial killer (Peter Lorre) preying on the children of Berlin. The film went on to become a tremendous influence on the work of filmmakers including Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell, and Jacques Tourneur.
The success of M positioned Lang as a leading figure of the German film industry, but its power may have been too great -- Nazi propagandist Josef Goebbels offered Lang the opportunity to direct films for Adolf Hitler, unaware of the director's own Jewish heritage. According to legend, Lang -- already stinging from a government ban on his recent Die Testament des Dr. Mabuse -- fled the country that same evening, leaving without the pro-Nazi von Harbou. After briefly stopping in France to shoot Liliom, he landed in Hollywood, earning immediate acclaim with 1936's Fury, a stinging indictment of mob mentality.
Lang spent the next several decades in America working in a variety of styles and genres, including the Western (among his more notable efforts being 1940's The Return of Frank James and 1952's Rancho Notorious). However, his greatest achievement during the period was a series of grim thrillers which went far in defining the look and texture of film noir; pictures like 1944's Ministry of Fear and The Woman in the Window, 1945's Scarlet Street, 1953's The Big Heat, and 1956's While the City Sleeps offered bleak, gripping depictions of life on the cliff's edge of desperation, exploring recurring themes of obsession, vengeance, and persecution in haunting detail.
However, by the mid-'50s, Lang had become disenchanted with the Hollywood system, and after completing 1956's superb Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, he briefly stopped in India to film 1958's Die Tiger von Eschnapur before returning to Germany after an absence of decades. Upon completing 1959's Indische Grabmal, he directed one last Mabuse picture, Tausend Augen des Dr. Mabuse, before announcing his retirement from filmmaking. After appearing in Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 feature Contempt as himself, Lang returned to America to live out his remaining years. He died in Los Angeles on August 2, 1976. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- 1995
- Add A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies to QueueAdd A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies to top of Queue
In 1994, the British Film Institute commissioned a set of films to mark the centenary of the movies. They would trace the history of several national cinemas, and the BFI's choice for interpreting the history of American film fell to director Martin Scorsese, a longtime champion of film history and preservation. Scorsese's approach to his subject is director-centered, as he examines the tension inherent in the struggle of an artist wishing to make a personal statement against the collaborative nature of films and the commercial pressures of the Hollywood moviemaking factory. Segments of this series are devoted to the director as storyteller (examining narrative devices in the Western, gangster film, and musical), illusionist (technical tricks), smuggler (imbedding personal messages), and iconoclast (bucking the system to make films his own way). The series is replete with telling clips, not just snippets or shots, but entire scenes which illustrate Scorsese and co-director Michael Henry Wilson's points. Other filmmakers, including John Ford, Francis Ford Coppola, Billy Wilder, and Orson Welles, are seen in archival footage or interviews created for the series, offering their own take on the art of filmmaking. Scorsese doesn't discriminate between filmmakers with glossy reputations and those who always worked on the fringe of public awareness. If anything, he goes out of his way to champion mavericks like Samuel Fuller whose "visceral cinema" never enjoyed box-office success or awards. Personal Journey was first shown on British TV, released in limited fashion to theaters in the United States, and shown here on TV as well. A tie-in book was published in 1997 by Miramax Books; it contains the entire script for the series, excellent black-and-white stills, and dialogue from some of the clips. ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi
Giorgio Moroder re-edited Fritz Lang's 1926 science fiction classic, tinted it and added his own score. The soundtrack also features musicians Pat Benatar, Bonnie Tyler, Billy Squier and Freddie Mercury. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
Contempt is the story of the end of a marriage. Camille (Brigitte Bardot) falls out of love with her husband Paul (Michel Piccoli) while he is rewriting the screenplay Odyssey by American producer Jeremiah Prokosch (Jack Palance). Just as the director of Prokosch's film, Fritz Lang, says that The Odyssey is the story of individuals confronting their situations in a real world, Le Mépris itself is an examination of the position of the filmmaker in the commercial cinema. Godard himself was facing this situation in the production of Le Mépris. Italian producer Carlo Ponti had given him the biggest budget of his career, and he found himself working with a star of Bardot's magnitude for the first time. ~ Louis Schwartz, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, (more)
Back in Germany for the first time since 1933, director Fritz Lang returned to the screen character that brought him enormous success in his pre-Hollywood years. The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse is not so much a sequel as an extension of Lang's early Dr. Mabuse (1922) and Testament of Dr. Mabuse. Set in 1960, the film begins with a series of unsolved murders in a Berlin hotel. The modus operandi of the murderer is the same as that of long-dead megalomaniac Dr. Mabuse. Police detective Gert Frobe and amateur sleuths Peter Van Eyck and Dawn Addams suspect that the killer is a man who believes that he is the reincarnation of Mabuse. Could the culprit be secretive insurance salesman Werner Peters, or blind seer Wolfgang Preiss? The title refers to the hotel's sophisticated TV surveillance system--dozens of roving cameras and TV monitors, inspired (claimed Lang) by a sophisticated bugging method used by the Nazis during World War II. The renewed popularity of the Dr. Mabuse character spawned five movie sequels, none of which were directed by Lang, who had washed his hands of the project. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gert Fröbe
This unrealistic, routine drama is the second half of a story that began with Der Tiger von Eschnapur. This sequel was later cut slightly, combined with the first story then released in English as Journey to the Lost City. Both halves were written by Thea von Harbou and the 1959 films are both directed by Fritz Lang, von Harbou's former husband. In this continuation, Seetha (Debra Paget) and the architect Harald (Paul Hubschmid) have fallen in love. The biggest stumbling block to their romance is Chandra, the Maharaja of Eshnapur (Walther Reyer). He wants Seetha for himself. Because of that, the lovers fled from Eshnapur and are now being hunted by the Maharaja's henchmen. That leads to inevitable killings, cruelties, and inhuman conduct until the Maharaja himself is the only one left who can right the situation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Debra Paget, Paul Christian, (more)
This is the third and least successful version of screenwriter Thea von Harbou's original story, Das Indische Grabmal, written around 1919. Her ex-husband, Fritz Lang directs this routine, outdated drama about an exotic dancer named Seetha (Debra Paget) who is hired by Chandra (Walther Reyer), an Indian maharaja. Chandra is having problems keeping his domain in order and his subjects are on the verge of rebellion. To make matters worse, Seetha is not interested in him but in Harald Berger (Paul Hubschmid), an architect. Harald is there to construct colonial-style architecture, but between the rebellious peasants and the Maharaja, he and Seetha have dim prospects for a future here. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Debra Paget, Paul Hubschmid, (more)
- 1956
- NR
Crusading publisher Austin Spenser (Sidney Blackmer) wants to prove a point about the insufficiency of circumstantial evidence. Spencer talks his prospective son-in-law Tom Garrett (Dana Andrews) into participating in a hoax, the better to expose the alleged ineptitude of conviction-happy DA (Philip Bourneuf). Tom will plant clues indicating that he is the murderer of a nightclub dancer, then stand trial for murder; just as the jury reaches its inevitable guilty verdict, Spencer will step forth to reveal the set-up and humiliate the DA. Somewhat surprisingly, Tom eagerly agrees to this subterfuge. Unfortunately, an unforeseen event renders their perfectly formed scheme useless. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt was the last American film of director Fritz Lang. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine, (more)
- 1956
- NR
When media mogul Amos Kyne (Robert Warwick) dies, his business, which includes a major newspaper, a television station, and a wire news service, is turned over to his sole heir, his foppish, ne'er do well son (Vincent Price). The younger Kyne has no knowledge of how to run the company his father built, preferring to spend his time spending the money that it generates, and he decides to let the heads of the three divisions -- newspaper editor John Day Griffith (Thomas Mitchell), wire service chief Mark Loving (George Sanders), and photo chief Harry Kritzer (James Craig) -- fight it out among themselves, winner-take-all. Each one has a key alley: Griffith, in Edward Mobley (Dana Andrews), a top reporter who is lately appearing on television as well; Loving, in resourceful but sluttish columnist Mildred Donner (Ida Lupino), who has her own way of digging up secrets; and Kritzer, who doesn't think he needs to dig up secrets because he's sitting on the biggest one of all, his "friendship" with Kyne's ex-model wife, Dorothy (Rhonda Fleming). Mobley becomes a focal point because the story-of-the-moment concerns the "Lipstick Killer," a serial murderer, burglar, and sex fiend who has been terrorizing the city -- break that case first and the job is won, and Mobley's specialty is crime reporting. The Lipstick Killer, a disturbed teenager named Robert Manners (John Drew Barrymore), continues to elude the police, and Loving's stumbling attempts to get information out first don't aid in the manhunt. Meanwhile, Mobley, using his own deductive powers and some basic psychology, manages to get under the killer's skin from afar on television and in print; however, unbeknownst to the reporter, the murderer is feeling more pressure to commit his crimes, and taking a very personal interest in targeting Mobley and his fiancée, Nancy Liggett (Sally Forrest). The two interwoven stories all get pulled together in a chase through the streets and into the city's subway tunnels, with Mobley, Nancy, Police Lieutenant Kaufman (Howard Duff), and the killer all crossing paths. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dana Andrews, Ida Lupino, (more)
- 1955
In the 1750s, young orphan John Mohune (Jon Whiteley) arrives at the seaside Dorset village of Moonfleet seeking Jeremy Fox (Stewart Granger), a one-time "friend" of his late mother, to whom she has turned over care of the boy. Fox exudes an aura of class and bravado, along with an obvious love of life and the finer things it can offer, all of which combine to make him a beguiling presence to one and all, including the larcenous, decadent local nobility (George Sanders) and a band of cut-throats led by Elzevir Block (Sean McClory), to whom he has more than a passing acquaintance. In his innocence, John -- oblivious to the fact that Jeremy runs a murderous smuggling ring -- instantly accepts this man as a loyal friend (and, indeed, a man to be loved and trusted like a parent, precisely because his mother has consigned him to his care). And Jeremy, initially disdainful of the boy, finds himself moved by the latter's willingness to love him and see his better nature, which does come out (with some resistance) under his coaxing, and reluctantly becomes his guardian. But there are too many nefarious goings on in and around Moonfleet, between smugglers and the authorities pursuing them, and the Mohune family's dark history, to keep John safe from danger. His life is placed at risk when he stumbles on the secret of old "Redbeard," the Mohune patriarch who betrayed law and morality, selling his soul for a priceless diamond, which has long been believed lost. Before long, young John knows too much about the smugglers for their comfort, despite Jeremy's protection -- and when he accidentally discovers a clue to the location of Redbeard's diamond, even Jeremy can't resist the chance for that prize, even if he has to cheat the boy out of his birthright. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stewart Granger, George Sanders, (more)
- 1954
Carl Buckley (Broderick Crawford) needs the intervention of his beautiful wife Vicki (Gloria Grahame) to keep his job, so Vicki meets with Carl's boss Owens (Grandon Rhodes), and Carl's job is secure. Insanely jealous, Carl finds Vicki with Owens on board a train and kills Owens. Jeff Warren (Glenn Ford), an off-duty train engineer protects Vicki and they begin an affair. Still obsessively jealous, Carl becomes an alcoholic and blackmails Vicki into staying with him. Vicki persuades Jeff to kill Carl, but at the last minute Jeff relents, taking on the letter which Carl has used to blackmail Vicki with. Vicki leaves town on the train with Carl -- all the while taunting him with her infidelity. Carl is overcome with a jealous rage that ultimately leads to tragedy. Directed by Fritz Lang), Human Desire an updated remake of Jean Renoir's adaptation of Emile Zola's novel, La Bete Humaine, is a grim sordid story in which desperate people try to relieve their desolate lives with cheap pleasures. Gloria Grahame is perversely alluring as the sexually driven Vicki and Broderick Crawford evokes some empathy as the obsessed Carl. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, (more)
After learning that her boyfriend, a GI in Korea, has found someone else, Norah Larkin (Anne Baxter) impulsively agrees to meet womanizer Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr) for dinner. Norah allows herself to get drunk and accept Prebble's invitation to his apartment. When he tries to force himself on her, she hits him with a poker. Unfortunately, Prebble is found dead the next morning, and Norah, not even remembering how she got home, thinks that she killed him. Meanwhile, newspaperman Casey Mayo (Richard Conte), looking for an angle, invites the "Blue Gardenia Murderess" to turn herself in to him. The high point of the film is the interplay between the vulnerable Baxter and Burr at his smarmiest. ~ Steve Press, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, (more)
Fritz Lang directed this gritty drama of gangland murder and police corruption, which was considered quite violent in its day. Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) is a scrupulously honest police detective who learns that one of his fellow officers has committed suicide. Bannion is told by the officer's wife, Bertha (Jeanette Nolan), that he was severely depressed after being told he was diagnosed with a terminal illness. But the cop's mistress, a barmaid named Lucy (Dorothy Green), has another tale to tell. She claims that he left behind a suicide note detailing a complex trail of corruption in the department, leading to mob boss Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby), and now Bertha plans to use the note to blackmail Lagana. When Lucy is found dead beside an abandoned road, with her body showing obvious signs of torture, Bannion is convinced that her story was true, and he goes after Lagana. When he threatens to expose Lagana's dealings, the gangster orders Bannion killed. But the car bomb meant to finish Bannion off instead kills his wife Katie (Jocelyn Brando). The police take Bannion off the case, but, convinced his peers are trying to cover their tracks, Bannion follows the case alone, determined to get revenge. Lee Marvin and Gloria Grahame shine in key supporting roles. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, (more)
The opening credits appearing over a turbulent ocean serve as a foreshadowing of things to come in this standard-issue love triangle that shifts into high drama thanks to taut direction by Fritz Lang and a sizzling performance by Barbara Stanwyck. Returning to live with her brother, Joe (Keith Andes), at her family's home in a small fishing village, Mae Doyle (Stanwyck) has reached rock bottom. Reeling from the pain of her previous romances, Mae slowly pieces things together and begins dating Jerry (Paul Douglas), a simple-minded fisherman. More along Mae's speed is Jerry's slick, boozy pal Earl Pfeiffer (Robert Ryan), a film projectionist who makes his feelings for her known right away despite the fact that he is married. Mae spurns his advances and decides to marry Jerry. Meanwhile, Joe has grown close to ditzy factory worker Peggy (Marilyn Monroe). Some time later, Mae and Jerry have had a baby, and things appear happy, but Mae is not in love with Jerry, and soon finds herself in Earl's arms. Jerry discovers the affair, and during a confrontation with the deceitful couple, Mae reveals that she is leaving to be with Earl. After some booze and a pep talk from his Uncle Vince (J. Carrol Naish), Jerry confronts Earl and proceeds to nearly strangle him until Mae arrives. Jerry storms off, but when Mae comes to their home to retrieve the baby, she discovers that Jerry has taken the child. Desperately upset, she explains the situation to Earl, but as they talk, she begins to arrive at a new realization about her life and what it takes to find happiness. ~ Patrick Legare, Rovi
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, (more)
- 1952
The original title for Rancho Notorious was Chuck-a-Luck, which is also the title of the soundtrack ballad (written by Ken Darby) which unifies the plotline, à la High Noon. Frontiersman Vern Haskell (Arthur Kennedy) wanders throughout the West in search of the man who robbed and murdered his fiancée. He is told that he'll probably find the culprits at Chuck-a-Luck, a combination horse ranch and criminal hideout overseen by saloon chanteuse Altar Keane (Marlene Dietrich). To gain entrance to Chuck-a-Luck, Haskell poses as an escaped prisoner. Keane warns him that the ranch has only one rule: "Don't ask questions." Still, he has ways of finding things out. Haskell is compelled to keep up his charade when the dirty denizens of Chuck-a-Luck plan a big bank holdup, but this has the result of exposing the killer of his girl. Director Fritz Lang had a rough time with RKO head Howard R. Hughes, who insisted upon making changes in the film that might have hurt it irreparably. The biggest argument centered over the title; Hughes complained that no one overseas would understand the meaning of Chuck-a-Luck, whereupon Lang riposted sarcastically that "I'm sure that everyone will understand Rancho Notorious." One of the principal villains was Lloyd Gough, but you'd never know it from the opening titles; Hughes, incensed that Gough had refused to testify at the HUAC "witch hunt," ordered that the blacklisted Gough's name be removed from the credits. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Arthur Kennedy, Marlene Dietrich, (more)
- 1950
The year is 1942. Ensign Chuck Palmer (Tyrone Power) is stranded in the Japanese-occupied Philippines after his ship is torpedoed. Linking up with several other American refugees, Palmer helps the Filipinos organize a resistance movement against the enemy. They even manage to construct a few jerry-built radio stations to keep tabs on Japanese fleet movements. Hard to believe that Palmer finds romance under these trying circumstances, but he does, in the form of Jeanne Martinez (Micheline Presle), the wife of a Filipino war hero. Based on the novel by Ira Wolfert, American Guerilla in the Philippines is directed with unvarnished efficiency by Fritz Lang. Standouts in the supporting cast include Tom Ewell as Tyrone Power's wisecracking buddy and Robert Barrat as General Douglas MacArthur. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tyrone Power, Micheline Presle, (more)
Fritz Lang was the guiding hand of this laudable Republic Studios melodrama. Louis Hayward stars as a wealthy wastrel who tries to seduce the family maid. She resists, and he kills her. Long jealous of his brother Lee Bowman, Hayward does his best to pin the blame for the murder on his sibling. Also affected by Hayward's arrogant dementia is his long-suffering wife Jane Wyatt. Originally, director Lang had proposed that the unfortunate maid be a black woman, and that the killing take place accidentally during some harmless flirtation on Hayward's part. He was vetoed by the timorous Republic staff (even the slightest hint of miscegenation was taboo in 1950), but House by the River turned out pretty well all the same. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Louis Hayward, Lee Bowman, (more)
Even star Joan Bennett and director Fritz Lang regarded The Secret Beyond the Door as the weakest of their collaborative efforts. Bennett plays spoiled socialite Celia, who falls recklessly in love with the handsome but emotionally complex Mark Lamphere (Michael Redgrave, in his first American film). After their wedding, Celia becomes uncomfortably aware that Mark's mild distrust of women is actually a deep-set, and potentially dangerous, hatred. Even when facing the possibility that she'll be murdered in her sleep, Celia remains loyal to her unbalanced husband. The slowly mounting tension is enhanced by the mood-drenched cinematography of Stanley Cortez and the feverish musical score by Miklos Rozsa. But when it's all over, The Secret Beyond the Door fails to linger in the memory in the manner of such earlier Lang-Bennett efforts as The Woman in the Window and Scarlet Street. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Joan Bennett, Michael Redgrave, (more)
Inspired by actual events, Cloak and Dagger was first major "atomic power" melodrama of the postwar era. Gary Cooper stars as bookish physics professor Alvah Jesper, a character obviously based on A-bomb codeveloper J. Robert Oppenheimer. Pressed into service by the OSS in the last months of WW2, Jasper is sent to Europe in search of Dr. Polda (Vladimir Sokoloff), an atomic scientist held captive by the Nazis. In Switzerland, Jesper quickly runs afoul of enemy spies who murder the only person to know Polda's whereabouts. Moving on to Italy, he links up with the partisans, falling in love with gorgeous resistance fighter Gina (Lilli Palmer). Adopting a disguise, Jesper finally locates Polda and spends the last few reels in a desperate dash to freedom. Screenwriters Albert Maltz and Ring Lardner Jr. had originally intended Cloak and Dagger as a warning to a complacent America. Director Fritz Lang recalled in later years that, as conceived and filmed, the ending was to have occured after Jesper and a group of Allied soldiers stumbled upon the ruins of a secret Nazi A-bomb factory, as well as evidence that the German scientists had fled to parts unknown with their atomic secrets intact. "It's day one of the Atomic Age", Jesper was to have noted ruefully, "And God help us if we think we can keep it a secret much longer." This lengthy coda was removed from the final release print, transforming a thought-provoking drama into a mere romantic thriller. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Lilli Palmer, (more)
Masterfully directed by Fritz Lang, Scarlet Street is a bleak film in which an ordinary man succumbs first to vice and then to murder. Christopher Cross (Edward G. Robinson) is a lonely man married to a nagging wife. Painting is the only thing that brings him joy. Cross meets Kitty (Joan Bennett) who, believing him to be a famous painter, begins an affair with him. Encouraged by her lover, con man Johnny Prince (Dan Duryea) Kitty persuades Cross to embezzle money from his employer in order to pay for her lavish apartment. In that apartment, happy for the first time in his life, Cross paints Kitty's picture. Johnny then pretends that Kitty painted to portrait, which has won great critical acclaim. Finally realizing he has been manipulated, Cross kills Kitty, loses his job, and because his name has been stolen by Kitty, is unable to paint. He suffers a mental breakdown as the film ends, haunted by guilt. Kitty and Johnny are two of the most amoral and casual villains in the history of film noir, both like predatory animals completely without conscience. Milton Krasner's photography is excellent in its use of stark black-and-white to convey psychological states. Fritz Lang is unparalleled in his ability to convey the desperation of hapless, naïve victims in a cruelly realistic world. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, (more)
Directed by Fritz Lang, The Woman in the Window, a sadly tragic film noir, is the story of the doomed love of married psychology-professor Wanley (Edward G. Robinson), who, with murderous results, meets and falls in love with another woman. Wanley first sees the portrait of a beautiful woman, Alice (Joan Bennett), and then meets the woman herself. After committing murder in self-defense, he finds himself blackmailed by Heidt (Dan Duryea). The script, written by Nunnally Johnson, is carefully structured with crisp dialogue and a convincing ending. Lang is at his best, getting excellent performances from Robinson, as the doomed, naive professor, and Bennett both. The Woman in the Window shows that good and evil are present in all, and that circumstances frequently dictate moral choices. Based on J.H. Wallis' novel Once Off Guard, the film gives viewers their money's worth with not one but two logical and satisfying surprise twists at the end. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1944
An innocent man is drawn into a web of espionage when he unwittingly comes into possession of a crucial piece of microfilm in this shadowy, ominous film noir. Fritz Lang's adaptation of Graham Greene's novel is filled with unusual touches, beginning with the fact that protagonist Stephen Neale (Ray Milland) has just been released from a mental asylum. To celebrate his return to the real world, he visits a local carnival, only to accidentally receive a "prize" meant for a Nazi agent. When he discovers the error, he turns for help to a detective, whose investigations only make the matter more complicated. Neale soon winds up on the run from both the Nazis and the police, who mistakenly believe him guilty of murder. Lang's famous expressionistic style is somewhat muted here, but Henry Sharp's crisp black-and-white cinematography sets a suitably unsettling mood, and the twists and double-crosses of Greene's story unfold at an appropriately quick pace. While it does not reach the same level of timeless classic as Carol Reed's adaptation of Greene's The Third Man four years later, Ministry of Fear stands as a well-made, thoroughly gripping and intelligent example of film noir. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, (more)
Hangmen Also Die is set in Czechoslovakia during the Nazi occupation. Czech loyalist Brian Donlevy assassinates the vicious Gestapo leader Heydrich, then goes into hiding. The wounded patriot is sheltered by history professor Walter Brennan, who is already under surveillance by the Nazis thanks to his veiled classroom attacks on the Third Reich. Fifth columnist Gene Lockhart arranges for the professor and 400 other Prague citizens to be rounded up as hostages, to be killed if Heydrich's assassin is not revealed. Ultimately Lockhart himself is framed by the citizenry, giving the actor full scope to cringe and cower as only he could. Persuasively directed by Fritz Lang, Hangmen Also Die was based on a story by Lang and expatriate German playwright Bertold Brecht. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan, (more)
Forced to flee Paris during the Occupation, the great French leading man Jean Gabin starred in a brace of Hollywood films, the best of which was the first, 20th Century-Fox's Moontide. Cast to type, Gabin plays Bobo, a brooding itinerant dock-worker who gets mixed up in a drunken brawl. Upon awakening, Bobo is convinced that he has killed a man by his mercenary "pal" Tiny (Thomas Mitchell). Despairing at the thought of having committed murder, not to mentioned being blackmailed for the rest of his life by the treacherous Tiny, Bobo is able to find a few fleeting moments of happiness with Anna (Ida Lupino), a suicidal young girl whom he has saved from a watery grave (The intensity of the love scenes may well be due to the allegedly real-life romance between Jean Gabin and Ida Lupino). Novelist John O'Hara adapted the screenplay from a book by actor Willard Robertson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Ida Lupino, (more)
- 1941
A hunter finds himself in a world of danger when he decides to stalk Adolf Hitler in this taut WWII thriller. Capt. Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon) is an expert big-game hunter from England. While hunting in Bavaria, he happens upon Hitler's Berchtesgaden estate and spots the Fuhrer; he has his rifle in tow, and he toys with the idea of firing at the dictator, even raising the unloaded weapon, putting Hitler in the crosshairs, and pulling the trigger to make the gun click. Unfortunately, this draws the attention of Maj. Quive-Smith (George Sanders), a Gestapo leader assigned to guard the Führer, who promptly apprehends Thorndike, drags him off and attempts to force him to sign a confession. When he refuses, he's brutally beaten and dumped into a hole in the woods, and must climb out and make his way to safety, by hiding as a stowaway on a Danish steamer. The poor fellow then runs afoul of the menacing Mr. Jones (John Carradine), who steals his passport and identity. By the time Thorndike returns to London, the hunter has become the hunted, with Gestapo agents combing the streets looking for the would-be assassin. Man Hunt was directed by Fritz Lang, the great German director who fled to Paris in 1933 rather than accept a commission from Joseph Goebbels to make Nazi propaganda films. He came to America the following year. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1941
20th Century-Fox's Western Union was loosely based on a story by Zane Grey. The basic historical facts behind the connecting of telegraph wires between Omaha and Salt Lake City serve as a backdrop for a fictional story straight out of Manhattan Melodrama. Randolph Scott and Barton MacLane are cast as brothers who pursue wildly divergent paths in adulthood: Scott, an ex-outlaw, goes to work for Western Union, while MacLane remains a criminal, leading a concerted effort to sabotage the telegraph company. The Indians, too often merely villains in films of this nature, are treated with relative sympathy. When they do attack the whites, it is principally because they have been falsely accused of crimes committed by MacLane and his bunch. Western Union was the second Technicolor western effort from director Fritz Lang; the first was the equally popular The Return of Frank James. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Young, Randolph Scott, (more)
