The Man I Married

Joan Bennett realizes there is a problem with "The Main I Married" in this 1940 film also starring Francis Lederer, Otto Kruger, Anna Sten, and Lloyd Nolan.

Bennett plays Carol Hoffman, an editor, happily married to a German, Eric Hoffman (Lederer), for 8 years. They have a son named Ricky (Johnny Russell) and live in New York City. In 1938, Eric learns that he needs to return to Germany to take care of some business concerning his father's factory, so Carol and Ricky come along.

Eric's feet no sooner touch Deutschland that he begins to take up the Nazi fervor, aided and abetted by an old friend, Greta (Sten). Carol is vocal about not liking what she sees, and Eric keeps telling her not to listen to propaganda.

Finally, Carol realizes the truth about her husband, and with the help of an American journalist covering Berlin (Nolan), she decides to leave Germany with Ricky.

Good movie, great cast, solid performances. I don't know what the atmosphere in 1938 was but somehow I don't think I would have been interested in a trip to Germany. And frankly, Carol had good dose of denial about Eric or she would have left shortly after they arrived.

Otto Kruger is excellent as Eric's father, who feels as if he's lived too long, and Sten gives a strong performance as the unlikable Nazi Freda. Lederer has long been a favorite actor of mine, and here he's handsome and charming as a man ultimately gripped by nationalism.

Bennett is a beautiful, glamorous American woman who realizes how bad things are, and she gives a strong performance, brave in her disapproval and determined not to expose her child to it.

Irving Pichel does a good job of directing, and there is actual footage of Germany in 1938 throughout the film.

The movie was released in August of 1940, so it was probably made after war was declared in Europe, which was in September 1939. The film The Mortal Storm, released in June 1940, talks of the German oppression but never mentions Jews or Nazis. It seems that the studio moguls wanted America to enter the war, and promoted the cause with the films they produced, becoming a little bolder with each film.

American Carol (Joan Bennett) is married to German immigrant Eric Hoffman (Francis Lederer), and the two decide to travel to Germany, along with their young son, to settle some business matters and to see the country. While Carol has heard some rumblings about Nazi abuses of power and the use of concentration camps, she's shocked and appalled by the extent of it, while Eric feels a renewed sense of pride in what he sees as his homeland returning to prominence. Carol begins to fear that she's losing Eric to the Nazi ideology, even while her contact with an American reporter (Lloyd Nolan) is putting a spotlight on just how far gone the Nazis and Germany really are.

This was controversial, inflammatory stuff at the time of its release, and Fox pulled the picture from theaters soon afterward. It's certainly one of the most unequivocal anti-Nazi American movies from before the war that I've seen. Bennett is good as the increasingly alarmed surrogate stand-in for Americans unaware or unwilling to face what was happening in Europe. Anna Sten is very hissable as the fanatical Nazi adherent that tries to sway Lederer's mind and heart.

This is really a very fine movie, something I did not expect from the leads, neither of whom have ever done much for me. If you watch it thinking of the time of its release - August 1940, by which time France had signed an armistice with Germany and Germany occupied two thirds of France while getting ready to start its assault on England - it seems particularly ominous.

The one part that could have used a lot more work in the script is explaining why Eric Hoffman, the male lead, would have fallen for the propaganda of the Nazi regime, especially after having lived in the U.S. for so many years. We never know if it is the ideology that has swayed him, or the attractive blonde (played well by Anna Sten).

The movie does a fine job of letting us see only slowly the horrors - some of them - of the Nazi regime, first letting us hear only the positive propaganda.

All the acting is good.

There is no real love story here, which, I suppose, is one reason the movie failed to leave a mark. But it is well-made, and must have come as a wake-up call to at least some Americans who believed, as so many still did in 1940, that the war in Germany was none of our business.

Definitely worth watching. You won't be bored.

Carol Hoffman, an art critic, seems to be happily married to Eric; they lead a somewhat happy existence in New York. When they decide to pay a visit to Germany, she immediately notices the changes that had befallen that country in the eve of WWII. Her husband, though, finds all the changes to his liking, as he considers how advanced his homeland has become.

Eric becomes interested in the Nazi party because of his involvement with Frieda, an attractive woman who clearly thinks Hitler and his cohorts are in the right path to solve all their problems. Carol realizes to what extent the new system has played on Eric and decides to take their young son back to America. Her father in law is horrified by what he notices Eric is becoming, and he wants to set his hon straight about a little family secret the younger man is not aware of.

This film has some interesting aspects in that it points out how a totalitarian regime can be dangerous for a country. History proves how devastating the situation in Germany was. Director Irving Pichel guides the proceedings with his usual style to create a powerful melodrama.

Joan Bennett, who plays Carol, is one of the assets of the film. The other is Francis Lederer, who plays Eric, the man that is dazed by the Germany he suddenly discovers. Anna Sten is also effective as Frieda, the ambitious woman who is horrified at the end when she discovers the secret about Eric. Venerable Otto Kruger appears as the patriarch Henrich Hoffman, and Lloyd Nolan appears as the American reporter who befriends Carol and warns her about the impending changes in Germany.

The film will not disappoint.

"Blockade" (1938), "Beasts of Berlin" (1939) and "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" (1939) were the earliest Hollywood films to openly attack the Nazis. Another anti-Nazi film, "The Mortal Storm" opened in June, 1940. This film opened on August 9th 1940. That appears to make it the fifth openly anti-Nazi film released in America. This one was perhaps that sharpest and most effective of the anti-Nazi films. "Blockade" was about the Spanish Civil War, "Beasts of Berlin" was censored and hardly seen, "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" was about Nazis in America, and "the Mortal Storm" was set in Germany in 1933 when the Nazis first came to power. "The Man I Married" is set in 1938 and talks about contemporary events taking place in Germany at the time the film was released.

It is about a rather likable upper middle-class young couple, Carol and Eric Hoffman (Joan Bennett and Francis Lederer) and their young son visiting Germany. While Eric dismisses the bad things he has heard about the Nazis as propaganda, Carol is open-minded, taking a wait and see attitude. The movie becomes a fascinating dialectical discussion on the pros and con of the regime, with Eric finding the new Germany quite to his liking and Carol becoming more and more horrified. The audience identifies strongly with Carol's position. That is what makes it so effective.

The movie sees the Nazis as a psychotic cult. It shows the horror of a family member being taken over by a cult. It is really the blueprint for many contemporary anti-cult movies.

In his generally perceptive review of the movie, New York Times critic Bosley Crowther praised the movie for its intelligence, restraint and entertainment value. He praised Lederer's acting and others like Lloyd Nolan, but surprisingly attacked Joan Bennett's acting, saying that she just "model dresses and expresses incredulity." This is entirely unfair. Bennett carries the movie on her shoulders and really expresses her horror and disgust at the Nazi's actions with subtlety and intelligence. She is quite believable in every scene.

For an intelligent and enjoyable anti-Nazi film, I highly recommend it.