Directed by:
Fritz LangCinematography:
James Wong HoweComposer:
Hanns EislerCast:
Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan, Anna Lee, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, Nana Bryant, Margaret Wycherly, Dennis O'Keefe, Gene Lockhart, Alexander Granach (more)VOD (1)
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Classic war drama set in Czechoslovakia during the Nazi occupation. The film depicts an Eastern Europe populated by spies, traitors and revolutionaries - a deadly funhouse of political intrigue in which every personal encounter brings with it the threat of betrayal. Pursued by the Germans after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Dr. Svoboda (Brian Donlevy) enlists the aid of a young woman (Anna Lee) who is oblivious to the lethal crosscurrents that surround her. As she learns more about the mysterious doctor, she grows aware of the involvement of her father (Walter Brennan) and fiance (Dennis O'Keefe) in the resistance, and soon finds herself entangled in the revolution's secret operations. (Odeon)
(more)Reviews (1)
Guilty pleasure. Historically and with the presented realities, the same travesty as if the Czechs had filmed, for example, the attack on Pearl Harbour in their own conditions. Here, the assassination of Heydrich is not committed by paratroopers, but by a single resistance fighter, a certain Dr. Svoboda. Heydrich is a caricature of evil, and the depiction of martial law and the resistance are almost an unwanted parody. The movie doesn't even focus on the assassination itself; for the vast majority of the runtime, we watch the Czech resistance attempt to blame Heydrich’s killing on an outed confidant, with Ocean’s Eleven-style trickery and subterfuge. The Americans, well… it's all so earnest, so blatantly stupid, but nice. A nice Hollywood recognition of the importance of the Czechoslovak resistance. For the record, this film was a favourite among the top of the SS at the time, especially Reich Protector K.H. Frank.
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