Bufera mortale

There are two things about THE MORTAL STORM that make it unusual. First, it comes from MGM, primarily known as the studio that produced glossy technicolor musicals. Secondly, the entire cast have roles that are unusual for their persona.

Take, for example, all American Robert Young and Robert Stack as dedicated Nazis. Or Frank Morgan as a German professor in a highly dramatic role. Or Bonita Granville in one of her first near-adult dramatic roles. Or Dan Dailey before he became known principally as a musical star. Like several other films of this period (Escape, Nazi Agent, To Be Or Not To Be, The Great Dictator, Berlin Correspondent), it treats the subject of the approaching storm of Nazism with both conviction and emotional power.

Tension builds once it becomes apparent that Margaret Sullavan (as Morgan's daughter) and James Stewart must leave their homeland to escape the Nazi menace that has slowly penetrated their village. The finale with the ski scenes of the two escaping down a mountain slope is played for maximum suspense as they flee to freedom in Austria.

Produced on a handsome scale with realistic looking winter locations and featuring splendid performances from Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young, Frank Morgan, Robert Stack, Bonita Granville and Maria Ouspenskaya, it is guaranteed to keep you absorbed until the very end.

Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart give their usual earnest performances but it's the superior script and Frank Borzage's expert direction that really counts here. Well worth viewing.

The Roth family lead a quiet life in a small village in the German Alps during the early 1930's. When the Nazi's come to power, the family is divided and Martin Brietner (James Stewart), a family friend is caught up in the turmoil.

This is a hard film to find -- I checked in multiple libraries throughout the state of Wisconsin, and every considered buying it. And even then, a good copy is hard to track down. Why? The story is excellent, and it is early James Stewart... this should be a classic, but instead remains almost completely unknown.

I want this film to see a resurgence (or maybe just a surge). I want it to get a decent transfer, released on a nice DVD with features, and I want people to have actually heard of it. Few films had the courage to stand up to Hitler before the war, and I doubt any of the few others did so as forcefully as this one did.

Sincere, moving story about the Nazi takeover in Germany and its affect on one family in particular. The father (Frank Morgan) is sent to a concentration camp. His stepsons become ardent Nazis, as does the man who was supposed to marry his daughter (Margaret Sullavan). This also drives a wedge between the sons and a lifelong friend (James Stewart), who is in love with Sullavan.

Beautifully acted with fine performances from all. Stewart and Sullavan are amazing. Robert Young, usually playing good guy parts, here plays a Nazi. Bonita Granville does well, as does Ward Bond in a villainous part. Maria Ouspenskaya is brilliant as usual. But the best kudos would have to go to Frank Morgan for his sensitive, intelligent performance. Possibly the finest of his career. Robert Stack also appears as one of the Nazi stepsons and plays a part in the film's powerful final scene.

This is truly a classic in every sense of the word. It's a movie that should be seen by everybody, both for its content as well as its historical value.

Powerful anti-Nazism, anti-fascism drama.

Follows the lives of a German family and their friends as Hitler comes to power in the 1930s, and the results of this change. Explores very directly the effects of Nazi rule, how freedoms are lost and the right to be different and think differently is destroyed. Shows very vividly the effect of group-think/mob-think and the cult of personality.

Yes, it was made during World War 2, so is to some extent a propaganda movie. However, the themes explored can be applied to any fascist country.

Can be compared to Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator", which was released in the same year. While Chaplin used satire and comedy to mock the Nazis, this movie is pure drama, and stands alongside The Great Dictator in exposing the evil that was Nazism.

Things we take for granted such as freedom to think as we believe and to express those thoughts were snatched away abruptly from the German people in 1933 when Adolph Hitler was "elected" chancellor of Germany. Freedom was replaced by the New Order and as most people know, millions of people were murdered simply because they didn't fit the racial "norms" or accept the dictates of what the government said one should believe,

It's 1933 and Professor Viktor Roth (Frank Morgan) lives with his wife, 2 step sons, daughter and young son in a comfortable home in a university town in the Alps. Although the word is never mentioned, it is clear Professor Roth is Jewish and his life becomes endangered when the Nazis take over. While his 2 stepsons join the party, as does Fritz, his daughter's fiance (played by Robert Young), his daughter and their old family friend Martin (played by Jimmy Stewart) defy the common tide and resist joining the party. And it is Jimmy Stewart who expresses it best - by saying freedom to believe as a person wants to is food and drink to him. And it turns out, it's food and drink to Freya Roth (played by Margaret Sullavan), the young daughter to whom he is attracted. She breaks her engagement to Fritz and escapes -- or tries to -- with Martin. He had already fled to still free Austria while helping a Jewish school teacher escape.

This movie says much about what we take for granted - the sacredness of the right to act, believe, speak and think as a person wishes to, unencumbered by government dictates or threats. These gifts are precious and we have no idea just how precious until they are threatened. If, God forbid, that should ever happen, it is only hoped we have the same courage as young Freya and Martin.

This movie is compelling in a quiet way. There are no shoot 'em ups, no gory prison or execution scenes, no barbarity is shown. But it is there nevertheless and perhaps that is what makes the viewer keep watching. The only drawback is that it was written in 1940 so viewers back then don't really know the ending because the war had another 4 y ears to go and victory was by no means certain in 1940. The U.S. hadn't entered the war yet but word was leaking out as to what was really going on in Germany at the time. It's a shame more people didn't listen and that more people didn't pay attention to the message delivered in such a subtle way in this movie.