Berlin Correspondent

"Berlin Correspondent" is set just before the United States entered World War II. Bill Roberts (Dana Andrews) is an American news correspondent and it's pretty obvious he hates Nazi Germany, which is where he's been stationed. The Nazis heavily censor his news broadcasts...yet somehow information about the Nazis seems to sneak out...and they suspect Bill is up to something. Eventually they learn his secret but instead of just being tossed out of the country, the Nazis have other plans for him.

Despite having Dana Andrews in the picture, this is a pretty unremarkable film. The Nazis are almost all stupid as well as evil...and Bill is able to trick them again and again because of this. If only the Nazis were this dumb! Overall, a decent time- passer but not much more. And, by the way, oddly the Germans almost all sound just like Americans!

This 1942 film by 20th Century Fox, was shown the other night. It is pure propaganda, as many others of the period, when Hollywood was seen as the right medium to advance the cause for the war. Eugene Forde directed this mildly engrossing movie that although flawed has some surprising good moments.

Best of all is Bill Roberts, our man in Berlin, who transmits his radio broadcast with his own slant, telling what was really happening in spite of the censure he must go through. There is intrigue all over the place, but our hero is wiser than the people that are trying to get him. The plot involves some spying from a woman that Bill doesn't suspect is the daughter of his contact in Berlin, who sees the light when she learns her father has been imprisoned because of his illegal activities.

Dana Andrews is good as Bill Roberts, the American correspondent in Berlin. Virginia Gilmore is his love interest. Martin Koleck is perfect as Capt. von Rau, and Mona Maris does a good job portraying the bad Nazi girl.

The film is entertaining and while it doesn't break new ground, will keep the viewer entertained because of the good direction from Mr. Forde.

You will find this little bit of propoganda typical of the period mid Second World War just before the U. S. got drawn into the conflict by the Pearl Harbor attack quite enjoyable.

Very short running time but it has all the tropes of the propganda films. The villainous Nazi Gestapo being at the forefrunt here.

Dana Andrews delivers a gusto performance as the American Berlin 'Correspondent' who is revealing secrets from Germany over coded radio broadcasts.

He falls for a Gestapo agent who tries to investigate if he is the source of the leak in the process dragging her father into the Gestapo investigation with deadly consequences.

The film keeps you engrossed throughout and has some thrilling scenes more becoming of a higher budget film.

Having been subjected to MSM propaganda recently throughout Covid and knowing it's a tool of government often used, it's interesting to view this early attempt by America to turn them against Germany.

This movie follows a correspondent played by Dana Andrews stuck in Berlin and allegedly passing secret information over the airwaves while being supervised about Germany's war effort back home.

It's an entertaining ride full of Inadvertent comedy.

The cliched Nazi villains are pathetic, none of who seem to have a clue how he passes the information.

The main SS villain had me laughing with his insults.

Most Germans were all in by 1941 and that didn't end well for them.

Fun movie with a predictable ending.

... with Dana Andrews in an early role, a couple of years before Laura.

American correspondent Bill Roberts (Dana Andrews) broadcasts live from Berlin in late 1941 before Pearl Harbor. You'd wonder WHY he does this since he has about three or four Germans huddled around him every time he broadcasts to make sure he says only positive happy sappy things about Germany. And then you find out why he doesn't just quit and go home. He has been discovering German secrets and inserting those secrets in code inside of his broadcasts. In America these secrets are translated and sent on to our allies in Europe.

The Germans know he is doing this, and they don't just kick him out of the country because they want to know his source. They've tried numerous detectives and PI's but Bill has spotted them all. So a colonel in the SS gets his girlfriend in the Gestapo to act as a damsel in distress in a restaurant so that Bill can ride to her rescue, and then she can strike up a friendship with Bill and worm her way into his confidence. It works all too well - he is a bit smitten - and she gets the info. This leads the Gestapo back to - her own father! And she was the one telling him the secrets! Yikes!

This is all disclosed early on, so I'm not really spoiling it for you. This was not one of Fox's A list productions AND it has that typical WWII era production preachy shrillness to it, but it does have a few points to recommend it. For one, I don't think I've seen an impressionist/voice actor or a Gestapo love triangle inserted into such a film before as significant plot points.

Also, as much as American films played up the evil side of the Third Reich even early in the war, they were still quite uninformed at this point. They knew there were concentration camps where German political prisoners were kept, but they gave the Nazis too much credit for compassion. The camp shown here has the prisoners looking well fed and looks no worse than a deep south prison of the era that employed chain gangs - although I'm not saying that was not pretty bad.

The end is rather interesting in that it is reminiscent of Casablanca in several ways, down to the irony and a pseudo "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" kind of moment. The thing is, this film came first!

I'd recommend it. It is not long enough to get tiresome, is original in spots, and you get to see Dana Andrews in an early role.