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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
EAN: 0024543238812
Format: Black & White, NTSC
Label: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Region Code: 1
Release Date: May 23, 2006
Running Time: 119 minutes
Sales Rank: 18977
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: 1951
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Editorial Review:
Description:
Richard Basehart and Gary Merrill star in a film that?s ?as stirring a drama as any you'll want to see? (The New York Times). Adapted by Jack Rollens and Peter Viertel from George Howe?s novel Call It Treason, and directed by Anatole Litvak, this riveting World War II drama was nominated for the 1951 Best Picture Oscar®.
As the Third Reich declines in power, the Allies develop a radical new plan ? to employ German POWs as spies. Led by American Colonel Devlin (Merrill), and executed by Lieutenant Rennick (Baseheart), the plan is risky, and the tension builds as the Americans learn whether the former Nazis will help or betray the Allies.
Amazon.com:
Rooting for a German soldier was a daring choice for a movie made in 1951, but Decision Before Dawn justifies the risk; this is a crackling good war movie. In late 1944, the Allies are pushing through Europe but need intelligence behind German lines. Two Americans (Richard Basehart, Gary Merrill) recruit German POWs and enlist them to spy on their former Fatherland. We follow the adventures of one such agent, arrestingly played by the young Oskar Werner, who parachutes into Bavaria and gathers information. (Oddly, the film abandons Basehart and another recruit, marvelously played by Hans Christian Blech, who have also gone under cover.) The well-deployed suspense is accompanied by a constant examination of what it means to be German, and what loyalty to one's country really entails--dutiful devotion or skeptical rebellion? This question doesn't go deep (there's a sense that the movie is a make-nice effort toward a new economic ally), but the film is on solid ground whenever the clockwork suspense takes over. Hildegarde Knef (here billed under her Hollywood spelling, Neff) turns up as a conflicted fraulein. Director Anatole Litvak, shooting on location, gets some amazing shots of bombed-out buildings and ruined towns; in that sense, the film is almost like a documentary record of the postwar landscape. Decision Before Dawn was nominated for the best picture Oscar, but became a lesser-known film in the decades that followed. It deserves a higher profile. --Robert Horton
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
As someone who appreciates great cinematography and on-location shooting I found this film immediately arresting when TCM broadcast it and resolved to add it to my library. I love Rosellini's Open City & Germany Year Zero, also Staudte's Murderers Are Among Us. There are only a few films that offer us on-location footage from War- and Post-wartime Europe. I took DVD Savant Glenn Erickson by his word when he said the video was of excellent quality. This is not the first time he has mislead his ... Read More
Rating:  -
Just saw this movie today on TV (not for the first time) and had to review it despite its age. It has never gotten the attention it deserves I guess because it is too true to life (no sexy blonds or dinner jackets). It is an excellent example of tactical Human Intelligence (HUMINT) as it was actually conducted by the Office of Stategic Services (OSS) tactical detachments during WWII. The assessing, recruitment, training and dispatch of the assets all rings true. One incident that shows the veracity ... Read More
Rating: -
Overall, this is a 4.5 star movie, because of its drama and how it deals with the duplicity of the spy business. However, it has some rough spots. If you are one of those people who doesn't have the patience to stick with a movie for about 10 minutes to see if it evolves into solid entertainment, then you'll be put off.
The first five minutes, and maybe the last five minutes of this film are stilted. Baseheart and his Army sgt. driver get lost and find a couple of escaping German Luftwaffe ... Read More
Rating: -
The acting, dialog, and plot of this movie are stilted and crude. The characters are more like types from an Army training manual than real people. The moral lessons are at pre-K level. But this movie is filmed in Europe in the years immediately following WWII, with real uniforms, real settings, real war equipment, and historically accurate events. Taken by itself, this is a 2 star movie at best. With its superlative realism, the movie is a 4 star movie, a must-see for any student of history and any fan ... Read More
Rating:  -
Not bad, with a rather original, realistic and mature story line. That being said, I thought the movie didn't rise to the story behind it. Mediocre acting, etc. Rather unsure about this movie. The two-star rating was a flip of the coin.
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