So Ends Our Night

If you had taken tenth grade world history in the early 60s and your teacher liked to show movies in class and was semi cool, as mine was, this is the anti Nazi film he or she would have shown. In other words, this is a thoughtful, admirable, well intentioned and ever so faintly dull work that I would gladly have traded for fifteen minutes of "Notorious" or ten of "Inglorious Bastards".

Best thing about it is William Daniels' cinematography and William C Menzies' production design which together create a dark, menacing Central Europe of the mind as the lights are starting to go out, literally and figuratively. Also, John Cromwell's direction, although sluggish at times, does manage to capture the sense of rootless, suspended animation in which many refugees find themselves. And Frederick March, as always, gives a most compelling performance.

Worst things about it are. Screenwriter Talbot Jennings' too florid, too philosophical, too Nobility Of Man dialogue and the incredibly dull pairing of Glenn Ford and Margaret Sullivan as Jews on the run. (These two are about as Hebraic as Carolina pork bbq).

Give it a generous B minus 'cause it had the courage to be not only anti Nazi during the height of isolationism but anti chief Hollywood anti semite and censor, Joe Breen, as well.

PS...A personal note. This is my 1000th review on IMDB and it's been a total blast. Love the edit feature (most of my thoughts are second and third ones) and the overall intelligence of my colleagues (with a couple exceptions, of course). Very few rabid right or left wingers or Kay Francis/Mickey Rooney nostalgists in evidence. Looking forward to the next couple thou.

It's 1937 Austria. Josef Steiner (Fredric March) and teenager Ludwig Kern (Glenn Ford) are picked up by the police. They and many others are on the run and in hiding from the Nazis. Josef is offered clemency to turn against the others including those who helped him escape the concentration camp. He had left behind his wife Marie (Frances Dee). Ludwig falls for fellow Jewish exile Ruth Holland (Margaret Sullavan). After Austria is taken over by the Nazis, Josef becomes a hunted man.

This is a fine wartime film with one Oscar nomination under its belt. March and Ford are good. March has some powerful scenes while this is an early breakout role for Ford. I still think that the movie would be more powerful if it kept only one main character. More than anything, these journeys feel real and that's important during this time. It shows the oppressiveness of the police state and the callous cruelty of the Nazis.

This film focuses on the plight of Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. It is fairly well made but the script, based on a novel by famed writer Remarque, tends to wander rather aimlessly, making for a less than compelling film. March is fine as a man who has escaped from a concentration camp, leaving behind his beloved wife in Germany. In one of his earliest roles, baby-faced Ford turns in an impressive performance as March's fellow escapee. Sullavan, in one of her last films, is also good as Ford's love interest. Dee gets third billing, but has only a few minutes of screen time as March's wife. The film looks good visually, but the pacing leaves something to be desired.

Good film, very well acted, and somewhat confusing.

Frederic March, Margaret Sullivan, and Glenn Ford star in So Ends Our Night from 1941, directed by John Cromwell. They have able support from Leonid Kinsky, Anna Stenn, and Erich von Stroheim.

The film begins before the Anschluss and before Hitler marched into Paris. Three Germans go from country to country without passports, hiding; once caught, they can choose where they want to be deported. Soon, of course, wherever they land will mean death.

Josef Steiner (March) had to escape Germany due to his politics, leaving behind his ill wife (Frances Dee), who is being watched. The Jewish Ruth (Sullavan) loses her place at university, is rejected by her Aryan fiance and escapes Germany; and Ludwig (Ford, 25 years old at the time) has learned he is half German and has escaped. They are all hiding in Austria when they meet and become friends.

This is based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, who understood statelessness. The history of the film is interesting - studios were warned not to make anti-Nazi films. This was independently produced.

The best scene in the film occurs when Josef sneaks into Germany to get a glimpse of his wife. Frances Dee is so achingly beautiful - without dialogue, her face says everything as he stands behind her in a marketplace and begs her to divorce him so she won't be watched. Heartbreaking.

The confusion comes in because we're not always sure what country the refugees have landed in. They have to leave Austria. Ludwig goes to Prague to find his father. Ruth goes to Switzerland, and Ludwig joins her.

For the life of me I can't understand why instead of staying there, they want to get to Paris. I realize Hitler wasn't there yet, but I thought Switzerland was neutral. According to what I read, it was not perhaps always welcoming to refugees. Maybe it was too early in the war. Nevertheless it depressed me.

Erich von Stroheim plays a Nazi who wants names from Josef. Josef wants to see his hospitalized wife, so he makes a deal. It's a powerful scene.

Someone posted that the three leads did not use accents and others did. Well, no one was speaking English with a German accent in Europe! They were all speaking German. No accents necessary unless you already had one. Then you were speaking with a dialect.

Though the end was somewhat upbeat, one asks if it really was, knowing the history of the war. I suppose we could hope. It's too gut-wrenching to do otherwise.

This film remains relevant. I don't need to say why.

Not best written (choppy) yet realistic melodrama depicting very real times during WWII. Movie is notable for Anna Sten's brief appearance (admittedly, one of my favorites) who was more or less done-in by Hollywood yet never failed to deliver superb performances. Either Glenn Ford's first or one of his first movies. Depressing yet worth seeing. Good luck, because I think I got one of the last VHS copies around.