spcummings

We really found this an interesting movie, since we lived near Williamsburg, and are familiar with Virginia history, especially in the Albermarle County and Wiliamsburg/James River areas. It was interesting to see so much use of the Colonial Williamsburg settings. And the story was a good encapsulation of some early American social and political currents. Unfortunately, the script is weak, the acting uneven, and the moral lessons are not subtle. If you are looking for a sweeping drama, historical epic, or subtle story lines--skip this one. If you want a look through a simplistic lens, then it will be worth your 90 minutes investment.

Fritz Lang's Cloak and Dagger is a romantically cast, post WW II production that dramatizes a fictional OSS mission. It involves the attempt by the OSS to insert a physicist to learn the status of the Nazi Nuclear weapons program. It is neither realistic, factual, nor tightly crafted. But it is a fun movie, with a solid cast. Gary Cooper is perfect as the physicist turned OSS agent. He somehow brings all the experienced hand to hand combat skills and spycraft to the OSS field operations that no mid-western college professor would be expected to have. Lilli Palmer is the beautiful partisan that reluctantly falls for this sudden visitor. Alan Alda is unfortunately poorly developed in his OSS role. The smaller parts all well played. The fight scene is realistic as a life-death struggle. Pretty tough, especially for a college prof. But, the story, the setting in Italy and the sense of the race toward nuclear weaponry is compelling and interesting. And Cooper and Palmer steam! Lots of little production elements give the movie a high quality with lighting, tension, and scene settings, while others are almost low-budget (e.g., the shoot-out). A fun movie, from the low budget Republic Studio. Not a frequent play on movie channels, it is unfortunate that it dos not get more play time. Based on the stars performance and Lang's direction, this movie is worth the time to watch and the cost of the recently released (and at sale price) DVD.

The plot develops with just enough direction and character development to keep a general story in focus. Seemingly standard inter-war spy movie with a beautiful female spy, threatening German spies, murder, and clean cut British agents. The cast is good with Vivien Leigh and Conrad Veidt playing their roles well. The supporting cast is like many early movies, lots of professionals with good craftwork and little fame. The production is interesting look at the period and the state of movie making. The special effects are simple, but effective for their period. Obviously, in a British film the star will be pure in the end, and can not be a German agent. However, Leigh does a good job of keeping the real situation under wraps for a while. The characters take on depth, but most drop away by the end. Only the main spies from two sides are left in the center, and the romance overcomes the effects of the war. Probably during WW2, the British film industry reflected differently on the end of the movie, but it was in the can. An interesting film: fun to watch Leigh and Veidt, and a good period piece on the politics, morays, and society in neutral Sweden in WWI.