Is this well made movie still worth watching today? As an insightful historical snapshot of a specific time - yes, definitely. As entertainment - yes, just about.
Criticising this film feels like kicking sand into your grandma's face or telling your best mate that his newly born baby girl looks like Edward G Robinson. Obviously this is brilliantly directed and gorgeously photographed with shadows playfully dancing across the screen as you'd expect. The problem is however what also makes this unique - that it was made just after the war. Not until 1945 were the true horrors of Hitler's Germany made fully aware to the general public and this film was one of the vessels used for that grim but necessary task.
In 1946 this film, with its extracts from the Dachau camp, carried tremendous shock value but all these years later we have become a little blasé as the years have made these events seem unreal, like something from the movies. In 1946 this film shocked people, it made them gasp with incredulous horror upon discovering that this kindly, local professor, exactly the sort of person living next door to them was one of these monsters.
As a movie, that's why it worked - because it was all so horribly real and not just close to home but at home. Today, without that sense of immediacy, this film seems like any other thriller.
Today, Orson Wells' acting might seem a little over the top at times as he swoons around town like Bela Lugosi on coke but his character was a Nazi and their true nature had only just been discovered - they literally were monsters so a slightly over the top performance wasn't too far removed from reality.
Today, Loretta Young's character might seem ridiculously stupid. How can she at first not believe her new hubby is a Nazi and then when she finds out, how can she think he's probably not that bad. Well again, for most Americans, who the Nazis actually were was virtually unimaginable and so almost impossible to believe. Of course she wouldn't believe that her husband, the nice guy from the school who she fell in love with, was responsible for gassing thousands of Jews to death. Who would! Loretta Young's 'Mary' is symbolic of the America of 1945 - like the country itself, she's gradually accepting the truth and she does this perfectly. Indeed, I don't think I've ever seen Loretta Young in anything which she's less than brilliant in and this is no exception. As an aside, as a fan of early 1930s movies, I don't think I've ever seen her looking this old before. Unsurprisingly, even in her 30s, she's still crazily gorgeous!
Criticising this film feels like kicking sand into your grandma's face or telling your best mate that his newly born baby girl looks like Edward G Robinson. Obviously this is brilliantly directed and gorgeously photographed with shadows playfully dancing across the screen as you'd expect. The problem is however what also makes this unique - that it was made just after the war. Not until 1945 were the true horrors of Hitler's Germany made fully aware to the general public and this film was one of the vessels used for that grim but necessary task.
In 1946 this film, with its extracts from the Dachau camp, carried tremendous shock value but all these years later we have become a little blasé as the years have made these events seem unreal, like something from the movies. In 1946 this film shocked people, it made them gasp with incredulous horror upon discovering that this kindly, local professor, exactly the sort of person living next door to them was one of these monsters.
As a movie, that's why it worked - because it was all so horribly real and not just close to home but at home. Today, without that sense of immediacy, this film seems like any other thriller.
Today, Orson Wells' acting might seem a little over the top at times as he swoons around town like Bela Lugosi on coke but his character was a Nazi and their true nature had only just been discovered - they literally were monsters so a slightly over the top performance wasn't too far removed from reality.
Today, Loretta Young's character might seem ridiculously stupid. How can she at first not believe her new hubby is a Nazi and then when she finds out, how can she think he's probably not that bad. Well again, for most Americans, who the Nazis actually were was virtually unimaginable and so almost impossible to believe. Of course she wouldn't believe that her husband, the nice guy from the school who she fell in love with, was responsible for gassing thousands of Jews to death. Who would! Loretta Young's 'Mary' is symbolic of the America of 1945 - like the country itself, she's gradually accepting the truth and she does this perfectly. Indeed, I don't think I've ever seen Loretta Young in anything which she's less than brilliant in and this is no exception. As an aside, as a fan of early 1930s movies, I don't think I've ever seen her looking this old before. Unsurprisingly, even in her 30s, she's still crazily gorgeous!