Once again, Lillian Hellman takes on the fight against Fascism as she did with the analytical "The Little Foxes". Here, it is modern day Washington D.C. and German born Nazi hater Paul Lukas comes to the capitol on a mission while visiting his American wife's family. He is recognized by a traitorous Nazi sympathizer, calling into question his own values and bringing on a sacrifice that was necessary during the second world war. Bette Davis takes second fiddle to Lukas's showier lead, realizing how important this would be not only to her career but to the war as well. Propaganda, certainly, but well-written, definitely.
The villain of the story is George Coulouris, playing both sides against the middle as European Count with only one goal in mind: cash. He's the type of sleaze who would sell out his own mother in order to grab on to the green, and also the type that the Nazis would kill as soon as they got all of the information he possessed. He's there as a guest, married to Geraldind Fitzgerald who obviously loves Davis's brother. Lucille Watson, as Davis's regal mother, takes her lovable character through many different levels: demanding, bossy, opinionated, slightly meddlesome, cheery, worried, shocked and finally contrite. But never is she any less than practically perfect, in performance and character. In a smaller role, Beaulah Bondi is Watson's wise housekeeper who is amused by Davis's feisty younger son who declares to Watson's surprise, "Yes, I am not handsome."
War is never just on the battlefield, in the skies or on water. It is in the cities where all seems peaceful, in the country where hate grows like corn, and especially in the heart where it expands like a tumor. All it takes is one person like Coulouris to start the thread of intolerance and fascism spreads like plague. That's where Lukas must battle his own moral structure, coming to terms with the difference between being a pacifist and ridding the world of evil, whether it be one man or millions. The script leaves the story open, as was appropriate, as the theme states that the plot line of the world will never be completed as long as evil is allowed to roam the earth.
The villain of the story is George Coulouris, playing both sides against the middle as European Count with only one goal in mind: cash. He's the type of sleaze who would sell out his own mother in order to grab on to the green, and also the type that the Nazis would kill as soon as they got all of the information he possessed. He's there as a guest, married to Geraldind Fitzgerald who obviously loves Davis's brother. Lucille Watson, as Davis's regal mother, takes her lovable character through many different levels: demanding, bossy, opinionated, slightly meddlesome, cheery, worried, shocked and finally contrite. But never is she any less than practically perfect, in performance and character. In a smaller role, Beaulah Bondi is Watson's wise housekeeper who is amused by Davis's feisty younger son who declares to Watson's surprise, "Yes, I am not handsome."
War is never just on the battlefield, in the skies or on water. It is in the cities where all seems peaceful, in the country where hate grows like corn, and especially in the heart where it expands like a tumor. All it takes is one person like Coulouris to start the thread of intolerance and fascism spreads like plague. That's where Lukas must battle his own moral structure, coming to terms with the difference between being a pacifist and ridding the world of evil, whether it be one man or millions. The script leaves the story open, as was appropriate, as the theme states that the plot line of the world will never be completed as long as evil is allowed to roam the earth.