They Came to Blow Up America

No need for George Sanders (one of my favorite actors of all time) to blow up America; we are doing a fine enough job to ourselves at present. This is an entertaining, though thinly disguised spy film that features George as a NAZI (That'll be the Day, would John Wayne say). We figure out in the first ten minutes or so we are being broadly set up by the not to subtle direction and writing of the film. Still, it is George Sanders, and still, the film is fun to watch, even though we know how it will turn out. Landing on the nude beach in Long Island; better to do so in the daytime.

At the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during World War II, mining company lawyer George Sanders (as Carl Steelman) has been taken to court. Supposedly, he brought eight Germans to the US (Amagansett, Long Island) to blow up America. The oddly-accented German-American Sanders has his story told in flashback. A suspected Nazi sympathizer, Sanders is recruited as a spy and goes to Germany. While posing as "Ernst Reiter", Sanders becomes romantically involved with attractive blonde Poldy Dur (as Helga Lorenz), another spy. Their relationship, as watched by the Nazis, is one of the more lively parts of the drama. Also interesting is when the wife of "Ernst Reiter" (Anna Sten) pays Sanders a surprise visit, and when his father (Ludwig Stossel) shares some exciting news from the FBI (Ward Bond) with his doctor (Sig Ruman). However, predictability takes away most of the story's excitement.

***** They Came to Blow Up America (5/7/43) Edward Ludwig ~ George Sanders, Poldi Dur, Anna Sten, Ludwig Stossel

The first person we see in this movie is Ludwig Stossel, best remembered as the father of Lou Gehrig in PRIDE OF THE YANKEES. He is German, naturlich, and has spent the last twenty years teaching in Milwaukee, so of course, his son is George Sanders with that British Public School Accent. Oh well.

Still, the story is a good one, based on a true incident, and for an apparent B movie, the acting, direction and photography -- by the wonderful and sadly forgotten Lucien Andriot -- are well up to par. Notice, for example, whose picture is on the dartboard at SS headquarters. And besides Mr. Stossel, we see some wonderful supporting actors, including Anna Sten, Ward Bond and Sig Ruman. So, while this is not a great movie, it is certain worth your time

If you want to know about Guantanamo and the precedent for all those enemy alien combatants being kept there, a viewing of They Came To Blow Up America is in order. Given the title and when it came out I found it to be more restrained in the flag waving than I thought.

Not to say it doesn't have its problems and a more factual basis in the story might be in order if the tale is ever retold. They Came To Blow Up America finds George Sanders returning home from South America to New York, specifically the Yorkville area in Manhattan where German Americans predominated back in the day and where in some quarters the German American Bund was popular.

Not in his household though, his parents Ludwig Stossel and Elsa Janssen are heartbroken over George going to the Nazis. In fact Ludwig takes to bed physically ill over it. Ludwig Stossel and Elsa Janssen the year before played Lou Gehrig's parents in Pride of the Yankees.

Of course the Nazis recruit Sanders and he goes off to Nazi Germany in secret to their spy/saboteur school run by the Gestapo. Note the similarities of those training scenes to scenes later in our films about the OSS in 13 Rue Madeline, Cloak and Dagger, and OSS.

But fear not Ludwig and Elsa, turns out this is all one big ruse by the FBI, George is working with them to sabotage the saboteurs and FBI agent Ward Bond is his handler in today's terms. Of course when Bond like a dope tells Stossel feeling sorry for the old gent, he nearly blows up their plans.

It wasn't as bad a bit of flag waving as I thought it would be and the story does have a factual basis. Still everyone involved has done better work.

After all Ward Bond did star in Hitler, Dead or Alive. Go screen that one before you criticize They Came To Blow Up America.

This is a fine example of the kind of patriotic films that were produced by Hollywood during the Second World War, a far cry from the anti-American, terrorist-sympathetic views being promoted by contemporary filmmakers.

George Sanders, a successful mining engineer working in South America, returns home to visit his German immigrant parents, who are unashamedly patriotic about the USA. They are dismayed to find that Sanders is working for the German-American Bund, a pro-Nazi group active in the early years of the war.

But there is more to the story. The plot gets more involved, as secret missions and identities are revealed, and betrayals threaten the lives of the main characters. In the end, a gang of Nazi saboteurs is rounded up and executed, much to everyone's satisfaction.

THEY CAME TO BLOW UP America (what an ominous title for us today!) reveals how attitudes have changed in the film industry over the past 60+ years. This film is not ashamed to be overtly pro-American. No one hesitates when it comes to punishing members of anti- American organizations. And no one bats an eye when a teacher talks about using his belt to keep ornery grade school kids in line! This is a fine example of a WW2 espionage movie designed to stir the sentiments of the American viewing audience.