Decision Before Dawn

For anyone who is used to freedom, this movie shows better than any other what it is like to live in a total police state. The Thousand-Year Reich is shown with every wart and blemish, making this one of the greatest propaganda movies for freedom. But it is a harrowing experience, a true thriller. For the life of me, I cannot understand why this film is not better known and why it is hardly available in public libraries. Could this reflect the conservative, McCarthyite influence on movies? I think it is a must-see.

Close to the end of WW2, the US military recruits Nazi defectors from the ranks of German POW's to return to Germany as spies. Klaus Kinski makes a brief appearance during the interview process, but his character is rejected. Who is accepted to participate in this mission is incomparable Oskar Werner as Corporal Karl Maurer who is given the code name Happy. It's an ironic name for such a serious actor. He's perfect for the part in this heavy film set largely in the destruction of bombed out cities. Such a setting makes it difficult for the Germans to actually capture him, as when they are on to his trail, the aerial Allied bombings begin again. There are lots of places to hide amidst the treacherous ruins of the near collapsing buildings.Yet the Germans try to maintain discipline to the very end, as a deserter is hanged and his body is left for all to see. The film uses the destruction in which it is set and reminds us of how things change when the peace time environment becomes lost amidst the destruction. Werner goes through several meetings with Germans, the best being the Colonel who orders the deserter to be hanged, and another with the tragic character played by Hildegard Knef, whom he meets in a bar. Amidst the desperation still lurks a couple of true Nazi believers, one played quite well by Wilfred Seyferth as Heinz Scholtz, a dangerous SS man who befriends the traitor Werner. The film is overwhelmingly stark and lacks any sense of humor whatsoever, but in my book that just adds to the overall effect, much like some of the Cold War era spy films, such as The Spy Who Came In From The Cold.

The movie puts you in WWII's closing days as you watch an idealistic young German Army medic become a traitor to his country by working as a spy in order to let the war end quickly and let peace return. The movie extras are former German soldiers, and you can tell by how they wear their "rag tag" uniforms and bark out commands in German. The scenes are superb. Bombed out areas of Germany were used, and one scene in a bombed out theater is especially great. You hear the falling glass and metal structures as the Gestopo search for the soldier. It is simply a very entertaining movie that lets one ponder: What would I have done if I were in his place?

Having served in the US Army-Europe in Germany it was easy to see that this work was an accurate depiction of the world as Germans saw it in those years. Going to the IMDb database confirmed that it was filmed in Wurzberg, a city I visited many times. One can not help but wonder what memories and nightmares came back to life for the German people in this movie, or the ones who viewed it, or even witnessed the movie being made. The film is so very realistic in script, acting, and setting that some must have almost thought WWII was alive again. For those that lived through WWII in that country it must have seemed as if those days were repeating themselves. Every detail of this movie is accurate as far as I could tell. It does not employ overused stereotypes, no action heroes, no earth shaking grand and glorious finale, it simply depicts a period of time in all its' tragedy and irony in a most realistic manner. This work deserves more praise and exposure than it has received. A must see for every WWII researcher and historian.

Surprisingly good war film unknown to me before I saw it on American Movie Classics. Cast is excellent. Characters are well-drawn. The film is the best portrayal I have yet seen on celluloid of Germany in its stages of final collapse as the end of WWII nears. Some very impressive interiors are beautifully shot - the cathedral that serves as intelligence hq, and the castle or chateau that is the German command hq. Engrossing story of conflicted loyalties, and good action and suspense as well. I can only add my agreement with the positive comments already entered.