Duello mortale

Man Hunt (1941)

Offhand the title and idea to this movie sounds a bit routine--a man singlehandedly avoiding authorities and pursuers. Even the extra theme that the Nazis are the bad guys sounded well worn, though the fact it was shot and released during that interesting two year period of WWII before the Americans got involved is something of a hook.

But I watched mainly because the formerly German director, Fritz Lang, is one of the handful of best directors ever.

And it pays off. The clichés are made fresh--even the Nazi types are different than you'd expect. The filming is great, showing the use of shadows and ominous points of view that film noir would take up in the next couple of years. And the plot has a mixture of one man against the world survival as well as boy meets girl romance.

It's terrific stuff, hardly dated at all. And the cinematography is by one of the stalwarts of the period, Arthur Miller, so it has lots of moving camera and interesting tight compositions.

The main character Alan Thorndike is played by Walter Pidgeon, one of those leading males who hasn't always stood up well over time. The deep voice, nice guy quality he is famous for isn't always matched by a pertinent acting intensity. His physical presence in a film is often a shade unconvincing. Lang might have found a perfect balance here because Thorndike's situation is so harsh, at least at times, and there is often a contrasting focus on Pidgeon's face and the innocence it is so good at projecting.

Oddly (and maybe with some political savvy, who knows), Pidgeon is a Canadian playing a Brit, with no attempt at an accent, so this supposedly patriotic movie has a weird falseness in every scene. The reason this might be on purpose is it's carried through all along--the leading woman, Joan Bennet, is a New Jersey girl who has adopted a strong Irish (I think, or Cockney) accent. And the main Nazi is played by upper crust British legend George Sanders (who was born in Russia). And so goes this international plot.

Of course, Lang was an expatriate German Jew working for Hollywood. He was becoming known for his anti-Nazi fervor to the dismay of the right wing Hays Code commission, which we now understand better. Lang's penchant for shooting at night (which goes back to his days in the German film industry) and his ability to make people sinister without actually showing them doing sinister things is partly why this simple movie works. It's also made complicated by the large range of locations used (or invented in the studio), and by the irony of the sweet love affair in the wings in the second half.

You might say it's a propaganda film if you want to use that word loosely. It does at the very end send a message to the viewers, and to Hitler, that the British are out to get him. But really this is a movie about good against evil, about free thinking versus doing what you're told. And about love, completely unfulfilled, but so incipient you feel it and want it.

Yes, see this, if you like movies from the period, or know you like Lang's films. Or if you like film noir, since this is a pre-cursor. Or see it if you appreciate a very well made film with an edgy historical setting.

Fritz Lang loved to leave one's heart in one's throat with his story about how, in the 1930s, Adolf Hitler ordered him for a meeting. The Fuhrer had seen Metropolis and wanted Lang to be an official Reich filmmaker. Lang said, "Oh well yeah sure of course," and then fled the country as fast as he could, not even stopping to withdraw his bank account. In Hollywood soon after, Lang had a little window to clear the air with this dramatic thriller.

I know it seems like the plot is best withheld once you read as far as that a British hunter happens to all the sudden have Hitler in his crosshairs. I won't tell you anything more about that situation. But I will say the film is episodic. There is a chapter involving Roddy McDowell aiding and abetting, and another concerning a cockney streetwalker played by Lang regular Joan Bennett who very quickly falls in love with him, although the context and situation allow a more sensible reason for there to be an easy token love subplot than usual. The hero is played by Walter Pidgeon, a refreshing actor of the studio era owing to his guilelessness, his lack of any affectation, though it grows bothersome that he appears as a well-to-do Englishman with an inexplicable American accent.

The film's lasting issues crop up simply because of the fact that it was 1941. There are several moments where you will be absorbed in Fritz Lang's trademark approach wherein points on social evils and multi-faceted subtext sneak up on you, but other moments don the guise of a zealous, conventional pro-war film, but luckily, that assault on the Lang's ominous omniscience mostly ushers in during the final few minutes. For the most part, this underdog war picture, which the Hays Office claimed in the time and place's atmosphere which avoided entangled alliances and controlled any cultural exchange, showed all Germans as evil as opposed to other films showing both good non-Nazi Germans as well as evil National Socialists, is a very carefully laid, continuously ambushing and expertly played bit of watchful waiting.

Captain Alan Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon) is captured by the Nazis after having been caught aiming a rifle at Adolf Hitler. He insists that he wasn't consciously making an assassination attempt, that he was merely a hunter relishing the prospect of taking down "big game". They naturally don't believe him, and try to make him a sign a "confession" that he was acting on behalf of his government. He refuses to sign his name to a lie, and they proceed to torture him and set him up for execution, but he escapes. Soon he makes it back to London, but they continue to pursue him on his home turf. Fortunately, he receives the help of a street waif, Jerry Stokes (Joan Bennett), who quickly overcomes her distrust and becomes quite taken with him. He tries not to put her in harms' way while evading sinister Nazi officials such as the well-spoken Major Quive-Smith (George Sanders).

Fritz Langs' wartime film, based on the story by Geoffrey Household, may not suit all tastes because it doesn't actually have a sense of urgency, at least not all the time. It even gets lighthearted and romantic at times, as Alan and Jerry start hitting it off. There still are some wonderfully moody moments, such as Alan managing to sneak onto a ship (where a precocious lad, well played by a very young Roddy McDowall, helps to hide him), and the sequence where a Gestapo thug portrayed by an effectively creepy John Carradine tails Alan into a subway tunnel. You do worry for the safety of Alan, especially when the odds are so stacked against him. Pidgeon does indeed have an interesting "devil may care" quality to him at times, and he and the lovely Bennett do have nice chemistry. Ms. Bennett is appealing playing a "common" type of gal who relishes in the comfort of a mansion at one point. Sanders is excellent, delivering just the right amount of quiet, refined menace.

Langs' direction keeps you riveted, especially in the opening few minutes where very little dialogue is spoken. The material may strike some viewers as far-fetched, but in his hands it makes for stylish entertainment.

Eight out of 10.

Compact well directed drama of the dawning realization of the Nazi threat in Europe. A noir before that was a popular genre. Walter Pidgeon handles his role well, his suave dignity enabling him to move from the lighter tone at the start of the film to the serious one later on. Joan Bennett is a breezy delight as a practitioner of the world's oldest profession although the Hayes office ludicrously insisted she have a sewing machine in the corner of her room to make it appear she's a seamstress. She did some of her best work in Lang films, he was a tough director but she was herself a straight shooter who had no problem giving as good as she got enabling them to work well together through four films.

A noted big game hunter takes aim at Hitler and becomes the hunted. One of Lang's better American productions, a mighty fun thriller that gave him the opportunity to show where his sympathies lay. It does sag a little bit at times, but builds to an amazing climax. Lang's photographic style is evident, with gloomy cinematography that helps set the stage for noir. It's a treat to see Walter Pidgeon and George Sanders square off... two of the best voices in movies. And Joan Bennett (who always does terrific work with Lang) is great too, pulling off a reasonably convincing cockney accent, although her character throws herself at Pidgeon a bit too easily. The film provides a lot of thrills, traps and tension, and topical subject matter as well. A real treat, a movie that manages to be fun and yet isn't afraid to explore dark themes.