Walter Pidgeon is the subject of a "Man Hunt" in this 1941 film directed by Fritz Lang. Joan Bennett, George Sanders, John Carradine and Roddy McDowell also star. Alan Thorndike (Pidgeon) is caught by the Nazis as he prepares to shoot Hitler. After he is worked over and denies it was anything but a "sporting stalk" to see if it were actually possible to shoot the Fuhrer, the head man (Sanders) demands that he sign a document stating that he tried to shoot Hitler at the request of the German government. As a reward, they'll let him live. Thorndike won't sign, and his reward for that is being thrown off of a cliff and left for dead. He survives and makes his way onto a ship, where he is helped by a young boy (McDowell). However, there is a suspicious and too curious man on the ship (Carradine). Once in London, Thorndike realizes he is being followed and gets into the apartment of Jerry Stokes (Bennett) who helps him. Eventually he escapes to a small town, only to find out he's still being hunted.
This is an exciting and suspenseful film with good performances by Pidgeon, who doesn't try a British accent, and Bennett, who sports a Cockney one. Boy, Lang must have loved her. She was certainly perfect for the roles he cast her in. Here she's her usual low-class self but instead of being rotten as in "Scarlet Street" and "Woman in the Window," she has a heart of gold and falls for Alan.
Some of this movie is predictable, but one really roots for Thorndike, and the denouement is quite original. I have a quibble with the film - Alan should have realized that he had put Jerry in danger and taken her to his brother's. To me it was a big hole in the script and a deliberate one.
Though released in 1941, the story takes place probably right at the beginning of the war, so we can see what the next years bring. Nothing good, that's for sure.
This is an exciting and suspenseful film with good performances by Pidgeon, who doesn't try a British accent, and Bennett, who sports a Cockney one. Boy, Lang must have loved her. She was certainly perfect for the roles he cast her in. Here she's her usual low-class self but instead of being rotten as in "Scarlet Street" and "Woman in the Window," she has a heart of gold and falls for Alan.
Some of this movie is predictable, but one really roots for Thorndike, and the denouement is quite original. I have a quibble with the film - Alan should have realized that he had put Jerry in danger and taken her to his brother's. To me it was a big hole in the script and a deliberate one.
Though released in 1941, the story takes place probably right at the beginning of the war, so we can see what the next years bring. Nothing good, that's for sure.