DECISION BEFORE DAWN (1951)

By the late ‘40s/early ‘50s, Hollywood was increasingly adding nuance to characterizations of WWII German soldiers.  No longer all Nazi monsters, all the time.  And who better than soft-spoken, handsomely charismatic Oskar Werner to bring such characters to life.  Here, earning extra neutrality points as noncombatant Field Medic.  Nevertheless, even though it’s deftly directed by Anatole Litvak, who must have fought for this rugged battlefield assignment far from his regular fare, and outstandingly shot, heavy on the chiaroscuro, by Franz Planer, the film’s most important element is neither story nor character, but location, location, location.  All taken on still standing real German ruins and even more impressively from grand 19th century interiors and 18th century churches repurposed by German and American military forces as base operations offices as the war was coming to its close.  Werner’s only just been captured by Richard Basehart’s First Lt. when he’s put forward as a candidate to play insider spy, reporting to Col. Gary Merrill on upcoming German troop movements during the March to Berlin endgame.  But is this newly fledged ‘traitor’ willing to play patriot for a post-war Europe or is he a risk not worth taking.  Nicely plotted by Peter Viertel (from George Howe’s novel CALL IT TREASON), the film has an honest manner of featuring prominent supporting players who often as not don’t turn up again & again in the usual melodramatic style.  And Litvak grabs this opportunity, keeping away from expected contract players and casting a lot of fresh faces new to Stateside screens.  (Look fast for a young Klaus Kinsky as an early volunteer washout, and Hildegard Knef, at the time being pushed for English-language stardom.)  The last act tidies everything up in conventional fashion, but also features muscular warfare action you didn’t know Litvak had in him.*

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  *Litvak may have been equally surprised.  Or perhaps, after putting together some of the better documentaries in the WHY WE FIGHT WWII propaganda series, hoped to demonstrate what he’d learned.