Decision Before Dawn

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.

As American forces approach Germany near the end of World War II, it becomes crucial for them to get an idea of the Germans' capacity to resist. In order to do that, they recruit spies from among German POWs, train them and send them into Germany to gather information. This is somewhat of an unusual film about a subject that, as far as I know, had never been dealt with before or since (the movie is based on fact; American military intelligence did indeed use German POWs as spies). The location filming helps the picture greatly, as the war had only been over for a few years and Germany still hadn't rebuilt yet. Performances are universally top notch, notably Oskar Werner as a young German soldier code-named Happy who volunteers to return as a spy, and especially Hans Christian Blech as Happy's tough, opportunistic, and not entirely trustworthy partner. There are some nail-biting moments, notably aboard a train when Happy and his partner come under scrutiny by a suspicious Gestapo agent. The film has a tough, gritty, dangerous look that is totally atypical of the usual 20th Century Fox gloss, and is all the better for it. Gary Merrill as the tough American officer in charge of the operation, and Richard Basehart as an American agent sent in to accompany the two German spies, also turn in first-rate performances, and director Anatole Litvak keeps the film full of twists and surprises, but it's Oskar Werner's show, and he is up to it. An excellent film and one to put on your must-see list.

Occasionally I rate a film high for personal and sentimental reasons. In this case I am compelled by objective facts to add in the light of greater perspective that I consider this one of the best war movies of all time.

In the first place, the acting is superb. The casting is flawless. The direction is taut, as is the editing. It is filmed in black and white, as it would have to be even today if someone wanted to try a remake. The locations and sets are authentic to a "T." The story itself follows faithfully the text of a book I read as a child (before I saw the film, in fact).

Moreover, I consider it an act of bravery on the part of the film's producers even to begin a project like this so soon after the end of World War II, when passions against the Germans were still running high and mere caricatures of that nation's common people remained the standard for the day (and for years to come).

Oskar Werner in the main role was a brilliant choice, and veterans Richard Basehart and Gary Merrill provide ample evidence that casting proceeded on a basis of resolute excellence and authenticity. I am still blown away by revisiting the "Romantic Road" in Germany and thinking how this movie defined and continued to define for me how recent and ancient history converged along that path.

I cannot praise it enough.

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?

Those were the outcasts of WW2.German war prisoners who decided to rebel against their country.

Karl-aka "Happy" - agrees to become a spy in the "pay" of Americans at the end of WW2 in his country .A country in ruins.The "Third Reich " which should have lasted one thousand years was collapsing.Oskar Werner gives a restrained moving performance.If "underacting" has a meaning (not meant pejoratively) ,that's exactly what it is.He watches his country fall as if he does not belong there anymore.He meets people he used to know ,a girl (Knef) he could love (but he won't),but he knows from the start that wherever he goes,he is an outcast.His new "Friends" use him as a pawn in their game,and " his motherland will not cradle him anymore" .

Anatole Litvak,an European who used to work in France -where the first scenes take place- in the thirties (and later would in the fifties/sixties)knows what he is talking about.He joined the army during WW2;and "decision before dawn" was one of his finest achievements .

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Vent d' Est Robert Enrico 1993