As an amateur with a lifelong interest in WWII and a classic film enthusiast, I confess I had not come across this classic WWII film before today. I saw the TCM rating (3 stars out of 5), so I had middling expectations of what I was going to see. The beginning of the film seemed to confirm my expectations, but as I kept watching, I became more and more drawn into the story and enchanted by the characters as they developed.
While the breadth of acting I observed in Paul Lukas was its outstanding norm, I became very beguiled by Flynn's character -- different by far than his swashbuckling image in films that established him as a star in Hollywood. I watched carefully as his character remained intentionally vague, so that the viewer was never sure which way he would jump ... all the way to nearly the very last minute. Flynn created his character and had him delicately step back and forth on the line between nobility and crass self-interest in such a way that the viewer can never be certain what Picard/DuPont will ultimately decide. I'm sure it's no accident that DuPont became his character's name ;-)
I loved the suspense, the heart, the desperation, the character contrasts that when taken together, describe any group of people dealing with death and with tyranny, even today. This is a wonderful film discovery (for me, I mean) and one I'll view again and again. The interpersonal relationships remind me of those in "Best Years of Our Lives." This latter is one of my top "go back and view again" WWII films.
I highly recommend this film for anyone who has a serious interest in realistic WWII stories which is not littered with American "heroes," but instead, is populated with real people who struggle to deal with harsh reality in ways that end up revealing their innermost selves.
While the breadth of acting I observed in Paul Lukas was its outstanding norm, I became very beguiled by Flynn's character -- different by far than his swashbuckling image in films that established him as a star in Hollywood. I watched carefully as his character remained intentionally vague, so that the viewer was never sure which way he would jump ... all the way to nearly the very last minute. Flynn created his character and had him delicately step back and forth on the line between nobility and crass self-interest in such a way that the viewer can never be certain what Picard/DuPont will ultimately decide. I'm sure it's no accident that DuPont became his character's name ;-)
I loved the suspense, the heart, the desperation, the character contrasts that when taken together, describe any group of people dealing with death and with tyranny, even today. This is a wonderful film discovery (for me, I mean) and one I'll view again and again. The interpersonal relationships remind me of those in "Best Years of Our Lives." This latter is one of my top "go back and view again" WWII films.
I highly recommend this film for anyone who has a serious interest in realistic WWII stories which is not littered with American "heroes," but instead, is populated with real people who struggle to deal with harsh reality in ways that end up revealing their innermost selves.