Anti-fascist films

feaito · Post by **feaito** » July 23rd, 2007, 9:01 pm

On saturday I finished watching an excellent anti-fascist film titled "So Ends Our Night" (1941) directed by John Cromwell.

Apparently, prior to its release on DVD (by VCI), this film had been out of circulation for years and in spite that its stated that the film "has been digitally restored to its present condition", I'd say not- at all....The print's quality is rather lousy, but it's a grand film anyway.

It is based upon the great writer Erich Maria Remarque's novel "Flotsam" and it depicts the lives of a group of German refugees, who wander through Europe, facing constant deportations because of their lack of passports.

Fredric March is excellent as a German officer who flees his native country due to his strong opposition to the Nazi Regime. Glenn Ford is a half-jewish half-aryan guy whose family has been destroyed by the Nazis. And Maggie Sullavan is a Jewish chemist who is also escaping from the Nazis.

Miss Sullavan is magnificent as usual, as this young chemist who falls in love with a very young Glenn Ford, who impressed me favorably with a very sensitive performance as an idealistic young man in search of his father. Frances Dee has third billing in the film but appears only twice on screen, in key scenes though. She has few screen time, but her scenes are pivotal and so skillfully (under)played by this subtle, elegant American actress. She's superb!

Also in the film are Erich Von Stroheim playing a Nazi villain and beautiful Anna Sten in a small supporting role as a lady who befriends these refugees... who are always in hiding, scared of being discovered, deported. We follow their paths from Vienna, to Prague, to Zurich, Geneva, Paris et al. Other familiar faces in the cast are Sig Rumann, Leonid Kinskey, Alexander Granach and more.

An engrossing, gripping, powerful drama that also has certain "Pre-Code" aspects, like two characters living together without being married for example.

After watching this film I feel that I must watch the similarly themed "The Mortal Storm", also starring Maggie Sullavan, which I taped a long time ago and yet, shamefully, have not seen.

Have you seen this great film? Have you any favorite Anti-Fascist films, like "Blockade" (another good, overlooked film), the aforementioned "The Mortal Storm", "Edge of Darkness", "Watch on the Rhine" or other?

benwhowell · Post by **benwhowell** » July 24th, 2007, 2:02 pm

One of my favorite "anti-fascist" films is Orson Welles' "The Stranger." It was one of the first movies to deal with Nazi war criminals hiding out. Welles plays one hiding out in a "perfect" small town in Connecticut-as a respected prep school teacher/"mentor" about to marry the daughter (Loretta Young) of a Supreme Court Justice.
Edward G. Robinson (in a role Agnes Moorehead had been considered for!) plays a "Nazi hunter" who releases Welles' former assistant from prison in order for him to lead him to Welles...
I love all the performances. I'm not a big fan of Welles as an actor, but he does a fantastic job as this Nazi who has found his niche in WASP America-only to realize his past has caught up with him and his "time" is running out. Welles really makes you feel his panic as he attempts to fix "the clock." (A metaphor from the movie-involving a clock tower and a clock collection.) This performance reminds me of his characters in "The Third Man" and "Touch Of Evil."
I don't know why "The Stranger" is somewhat over-looked. I think it's a great film noir thriller with the usual Welles touches-"unorthodox" lighting, framing, camera angles, etc. and quirky characters in "explosive" conversations.

feaito · Post by **feaito** » July 24th, 2007, 9:49 pm

I also liked this film Ben and I agree with you. I recall that it's full of suspense, it is very well acted all around and has many gripping moments.

vallo · Post by **vallo** » July 25th, 2007, 10:27 am

I just watched for the first time Hangmen Also Die! (1943) Directed by Fritz Lang. it stars Hans Heinrich von Twardowski , Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan and Anna Lee.
Plot:An assassination of the Nazi leader and Czech "protector" Reinhard Heydrich by a resistance fighter in World War II. The story follows the assassin as he evades the widening Nazi dragnet, protected by his fellow Czechs even to the point of self-sacrifice. As the Czech people are put to the sword in increasing numbers in retaliation for the assassination and their refusal to give up the killer, a plan evolves to provide the Nazis with an "assassin" who is actually a Czech. Quite good and intense.
It's included on Film Noir: The Dark Side Of Hollywood [DVD] or available by itself on DVD.

vallo

feaito · Post by **feaito** » July 25th, 2007, 10:47 am

I'll put "Hagmen Also Die!" in my "must see films" Vallo.

Now, I'm thrilled because yesterday I bought "Hitler's Children" on DVD and I'm anxious to watch it.

MikeBSG · Post by **MikeBSG** » July 25th, 2007, 5:52 pm

Years ago, I read some East German film criticism (obviously it had to be years ago) and they gave the "anti-fascist" label only to "The Seventh Cross" (based on a novel by Anna Seghers, a writer associated with the KPD for a while) and to four Fritz Lang films: "Manhunt," "Hangmen Also Die," "Ministry of Fear" and "Cloak and Dagger."

I've never seen "Seventh Cross," but I have seen the Lang films. (All of them seem to be classified as proto-noir in American writing.) "Manhunt" is terrific. "Hangmen Also Die" is probably the most overtly political and is also terrific. The other two are impressive in parts but have problems as well.

ken123 · Post by **ken123** » July 25th, 2007, 10:52 pm

Jules Dassin's " BRUTE FORCE " is a very effective anti - fascist film IMHO.

MikeBSG · Post by **MikeBSG** » July 26th, 2007, 6:07 pm

If we are going to count allegorical anti-fascist movies, I've always thought the 1939 "Hunchback of Notre Dame" was in some way anti-fascist with its theme that good guys (like the king) embrace modern ways like the printing press and due process, while bad guys hate minorities (Gypsies in this movie.)

ken123 · Post by **ken123** » July 29th, 2007, 12:37 am

Meet John Doe, directed by Capra, is an excellent anti - fascist film. I wonder if the Wall Street Plot against FDR thwarted by the Congressional testimony of General ( " War is a Racket " ) Smedley Butler was an inspiration ?

traceyk · Post by **traceyk** » September 1st, 2007, 7:18 pm

"Keeper of the Flame" is almost a good anti-fascist film. (If you've seen it, you know what I mean.) It's also almost a good mystery sort of film, maybe even edging into film noir? Anyway, it's pretty good up until the ending. If the plot had included a love story, the Tracy-Hepburn chemistry might have savedit.

MikeBSG · Post by **MikeBSG** » September 4th, 2007, 1:14 pm

I watched "Dark Command" on DVD today, and I thought that western from 1940 might fit in here. The bad guy is a frustrated schoolteacher who vows to burn all his books if he loses an election (which he does) and then forms a gang and subverts a jury. The hero (John Wayne) talks about the chill he gets when he hears children singing "My Country Tis of Thee" and has other speeches about the greatness of America. So before the movie becomes a routine shoot-em-up, there does seem to be some political commentary going on, at least in the firsr half-hour.

Post by **moira finnie** » September 8th, 2007, 3:32 pm

What an interesting thread. I'd never thought too much about the implications of Dark Command as an anti-fascist movie before, MikeBSG, but your insights make me look anew at the film and see it in the context of the day more clearly. Thanks.

Your mention of Dark Command reminded me of one of my favorite anti-fascist movies, Man Hunt (1941), Fritz Lang's adaptation of the Geoffrey Household novel by the same name dealing with a British hunter-adventurer played with skill by Walter Pidgeon. Set prior to 1939, Pidgeon goes to Germany to bag some very big game with his high-powered telescopic rifle: Adolf Hitler. I won't spoil this one for anyone who hasn't seen it, but suffice it to say that politics aren't Pidgeon's initial motivation, but after encountering a particularly nasty George Sanders, and a good-hearted girl of the London streets, Joan Bennett, he has a catharsis.

I know it's childish, but in the spirit of this discussion, I can't resist including a link to one of my favorite William Steig cartoons from the New Yorker first printed during the Second World War. It's a marvelous dream and goes well with Man Hunt: Dreams of Glory

Mike, It's intriguing that The Seventh Cross was valued by an East German reviewer, since, at least at one time during my rather intense Catholic education, the underlying theme of the film, it was pointed out to me, might well be interpreted as a beautifully realized meditation on Christ's suffering by Spencer Tracy & director Fred Zinnemann. Tracy's struggle to remain a compassionate human being in a totalitarian state and to avoid despair while eluding the Gestapo and recapture and confinement in a concentration camp makes for an understandably grim but powerful tale. Of course, I suppose the East German reviewer didn't acknowledge any parallels between the communist govt. in E. Germany during his time and the political situation in the movie in an earlier Germany. A glimmer of hope is provided by the inclusion in a WWII film made during the conflict that there were those in Nazi Germany who opposed the regime, though the atmosphere of alienation and paranoia is overwhelming. I also think that the delightfully humane performance of Hume Cronyn as a simple man who may or may not do the right thing is a highlight of this movie for me.

Fernando, as you probably remember, we wrote quite a bit about our mutual fondness for So Ends Our Night once before on those "other" boards once upon a time, (please see here if you'd like to read that discussion).

I think that Frank Borzage's beautiful The Mortal Storm may be the most moving anti-fascist movie of the one's mentioned here. All the performances and the production values make it all quite memorable.

ken123 · Post by **ken123** » September 8th, 2007, 4:16 pm

Moira,
Another excellent post. The Mortal Storm is a tremendously moving film. Someone ( MGM ? ) should come out with a Frank Borzage Boxed Set, it is too bad that he is almost forgotten today. I think my favorite Borzage file is Strange Cargo.

Bogie · Post by **Bogie** » September 8th, 2007, 7:58 pm

This Land is Mine (1943)

this is a pretty darn good anti-Fascist film and it's directed by no less a master then Jean Renoir. He's said to have quipped that this was his propaganda film. Charles Laughton gives a masterful performance as the cowardly teacher Albert Lory who gets caught up in the French Resistance. The last part of the movie gets a little preachy but it's still a very powerful film.

It's also the first film that really showed the French as heroes rather then cowards and it lead the way to more films that portrayed the French in a better light.

I also have a soft spot for The Great Dictator Chaplin's first words on film were some of the best pieces of dialogue i've heard within the context of a single film.

feaito · Post by **feaito** » September 8th, 2007, 9:11 pm

moirafinnie wrote:Fernando, as you probably remember, we wrote quite a bit about our mutual fondness for So Ends Our Night once before on those "other" boards once upon a time, (please see here if you'd like to read that discussion).

Moira,

Thanks for reminding me. I had totally forgotten that thread! (Have forgotten most of TCM's Threads, sorry -since I do not visit those boards regularly anymore) My memory's been bad lately

... And I had forgotten you had seen "So Ends Our Night"...

Great post as usual

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Anti-fascist films

Anti-fascist films