Les otages de la Moldau

A group of twenty-six Czechoslovakian citizens are jailed until a 50,000 crown reward by the Gestapo uncovers the supposed killer of a Nazi officer whom virtually everyone suspects committed suicide. The hostages include the leader of the underground resistance movement (as played by William Bendix), whose cover is that of a washroom attendant in the nightclub where the "victim" was last seen alive. Will the hostages be released in dangerous world of bribery, deception and corruption that characterized invading armies during World War Two?

The interesting character here is William Bendix, who plays an ordinary cleaner at a joint but at the same time secretly leads an underground movement against the German occupation. He comes across a German soldier in the toilet who is very unhappy because the Nazis will send his girlfriend to a Nazi breeding camp. He is so unhappy that he commits suicide, but he has left Bendix with a farewell letter to Berlin, which Bendix has promised to post, which he never does, because he is caught among other customers at the joint as hostages while the German authorities investigate the disappearance of the German suicide officer - they refuse to believe he committed suicide. That's how it begins, It develops into a thriller about the resistance against the Germans, and it is a regular propaganda film of the war against Germany, but it is not without interest. Another of the hostages is the mighty industrial owner Oscar Homolka, his daughter is there also among the hostages, and he believes he could have some influence with the Germans but is sadly mistaken. Many other characters are involved also, there is a journalist, there are partisans, the German soldiers are all bad and the partisans are all good, especially when the Germans execute the partisans. There are many flaws in this film, but the action is intensive, complex and interesting, the director is Frank Tuttle who is best known for Alan Ladd's first film "This Gun for Hire", and his thriller grip on this war tragedy is at least unmistakeable.

The story and plot is well contrived with very much wit and clever dialogue, it is actually convincing as a very Czech intrigue, the Germans being depicted with killing irony and Paul Lukas never quite understanding how everything could go so wrong. Katina Paxinou is as impressive as ever, and Luise Rainer plays out all her faked innocence in perfect style. The music adds to it, Dvorak for the Czechs and Wagner for the Germans, and the grim drama of stubborn resistance and sacrificed hostages is contrasted against sweet idyllic romance, but William Bendix takes it all with a hearty laugh.

Lt Glasenapp (Hans Conried) commits suicide at a club which leads the Gestapo to arrest everyone who is present. It gives them an excuse to execute the 26 Czech citizens that they now have in custody under the pretext of the murder of Glasenapp. Unknowingly, they have arrested the leader of the resistance (William Bendix) posing as a washroom attendant. A group of resistance fighters, led by Maria (Katina Paxinou), need contact with Bendix to establish the time to blow up a German ammunition supply and so devise a plan to rescue the prisoners. Also amongst the prisoners is Pressinger (Oskar Homolka) who is Czechoslovakia's most wealthy Nazi sympathiser. His daughter, Milada (Luis Rainer) and her boyfriend Jan (Roland Varno) try to secure his release with the help of Paul Breda (Arturo de Cordova), pitting their wits against Reinhardt (Paul Lukas), the Gestapo Commissioner ...... There are some twists along the way ..... the citizens are to be executed in 72 hours.

The film contains obvious propaganda with all German soldiers portrayed as vile, vicious, shouty headmaster types. I found that Bendix's portrayal of a simpleton employed as a washroom assistant made me sometimes think "you're having a laugh!" - no-one is going to believe that slow, measured, deliberate delivery. Anyway, its a good film....and the rest of the cast do well.

It's an involved story so you will need to follow carefully or you may find it confusing. It moves at a quick pace and when the film ends, a lot has happened!

Lieutenant Hans Conreid of the occupying German forces in Prague kills himself. Chief of Police Paul Lukas and his commanding general see a way to squeeze coal magnate Oscar Homolka. They announce Conreid has been murdered, and that twenty-five Czechs currently in jail, including Homolka will be shot as hostages if the murderer is not turned in for a 50,000-crown reward. The Underground has other ideas.

It's from a novel by Helmut Flieg under his pseudonym of Stefan Heym, published in 1942, and it shows it in the pacing of the film, with several sequences in which people give speeches; I suspect that the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich and the destruction of the town of Lidice in retaliation made the management of Paramount rush it through production to keep it fresh. Nonetheless, there are some good performances, including Luise Rainer in her last Hollywood-era movie, Arturo de Córdova as a rather ambiguous figure in the beginning, and William Bendix, as a washroom attendant who turns out to be something more. Full of talk about freedom, Flieg's obvious Communist attitudes easily passed wartime muster, and he returned to East Germany a hero.

Despite the occasionally stagey speeches, it's an artfully plotted story; I was not sure until the very end who was going to get out alive and how. With Katina Paxinou, Reinhold Schünzel, and Steven Geray.