- Actors: Bette Davis, Paul Lukas, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Lucile Watson, Beulah Bondi
- Directors: Herman Shumlin
- Language English
- Classification: U
- Studio: Warner
- Run Time: 108 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00004CK9Y
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 14,067 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
This is a highly enjoyable, classic film based upon a Lillian Hellman play about the fight against facism during World War II, before Americans became embroiled in the war. The screenplay adaptation, which was co-authored by Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett, is terrific. It tells the story of a German resistance leader, Kurt Muller, who comes to America, traveling incognito with his American born wife, Sarah, and their three children, and visits his wife's wealthy mother and brother in their beautiful antebellum style mansion.
During their visit, they make the acquaintance of a Roumanian expatriate who is there as a house guest together with a his wife, a hometown girl and friend of the family. The Roumanian, a Nazi sympathizer, who frequently visits the German embassy, ultimately clashes with Muller, as irreconciable philosophical differences come to a head in a rousing climax.
Paul Lukas, who plays the noble freedom fighter with consummate dignity and passion, steals the show. A finer piece of acting is hard to find. He deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his heartfelt and heroic portrayal of Kurt Muller. It is, without a doubt, a performance to remember. Bette Davis plays it smart and gives a fine, though somewhat restrained, performance as a loyal and altruistic wife. She is luminous in the role.
Lucille Watson is marvelous as Sarah's dominant, generous, and larger than life mother. A very young and beautiful Geraldine Fitzgerald effectively plays the role of wife to the disreputable Roumanian expatriate, a wife disgusted with her husband's politics and lack of character, making her susceptible to the infinitely more alluring charms of Sarah's kind brother. The three childrem are stiff in their roles and, though affording some comic relief, are the only weakness in this otherwise compelling drama.
This is a marvelous movie that will appeal to those who love classic films. Fans of Bette Davis will also enjoy this film, provided that they do not expect a histrionic, over the top performance by Bette. This film is entirely, though quietly, dominated by Paul Lukas.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Accessory
This film is brilliant - Bette Davis at her best.
A German underground leader arrives Washington DC with his family but finds but finds the Nazi terror has a very long reach. Lillian Hellman's brilliant 1941 stage hit adapted for film justly deserves its New York Film Critics 1943 Best Picture prize. Paul Lukas repeats his role for which he justly received an Oscar and Bette Davis, is at her best as his wife. Lucie Watson and George Coulouris (as a shady blackmailer) also reprise their stage roles.
A German underground leader arrives Washington DC with his family but finds but finds the Nazi terror has a very long reach. Lillian Hellman's brilliant 1941 stage hit adapted for film justly deserves its New York Film Critics 1943 Best Picture prize. Paul Lukas repeats his role for which he justly received an Oscar and Bette Davis, is at her best as his wife. Lucie Watson and George Coulouris (as a shady blackmailer) also reprise their stage roles.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
All the actors are topnotch. You will find yourself kibitzing for both sides and cringe as they play with each other as a cat and mouse. The question is who is the cat?
This is a W.W.II film about how naive the Americans are about what is going on in Europe. When the fight and ideologies become a reality in their house, they are forced to take sides in the struggle for freedom. Many ideological speeches take place between family members and other acquaintances; this is probably due to being an adaptation from a play. Even though on the surface this looks like an anti-fascist film, it is more complex with people that have diverse motives. However, they show that there is only one way to deal with evil so that future generations will not have to live in terror.
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