Chasse à l'homme

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.

"Man Hunt" is an excellent thriller that doesn't look like it is almost eighty years old, and is one of my favorite Fritz Lang films. Ahead of its time in the complexity of its characters, it is about a man (Walter Pidgeon) who tries to assassinate Hitler but gets caught. Left for dead at the bottom of a cliff by the authorities, he lives and makes his way to a boat on its way to London. However, on the ship there is someone all too interested in his story. Soon he realizes he is being followed and, once back in England, turns to Joan Bennett for help. Lang manages to do a very good job of portraying the Nazis in a more complex and insightful manner than other films of this time period (it was made in 1941).

Rumors were at the time (2009) that this was cleaned up and released on DVD to capitalize on the DVD release of Tom Cruise's Valkyrie. Oh well, I'll take my classic films any way that I can get them.

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.

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.

I was only seven years old when I first viewed this film and never forgot it. I have been seeing several of the scenes in my minds eye for the last seventy years or so. The scenes I remembered for so long included the the beginning ones involving Hitler, the part on the London Underground and the finale. Now that Man Hunt is out on DVD, everyone can view and enjoy it. It's even better than I thought with a marvelous cast such as Roddy McDowell who went on to make almost 500 more films. The black and white photography, especially the scenes depicting London at night and in fog are extremely well done. This is the only Fritz Lang film that ever saw. Maybe I should look into his other ones. Another surprise was the main song played as a background theme with the scenes in London. This song "A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square," has allows been one of my favorite WWII songs. You can hear as sung by Vera Lynn, by typing in the title in Google and clicking the U-tube location.