It was written in German by Lang and Bertold Brecht, then translated by John Wexley.
In occupied Czechoslovakia, a fictionalised version of Heydrich has been shot - Anna Lee helps Brian Donlevy escape, but as a result, her father Walter Brennan is one of hundreds imprisoned, waiting to be shot. It's a brutal, nightmarish tale, in which things you might expect to happen in a more conventional film don't happen, and things keep getting worse. Until a fabulously clever ending. But even that doesn't stop Brennan from being killed.
Anna Lee - Bedlam. And Summer Storm, Flesh and Fantasy, The Ghost and Mrs Muir, Fort Apache. Not sure Brian Donlevy was the best actor.
Long - two hours fifteen. Starkly shot by James Wong Howe. Large, complex cast. Really good.
With Gene Lockhart, Dennis O'Keefe, Margaret Wycherly, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski (as the hangman), Alexander Granach (great as the persistent Gestapo man), Tonio Selwart, Jonathan Hale, Lionel Stander, Reinhold Schünzel (Notorious, the twitchy Gestapo man, based on a sadistic teacher Lang had!)
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| Terror. Anna Lee |
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| Typically sparse lighting from James Wong Howe |
Lang's films in America are just great.
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