This is probably one of the best anti-Nazi films produced in Hollywood before the US entry into WWII. The film does an excellent job in a very melodramatic "MGM" way of showing how an ordinary town and its citizens willingly and some unwillingly were affected by the state policies that National Socialism brought. It's too bad that the studios didn't make more of these films in those days. A fine cast headed by James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan make this an great film to watch. Watch for early performances by actors Robert Young, Robert Stack and Dan Dailey.
98 Reviews
A Blunt,Powerful Drama With Superior Performances By All
kryck25 July 2001
Warning: Spoilers
***SLIGHT SPOILERS*** "The Mortal Storm"(1940)was one of the few films, before the outbreak of World War II in America,that tackled the subject of the Nazi regime in Germany. The only other truly memorable film about this subject made in the same year was "The Great Dictator",except this was a black comedy poking fun at Adolf Hitler and definitely isn't as powerful as the other film. "The Mortal Storm" has to be one of the most gripping films you'll ever see and should be shown in high schools and universities around the world to show students how easily the Nazis could manipulate people into thinking as they did. The film is based on a novel by Phyllis Bottome and tells the story of Professor Roth(Frank Morgan)and his family living a quiet and peaceful life until they overhear that Hitler has become chancellor of Germany on the radio. His sons and his daughter's(Margaret Sullavan)fiance(Robert Young)are excited when they hear that war is soon going to begin in Germany and are eager to do their part. The rest of the family and a close friend,Martin Bretiner(James Stewart)aren't that thrilled about the news. They feel that Hitler's views on the human race are wrong and that people should have the right to think as they believe. Unfortunately,this bit of advice doesn't stop them. The Roth family is torn apart forever. The professor's(Morgan) sons leave home,because they don't want to be associated with people that disagree with the Nazis. The professor is also arrested for talking about scientific human facts, in a classroom,that the Nazis find as untrue. Freya(Sullavan) breaks her engagement with Fritz(Young)and falls deeply in love with Martin(Stewart). Their lives become filled with danger as well. As a viewer,you see people struggling to survive in a cruel world as best as they can. The performances in this film are extraordinary. James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan are fine as a couple in love at the wrong time. Frank Morgan is poignant and gives a memorable performance as Professor Roth. Maria Ousapenska is great,as usual,as Stewart's wise and dedicated mother. She dominates every scene she's in. Also, good are Robert Young in an unconventional role as a Nazi officer and a young Robert Stack as one of Morgan's sons. The ending is tragic, but conveys a strong message. I highly recommend this movie to anyone. I give it 9 stars out of 10.
Tender Lovers, Brutal Regime
bkoganbing29 November 2006
I've often thought that the best way to see The Mortal Storm is back to back with Three Comrades. Both films are about post World War I Germany, both films from MGM, both films have Margaret Sullavan, and Robert Young in them and both directed by Frank Borzage. Three Comrades has its story take place during the Weimar Republic with the beginning of the rise of Nazism and The Mortal Storm takes place as the Nazis are solidifying their control over Germany.
Both films are about how the political changes affect some very ordinary people. This film deals with the Roth family, Frank Morgan and Irene Rich, their children Margaret Sullavan and Gene Reynolds and Irene's sons by a first marriage, William T. Orr and Robert Stack. And of course Robert Young and James Stewart who are rivals for Sullavan.
The stepsons and Young are confirmed Nazis, they see Hitler's rise to power as a great thing, that Germany will take her place among the first rank of nations. Morgan, Stewart and Sullavan are appalled by the excesses and brutality in stamping out any contrary opinions that think the Third Reich is not a good thing.
It's hard to believe, but before World War II, Jimmy Stewart was cast in a few roles that are foreign types. Later on Stewart was the quintessential American character and the public would never have accepted him. He played non-Americans in Seventh Heaven, The Shop Around the Corner, and The Mortal Storm. The last two were done to critical and commercial success. Stewart's character of Martin Breitner, a farmer who wants to be a veterinarian, is as idealistic and decent as the very American Jefferson Smith. Probably why the public accepted Stewart in this role.
Also because the entire cast is American with the notable exception of Maria Ouspenskaya as Stewart's mother. So no foreign speech pattern stood out.
Frank Morgan was usually cast at MGM as a comic befuddled buffoon. Here in The Mortal Storm he shows his great skill as a player going completely against how he was usually typed. He's a college science professor who will not teach any Nazi pseudo-science about racial superiority of the Germans. His non-Aryan, read Jewish, name is carefully noted several times though the word 'Jew' is never used.
Margaret Sullavan once again is a tragic heroine. Considering the limited amount of films she did, I think Margaret Sullavan had more screen deaths per film than any other female player. She carried an aura of tragedy about her, probably a carry over from her real life. She and Stewart make a pair of tender lovers, just as she did in Three Comrades with Robert Taylor. Their life and happiness together are sacrificed by a brutal political regime.
Note the performances of Ward Bond as the local brownshirt, storm trooper leader and Dan Dailey as the young local head of the Hitler youth. Good studies in the kind of people the regime attracted and who could rise to the top in that kind of society.
The Mortal Storm still holds up well after over 60 years, a great study in the early days of a regime that made the world suffer.
Both films are about how the political changes affect some very ordinary people. This film deals with the Roth family, Frank Morgan and Irene Rich, their children Margaret Sullavan and Gene Reynolds and Irene's sons by a first marriage, William T. Orr and Robert Stack. And of course Robert Young and James Stewart who are rivals for Sullavan.
The stepsons and Young are confirmed Nazis, they see Hitler's rise to power as a great thing, that Germany will take her place among the first rank of nations. Morgan, Stewart and Sullavan are appalled by the excesses and brutality in stamping out any contrary opinions that think the Third Reich is not a good thing.
It's hard to believe, but before World War II, Jimmy Stewart was cast in a few roles that are foreign types. Later on Stewart was the quintessential American character and the public would never have accepted him. He played non-Americans in Seventh Heaven, The Shop Around the Corner, and The Mortal Storm. The last two were done to critical and commercial success. Stewart's character of Martin Breitner, a farmer who wants to be a veterinarian, is as idealistic and decent as the very American Jefferson Smith. Probably why the public accepted Stewart in this role.
Also because the entire cast is American with the notable exception of Maria Ouspenskaya as Stewart's mother. So no foreign speech pattern stood out.
Frank Morgan was usually cast at MGM as a comic befuddled buffoon. Here in The Mortal Storm he shows his great skill as a player going completely against how he was usually typed. He's a college science professor who will not teach any Nazi pseudo-science about racial superiority of the Germans. His non-Aryan, read Jewish, name is carefully noted several times though the word 'Jew' is never used.
Margaret Sullavan once again is a tragic heroine. Considering the limited amount of films she did, I think Margaret Sullavan had more screen deaths per film than any other female player. She carried an aura of tragedy about her, probably a carry over from her real life. She and Stewart make a pair of tender lovers, just as she did in Three Comrades with Robert Taylor. Their life and happiness together are sacrificed by a brutal political regime.
Note the performances of Ward Bond as the local brownshirt, storm trooper leader and Dan Dailey as the young local head of the Hitler youth. Good studies in the kind of people the regime attracted and who could rise to the top in that kind of society.
The Mortal Storm still holds up well after over 60 years, a great study in the early days of a regime that made the world suffer.
Hitler Hated This Film
irishcoffee63013 July 2003
Warning: Spoilers
When Hitler saw this movie he banned all MGM films from Nazi occupied Europe. That is how powerful this movie is. Top notch acting and high production values augment this thought provoking script about life in nazi Germany for an average family. Very final scene with a young Robert Stack and his brother is chilling. The message of this film of standing up against adversity and what you believe in, is as fresh today as in 1940 when this film was released. Cast is marvelous with a toss up between Jimmy Stewart and Frank Morgan (who played the wizard in Oz the year before) to who steals the film. But then everyone is good in this. Robert Young plays against type as an preppy evil Nazi. Interesting note: German Ambassador to US asked Louis B Mayer to "think twice" about releasing this movie. Thankfully he only thought once. See this you will not be disappointed.
Nothing short of a masterpiece !
nicholas.rhodes4 December 2004
This film is nothing short of a masterpiece ! For its time. Although the world situation has changed completely today, and the film may have little or no relevance to the current world situation, at the time in 1940, this was a very very powerful work indeed ! I had always been curious about this film, having read the book when I was young ( in the 1960's ) and was shocked by it ! It's not a war film and it's not the war aspect that frightened me. No, its the way a happily united family can become so disunited because of politics which sent shivers up my spine !! Suddenly, a peaceful and harmonious situation changes dramatically, and you are obliged to take sides, even fighting against your own blood. It really is awesome. Acting is first-rate and image, though in black and white is more than passable for the period ! I can well imagine the film to have been a very powerful piece of anti-Nazi propaganda ! I'm sorry to have to complain about this again but here we have yet another film which should have been out on DVD for several years but ........ there's no sign of it !
Quite honestly, I found this quite unnerving to watch and felt ill at ease observing the gradual breakdown within the family. It certainly isn't a film for the faint hearted and I won't go any further than mention briefly that AWFUL final scene ........!!
Quite honestly, I found this quite unnerving to watch and felt ill at ease observing the gradual breakdown within the family. It certainly isn't a film for the faint hearted and I won't go any further than mention briefly that AWFUL final scene ........!!
A storm of emotion
kmccabe-23 March 2003
I first saw The Mortal Storm when I was twelve or so and it made a huge impression on me. I've wanted to re-watch ever since and today, twenty-years later, I caught it again.
Produced in 1940, Frank Morgan, James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan head a terrific cast. This is a film which makes you think and makes you angry. Yes, it's melodramatic, but so what? It's melodrama in the best sense of the word. This is emotion serving the cause of reason, casting a shining light on darkness. This is a film which still has the power to make you sweat.
I'd like to address some of the specific criticisms made in the other comments.
Firstly, the film is set in 1933. It opens with the rise to power of Hitler, and visual references to the year 1933 appear in the film (The professor's paperwork in the prison, for instance, is dated August 29, 1933). How much time passes during the film is unclear, it is certainly less than a year, so escaping to Austria WAS still an option.
Secondly, the reason the "sons" could be Nazis, despite the Professor being "Non Aryan" was that they were his step-sons, the children of his wife's first marriage. I'm fairly certain that the daughter and younger son DID belong to the Professor, although this is not made clear.
Produced in 1940, Frank Morgan, James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan head a terrific cast. This is a film which makes you think and makes you angry. Yes, it's melodramatic, but so what? It's melodrama in the best sense of the word. This is emotion serving the cause of reason, casting a shining light on darkness. This is a film which still has the power to make you sweat.
I'd like to address some of the specific criticisms made in the other comments.
Firstly, the film is set in 1933. It opens with the rise to power of Hitler, and visual references to the year 1933 appear in the film (The professor's paperwork in the prison, for instance, is dated August 29, 1933). How much time passes during the film is unclear, it is certainly less than a year, so escaping to Austria WAS still an option.
Secondly, the reason the "sons" could be Nazis, despite the Professor being "Non Aryan" was that they were his step-sons, the children of his wife's first marriage. I'm fairly certain that the daughter and younger son DID belong to the Professor, although this is not made clear.
We didn't know...
lionel-libson-13 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Saw this film the other night for the first time. I'm in my early 70's and Jewish, I've always had strong feelings about the Nazis and about the question of German knowledge of, and participation in this horrible chapter in history.
"The Mortal Storm" is by no means a documentary, nor can it be seen as a deep, philosophical film. Yet, inadvertently or not, the characters and plot make it clear that Nazism was a cancer that reached into every aspect of life-from education to social events.
It's odd that a melodrama can have such powerful overtones, conveying horror with minimal bloodshed or even directly identifying the Roths as Jews. The film , for me, resonates more deeply than "Schindler's List", a Spielberg epic that somehow overlooks the fact that without Schindler, Krupp, et al, Hitler might have been a crank on a street corner, screaming to the wind.
The cast, Stewart, Sullavan, Morgan, etc., made me think I was watching a spin off of "Shop Around the Corner". I asked my wife, "Is this a Lubitsch film?" Watching these fine actors being caught in the nightmare of Hitlerism was a jarring note. Frank Morgan in a concentration camp? Margaret Sullivan dying in Stewart's arms? Ultimately, I saw that the casting(even Dan Dailey without taps) made the tragedy even deeper. We knew these people, albeit through the movies, but we felt their anguish all the more because we were watching the suffering of "friends".
Hannah Ahrendt wrote about the banality of evil...this film brings home the point.
"The Mortal Storm" is by no means a documentary, nor can it be seen as a deep, philosophical film. Yet, inadvertently or not, the characters and plot make it clear that Nazism was a cancer that reached into every aspect of life-from education to social events.
It's odd that a melodrama can have such powerful overtones, conveying horror with minimal bloodshed or even directly identifying the Roths as Jews. The film , for me, resonates more deeply than "Schindler's List", a Spielberg epic that somehow overlooks the fact that without Schindler, Krupp, et al, Hitler might have been a crank on a street corner, screaming to the wind.
The cast, Stewart, Sullavan, Morgan, etc., made me think I was watching a spin off of "Shop Around the Corner". I asked my wife, "Is this a Lubitsch film?" Watching these fine actors being caught in the nightmare of Hitlerism was a jarring note. Frank Morgan in a concentration camp? Margaret Sullivan dying in Stewart's arms? Ultimately, I saw that the casting(even Dan Dailey without taps) made the tragedy even deeper. We knew these people, albeit through the movies, but we felt their anguish all the more because we were watching the suffering of "friends".
Hannah Ahrendt wrote about the banality of evil...this film brings home the point.
Great performances;Fantastic unknown movie
4truth-112 January 2005
If you are a true fan of human drama and don't need high-tech or low-brow eye candy to entertain and move you than this film is a must see. Although it's hard to believe Jimmy Stewart as a German, (he makes no attempt at an accent) the story is utterly compelling. The movie is ell balanced with moments of suspense, romance, tension brutality, and levity. The most refreshing aspect is the lack of gratuitous sex and violence. I love watching a film that conveys violence, love and hatred without excessive or graphic images. It's set in a university town in the German Alps along the Austrian border. It chronicles the rise of the Nazi ethic as seen through the eyes of a Professor, his children and their friends. It gives raw insight into the indoctrination of Nazi youth. It is a great story of love, suffering and cruelty. You will not be disappointed.
A man's got to take a stand! If he's not with us he's against us!
sol-kay20 May 2007
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS***Celebraitng his 60th birthday on January 30, 1933 Prof. Victor Roth, Frank Morgan, has a lot to look back on in what he did to farther and expand the knowledge of science and the humanities and was looking forward to teach much more in the few years that he had left on this earth. But things would be somewhat different, and for the worst, for the old guy from that day on. You see January 30, 1933 also happened to be the very date that Adolph Hitler would become the Chancellor, and later Fuhrer, of the new and dictatorial Nazi Germany. After that momentous event things would, for kind sweet and non-violent people like Professor Roth, never ever be the same again.
Marching into town dozens of Nazi brown-shirted storm-troopers start to make life a living hell for Prof. Roth and those who refuse or aren't exactly willing to go along with their agenda. An evil agenda of super-patriotism and hatred of those who either don't conform or aren't that crazy to go along with their weird and hair-brained ideas. Soon many Germans end up being disappeared into internment and concentration camps never to heard or seen again until their released to their next of kin for, after being worked over starved and tortured, burial.
One of those who refuses to go along with the New Order in the new Nazi Germany is farm-boy and future veterinarian Martin Brehner, James Stewart, who's just plain old common as well as horse sense tells him that the Nazis ideology just isn't on the level, or kosher. Martin for one says that he isn't going to have anything to do with it, he Nazi Party, even if he has to leave the country for feeling that way. Martin didn't realize how prophetic that statement, or idea, was as events in the movie would later have him do just that.
Old man Roth is brutally beaten up and throw into a Nazi concentration camp, minus his overcoat and rubbers, for the unforgivable "crime" of being too pacifistic in his teaching to his students that love, not war, is the way to go. Kept in isolation for weeks on end in a cold dark cell Roth ends up dying in captivity. Roth's grieving daughter Freya, Margaret Sullivan, who's also Martin's girlfriend is now determined to leave the country, like Martin later did, by crossing the border into friendly and non-Nazi Austria. This is in 1933 five years before the 1938 German takeover of that country
We see in the movie "The Mortal Storm" how a foreign and frightening ideology can infect a highly cultured and progressive country like Germany by taking over the hearts minds and souls of millions of it's people and turning them into a nation of mindless zombies virtually over night. The horrors that the Nazi regime visits on the people in that small and sleepy German village that the movie takes place in is multiplied by hundreds, if not thousands, like-wise towns villages and cities within the next six years. Thus turning that great and highly cultured and civilized country into a mindless and ruthless Frankenstein Monster that would not be satisfied until it controlled not only it's immediate neighbors but the entire world!
Martin for his part is not at all that happy in being able to flee Nazi Germany without his love Freya who's kept virtually under house arrest by the local Nazis. Martin decides to go it alone and back into Nazi Germany in order to take Freya back home with him to Austria. Later, making their escape, the two are ambushed by a Nazi ski patrol at the Karwendel Pass, on the dangerous Alps slopes of the German/Austrian border, lead by Freya's ex-lover and now gong-ho Nazi fanatic Fritz Marberg, Robert Young. Freya ends up being shot and killed by Fritz's men as she, and Martin, refuses to turn back into Germany. Fritz now finally seeing what a mistake he made in his embracing the Nazi regimes is left a both heart-sick and heart-broken young man. Later, with tears in his eyes, Fritz tells Freya's two brothers who are also Nazi fanatics like himself, Otto & Eric, Robert Stack & William T. Orr, what he did, in his responsibility in their sisters death. Fritz's only excuse for his action is that he was only following orders!
P.S This lame excuse for committing government crimes, "I was only Following Orders", was to become the so-called "Nuremburg Defense" for Nazi, as well as many other nations, war criminals over the last sixty or so years since the end of WWII. Like it was brought out back at Nuremburg in 1945/46 that the person obeying and executing an illegal as well as official order is just as guilty as the superior office or either elected or anointed national leader who gave it.
Marching into town dozens of Nazi brown-shirted storm-troopers start to make life a living hell for Prof. Roth and those who refuse or aren't exactly willing to go along with their agenda. An evil agenda of super-patriotism and hatred of those who either don't conform or aren't that crazy to go along with their weird and hair-brained ideas. Soon many Germans end up being disappeared into internment and concentration camps never to heard or seen again until their released to their next of kin for, after being worked over starved and tortured, burial.
One of those who refuses to go along with the New Order in the new Nazi Germany is farm-boy and future veterinarian Martin Brehner, James Stewart, who's just plain old common as well as horse sense tells him that the Nazis ideology just isn't on the level, or kosher. Martin for one says that he isn't going to have anything to do with it, he Nazi Party, even if he has to leave the country for feeling that way. Martin didn't realize how prophetic that statement, or idea, was as events in the movie would later have him do just that.
Old man Roth is brutally beaten up and throw into a Nazi concentration camp, minus his overcoat and rubbers, for the unforgivable "crime" of being too pacifistic in his teaching to his students that love, not war, is the way to go. Kept in isolation for weeks on end in a cold dark cell Roth ends up dying in captivity. Roth's grieving daughter Freya, Margaret Sullivan, who's also Martin's girlfriend is now determined to leave the country, like Martin later did, by crossing the border into friendly and non-Nazi Austria. This is in 1933 five years before the 1938 German takeover of that country
We see in the movie "The Mortal Storm" how a foreign and frightening ideology can infect a highly cultured and progressive country like Germany by taking over the hearts minds and souls of millions of it's people and turning them into a nation of mindless zombies virtually over night. The horrors that the Nazi regime visits on the people in that small and sleepy German village that the movie takes place in is multiplied by hundreds, if not thousands, like-wise towns villages and cities within the next six years. Thus turning that great and highly cultured and civilized country into a mindless and ruthless Frankenstein Monster that would not be satisfied until it controlled not only it's immediate neighbors but the entire world!
Martin for his part is not at all that happy in being able to flee Nazi Germany without his love Freya who's kept virtually under house arrest by the local Nazis. Martin decides to go it alone and back into Nazi Germany in order to take Freya back home with him to Austria. Later, making their escape, the two are ambushed by a Nazi ski patrol at the Karwendel Pass, on the dangerous Alps slopes of the German/Austrian border, lead by Freya's ex-lover and now gong-ho Nazi fanatic Fritz Marberg, Robert Young. Freya ends up being shot and killed by Fritz's men as she, and Martin, refuses to turn back into Germany. Fritz now finally seeing what a mistake he made in his embracing the Nazi regimes is left a both heart-sick and heart-broken young man. Later, with tears in his eyes, Fritz tells Freya's two brothers who are also Nazi fanatics like himself, Otto & Eric, Robert Stack & William T. Orr, what he did, in his responsibility in their sisters death. Fritz's only excuse for his action is that he was only following orders!
P.S This lame excuse for committing government crimes, "I was only Following Orders", was to become the so-called "Nuremburg Defense" for Nazi, as well as many other nations, war criminals over the last sixty or so years since the end of WWII. Like it was brought out back at Nuremburg in 1945/46 that the person obeying and executing an illegal as well as official order is just as guilty as the superior office or either elected or anointed national leader who gave it.
A small Bavarian village succumbs to peer pressure as Hitler ascends to power.
oneofthefewwithtwo23 March 2004
The Mortal Storm is one of the few movies which shows the shift in attitudes which occurred among the German people after Hitler came to power. Although innumerable movies have been made about WWII, very few address the issue of peer pressure and its affect on the average, non-Jewish German. As a high school teacher, I have used this film in my classes for its unique perspective, and to demonstrate that peer pressure exists for adults as well as adolescents. Although the actual sets are unrealistic by today's high standards, they are understandable given world conditions at the time of filming, and can actually add to an appreciation of the horror of the war. Viewing this film led to intense and thought-provoking discussion among my students. Any viewer with an understanding of history will undoubtedly find this movie compelling in spite of its technological limitations.
Convincing war-time drama packs quite a punch...
moonspinner5516 January 2007
Brave, hard-hitting adaptation of Phyllis Bottoms' novel concerns tight-knit German family in 1933 Europe who are suddenly (and violently) torn apart by the invading Nazis once Hitler rises to power. A shattering chapter in history is vividly recalled by director Frank Borzage and a terrific cast including James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, Robert Young, Robert Stack, and Frank Morgan. MGM production was banned in Germany and, in fact, caused all MGM product to be banned there for several years! Story of family love overcome by war and power has not aged a bit, with haunting scenes and fine b&w cinematography. *** from ****
A Lasting Shelter Against Ignorant Fears
utgard149 December 2013
Sincere, moving story about the Nazi takeover in Germany and its affect on one family in particular. The father (Frank Morgan) is sent to a concentration camp. His stepsons become ardent Nazis, as does the man who was supposed to marry his daughter (Margaret Sullavan). This also drives a wedge between the sons and a lifelong friend (James Stewart), who is in love with Sullavan.
Beautifully acted with fine performances from all. Stewart and Sullavan are amazing. Robert Young, usually playing good guy parts, here plays a Nazi. Bonita Granville does well, as does Ward Bond in a villainous part. Maria Ouspenskaya is brilliant as usual. But the best kudos would have to go to Frank Morgan for his sensitive, intelligent performance. Possibly the finest of his career. Robert Stack also appears as one of the Nazi stepsons and plays a part in the film's powerful final scene.
This is truly a classic in every sense of the word. It's a movie that should be seen by everybody, both for its content as well as its historical value.
Beautifully acted with fine performances from all. Stewart and Sullavan are amazing. Robert Young, usually playing good guy parts, here plays a Nazi. Bonita Granville does well, as does Ward Bond in a villainous part. Maria Ouspenskaya is brilliant as usual. But the best kudos would have to go to Frank Morgan for his sensitive, intelligent performance. Possibly the finest of his career. Robert Stack also appears as one of the Nazi stepsons and plays a part in the film's powerful final scene.
This is truly a classic in every sense of the word. It's a movie that should be seen by everybody, both for its content as well as its historical value.
One of Best Horror Films of All Time - The Mortal Storm
arthur_tafero31 July 2021
This is not a war film; nor a human drama; it is, however, an excellent horror movie. It is one of the best horror films ever put out by Hollywood. It could have been hokey, corny, or overly dramatic, but it is merely a statement of the realities of the time and place. Zombie and Dracula films pale in comparison to these horrors. It is the horror of the soul that is far greater than the horror of the body. A film to be cherished for the ages.
The Mortal Storm
jboothmillard5 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
This film is one I found listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I didn't know what the meaning of the title was, but it didn't matter, I recognised names in the cast, I was looking forward to trying it, directed by Frank Borzage (7th Heaven, A Farewell to Arms). Basically in a small village in southern Germany, Professor Viktor Roth (The Wizard of Oz's Frank Morgan) has a quiet and content with life with his family and friend, and is happy to be celebrating his 60th birthday. The professor is admired by his colleagues and students and much loved by his wife Emilia (Irene Rich), stepsons Otto Von Rohn (Robert Stack) and Erich Von Rohn (William T. Orr), and his daughter Freya (Margaret Sullavan). His birthday on January 30, 1933 also becomes the day that Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany, leading to the Nazis coming to power. Freya is engaged to Nazi party member Fritz Marberg (Robert Young), she breaks off their engagement after realising the true nature of his political views. She turns her attention to anti-Nazi and lifelong friend Martin Breitner (James Stewart), they soon fall in love. Erich and Otto eagerly embrace the regime, but Professor Roth does not abide by the attitude of the new order towards scientific fact, leading to his classes being boycotted. The professor is arrested by the Nazis for being "non-Aryan", he is sent to a concentration camp and forced to perform strenuous physical labour. Emilia is permitted a five-minute visit, with strict instructions from his captors to only discuss family matters, the professor urges her to take Freya and her brother Rudi (Gene Reynolds) and leave the country, he dies soon after from a heart attack. The oppressive regime forces Martin to flee to Austria, and Freya is detained from leaving by Nazi officials suspicious of her father's work, she insists his work is being kept for sentimental purposes, but they refuse to let her take it with her. Freya reunites with Martin and together they try to escape through a mountain pass, but a squad, led by a reluctant Fritz, chase them, Freya is fatally wounds and dies in Martin's arms after they cross the border. Otto and Erich are informed of her death, Erich expresses anger towards Martin, while Otto has an epiphany, leaves home, rejects the Nazi regime and their cruel doctrine. Also starring Bonita Granville as Elsa, Maria Ouspenskaya as Mrs. Hilda Breitner, Russell Hicks as Rector, William Edmunds as Lehman, Esther Dale as Marta and Dan Dailey as Holl. Sullavan is good as the innocent young woman having her family torn apart by the political changes, Stewart as always is likeable, and character actor Morgan gives a touching performance as the father watching his family disintegrate. This film was very daring and brave at the time, it does soften the true horror of the time period with sentimental stuff, but it does make you realise the severity and dangers of Nazism, an interesting classic drama. Worth watching!
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
MISSMOOHERSELF20 May 2003
Things we take for granted such as freedom to think as we believe and to express those thoughts were snatched away abruptly from the German people in 1933 when Adolph Hitler was "elected" chancellor of Germany. Freedom was replaced by the New Order and as most people know, millions of people were murdered simply because they didn't fit the racial "norms" or accept the dictates of what the government said one should believe,
It's 1933 and Professor Viktor Roth (Frank Morgan) lives with his wife, 2 step sons, daughter and young son in a comfortable home in a university town in the Alps. Although the word is never mentioned, it is clear Professor Roth is Jewish and his life becomes endangered when the Nazis take over. While his 2 stepsons join the party, as does Fritz, his daughter's fiance (played by Robert Young), his daughter and their old family friend Martin (played by Jimmy Stewart) defy the common tide and resist joining the party. And it is Jimmy Stewart who expresses it best - by saying freedom to believe as a person wants to is food and drink to him. And it turns out, it's food and drink to Freya Roth (played by Margaret Sullavan), the young daughter to whom he is attracted. She breaks her engagement to Fritz and escapes -- or tries to -- with Martin. He had already fled to still free Austria while helping a Jewish school teacher escape.
This movie says much about what we take for granted - the sacredness of the right to act, believe, speak and think as a person wishes to, unencumbered by government dictates or threats. These gifts are precious and we have no idea just how precious until they are threatened. If, God forbid, that should ever happen, it is only hoped we have the same courage as young Freya and Martin.
This movie is compelling in a quiet way. There are no shoot 'em ups, no gory prison or execution scenes, no barbarity is shown. But it is there nevertheless and perhaps that is what makes the viewer keep watching. The only drawback is that it was written in 1940 so viewers back then don't really know the ending because the war had another 4 y ears to go and victory was by no means certain in 1940. The U.S. hadn't entered the war yet but word was leaking out as to what was really going on in Germany at the time. It's a shame more people didn't listen and that more people didn't pay attention to the message delivered in such a subtle way in this movie.
It's 1933 and Professor Viktor Roth (Frank Morgan) lives with his wife, 2 step sons, daughter and young son in a comfortable home in a university town in the Alps. Although the word is never mentioned, it is clear Professor Roth is Jewish and his life becomes endangered when the Nazis take over. While his 2 stepsons join the party, as does Fritz, his daughter's fiance (played by Robert Young), his daughter and their old family friend Martin (played by Jimmy Stewart) defy the common tide and resist joining the party. And it is Jimmy Stewart who expresses it best - by saying freedom to believe as a person wants to is food and drink to him. And it turns out, it's food and drink to Freya Roth (played by Margaret Sullavan), the young daughter to whom he is attracted. She breaks her engagement to Fritz and escapes -- or tries to -- with Martin. He had already fled to still free Austria while helping a Jewish school teacher escape.
This movie says much about what we take for granted - the sacredness of the right to act, believe, speak and think as a person wishes to, unencumbered by government dictates or threats. These gifts are precious and we have no idea just how precious until they are threatened. If, God forbid, that should ever happen, it is only hoped we have the same courage as young Freya and Martin.
This movie is compelling in a quiet way. There are no shoot 'em ups, no gory prison or execution scenes, no barbarity is shown. But it is there nevertheless and perhaps that is what makes the viewer keep watching. The only drawback is that it was written in 1940 so viewers back then don't really know the ending because the war had another 4 y ears to go and victory was by no means certain in 1940. The U.S. hadn't entered the war yet but word was leaking out as to what was really going on in Germany at the time. It's a shame more people didn't listen and that more people didn't pay attention to the message delivered in such a subtle way in this movie.
Scary in 1940, and frightening in 2017.
mark.waltz3 April 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Having seen this movie version of the novel by Phyllis Bottome many times, I had not realized that this would be very potent and reflect the goings on of civilization in my lifetime. This is set during the rise of Hitler and immediately afterwards as the power and terror he sets on the German people creates fear in those who are either not Aryan or opposed to the Nazi's methods. Decent young men turn into monsters overnight as the humiliations of the past decades after the first world war creates a desire for change that can only be achieved through a mad man. A beloved university professor (Frank Morgan), honored on his 60th birthday for the desire to pass on his immense knowledge, finds that one night of tribute for a lifetime of work is wiped out by the announcement that Hitler has just been made chancellor. I could imagine featured actress Esther Dale biting her tongue as her character expressed joy over announcing the news, with Morgan's stepsons (Robert Stack and William T. Orr) overjoyed, as well as longtime family friend Robert Young. Morgan's daughter (Margaret Sullavan) is aware that this means trouble, as does their pacifist friend James Stewart. Stewart's pacifist nature is immediately questioned, but his determination and belief that "peace is better than war" sustains him even though he knows that war is most likely imminent. It's sooner rather than later that the students who previously praised Morgan are boycotting his class (leaving threats to those who remain), and the scene is soon followed by the horrific burning of books.
This is a hard film to watch at times because it is darker than most of the films that showed the atrocities going on pre American involvement. This is much needed propaganda lead Americans to the realization that pretty soon, their own young would be needed to fight for freedom as country after country fell under the evil of fascism. The film covers the attempts of Morgan, wife Irene Rich and daughter Sullavan to attempt to leave Germany as quickly as possible, but as we came to learn, that was not always possible under the evils of the government's wide eye. The friendships that Stewart, Young, Stack, Orr and a young Dan Dailey (particularly vicious as the youth leader) grew up depending on were all destroyed within days, and in retrospect, it's a very sad story on that level, on the level of inhumanity, on the shock of sudden change and constant fear, and on the insinuation that many of these young men knew that they were doing wrong, but out of fear or misguided loyalty to their old friends felt that they must go along. A telling example is between Orr and Stack where one of them begins to question what they are doing, leading to a horrifying reaction from the other. Young Bonita Granville, as Ouspenskaya's servant girl, shows the most fear, something she lost a few years later when she appeared in the exploitation drama "Hitler's Children".
The snowy scenery of the Alps and the surrounding area is gorgeously photographed, and this is brilliantly directed by the magnificent Frank Borzage. Every single performance is superb, with Morgan winning your heart the moment he steps up to begin his class and realizes that it won't be a normal day as it is evident that the crowd inside the auditorium is larger than normal. But the horror that crosses his face after being sung happy birthday to by the sudden announcement is just the beginning. This is not the flibbertigibbet Morgan of his many "Wizard of Oz" like characters; He's devoted to his entire family, some of whom are not related by blood, and as the horrors continue to surround him, the pained look in his face shows a man defeated by obstacles he believed he would never see in his lifetime. Rich is very subtle as his loyal wife. Sullavan, who had a different type of snowy scenery with Stewart in the same year's "The Shop Around the Corner", shows an underlying strength, an integrity, and she's a heroine to root for. Young and Stewart are the two male leads, and while it's shocking to see Young playing a Nazi, he is sensational in the part, as if he knew that the only way to portray this character was to go into it full force. Stewart seems too all American to me to be fully believable in the part, too Mr. Smith to be German, even a pacifist one. But it's an important film in his career, one he played obviously because he believed in the film and its message.
The sudden twist of the young men into vicious Nazi's reminds me of the division of the United States today over liberal and conservative causes. Where Americans used to have the capacity to "agree to disagree", we now fight and argue anonymously over every single news item, whether allegedly true or "alternative facts". It's a slower revolution than what was going on in Germany from 1933 on, but it is equally scary, with people branded in unfavorable lights simply by disagreeing over what's going on in the new government. The passive/aggressive way this is happening doesn't seem based on any particular leaders interference, but like those loyal to Hitler in 1933, those either for or against the leaders today are so passionately hateful towards those with whom they do not agree. We were supposed to learn from the travesty's of World War II that only through freedom and the ability to express our thoughts without fear of repercussion could we maintain a civilization free of a bully leader like Hitler. Yes, watching this 77 year old movie brings up all those thoughts and more, and that is the power of cinema. Without films like "The Mortal Storm", we would have nothing to look back to in order to guide us to a hopefully better future.
This is a hard film to watch at times because it is darker than most of the films that showed the atrocities going on pre American involvement. This is much needed propaganda lead Americans to the realization that pretty soon, their own young would be needed to fight for freedom as country after country fell under the evil of fascism. The film covers the attempts of Morgan, wife Irene Rich and daughter Sullavan to attempt to leave Germany as quickly as possible, but as we came to learn, that was not always possible under the evils of the government's wide eye. The friendships that Stewart, Young, Stack, Orr and a young Dan Dailey (particularly vicious as the youth leader) grew up depending on were all destroyed within days, and in retrospect, it's a very sad story on that level, on the level of inhumanity, on the shock of sudden change and constant fear, and on the insinuation that many of these young men knew that they were doing wrong, but out of fear or misguided loyalty to their old friends felt that they must go along. A telling example is between Orr and Stack where one of them begins to question what they are doing, leading to a horrifying reaction from the other. Young Bonita Granville, as Ouspenskaya's servant girl, shows the most fear, something she lost a few years later when she appeared in the exploitation drama "Hitler's Children".
The snowy scenery of the Alps and the surrounding area is gorgeously photographed, and this is brilliantly directed by the magnificent Frank Borzage. Every single performance is superb, with Morgan winning your heart the moment he steps up to begin his class and realizes that it won't be a normal day as it is evident that the crowd inside the auditorium is larger than normal. But the horror that crosses his face after being sung happy birthday to by the sudden announcement is just the beginning. This is not the flibbertigibbet Morgan of his many "Wizard of Oz" like characters; He's devoted to his entire family, some of whom are not related by blood, and as the horrors continue to surround him, the pained look in his face shows a man defeated by obstacles he believed he would never see in his lifetime. Rich is very subtle as his loyal wife. Sullavan, who had a different type of snowy scenery with Stewart in the same year's "The Shop Around the Corner", shows an underlying strength, an integrity, and she's a heroine to root for. Young and Stewart are the two male leads, and while it's shocking to see Young playing a Nazi, he is sensational in the part, as if he knew that the only way to portray this character was to go into it full force. Stewart seems too all American to me to be fully believable in the part, too Mr. Smith to be German, even a pacifist one. But it's an important film in his career, one he played obviously because he believed in the film and its message.
The sudden twist of the young men into vicious Nazi's reminds me of the division of the United States today over liberal and conservative causes. Where Americans used to have the capacity to "agree to disagree", we now fight and argue anonymously over every single news item, whether allegedly true or "alternative facts". It's a slower revolution than what was going on in Germany from 1933 on, but it is equally scary, with people branded in unfavorable lights simply by disagreeing over what's going on in the new government. The passive/aggressive way this is happening doesn't seem based on any particular leaders interference, but like those loyal to Hitler in 1933, those either for or against the leaders today are so passionately hateful towards those with whom they do not agree. We were supposed to learn from the travesty's of World War II that only through freedom and the ability to express our thoughts without fear of repercussion could we maintain a civilization free of a bully leader like Hitler. Yes, watching this 77 year old movie brings up all those thoughts and more, and that is the power of cinema. Without films like "The Mortal Storm", we would have nothing to look back to in order to guide us to a hopefully better future.
MGM enters the fray with a pre-war film about the dangers of fascism
AlsExGal14 July 2019
This film was a powerful indictment of the growing Nazi menace designed as a warning to wake up a complacent America which was steeped in isolationism at the time. MGM had been avoiding making such films, although Warner Brothers had made several that overtly criticized fascism by 1940.
The film opens with the 60th birthday party of an imminent German professor. His wife, two stepsons, and his son and daughter are at the table. This happy family moment is meant to contrast with the rest of the film, which is a downhill slide into intolerance and fear from that point forward, as Adolph Hitler is named chancellor of Germany that very night.
Margaret Sullavan plays the professor's grown daughter, engaged to Robert Young who turns out to be a fanatical party member who sees obeying as a duty above all else. James Stewart is the family friend and geeky guy who loves Sullavan's character from afar and also loves democracy and hates bullies - things that will get you in trouble in 1930s Germany. The role of the Jewish college professor who refuses to bend his teaching to suit government beliefs is probably the best of Frank Morgan's career. It's a good serious role for someone so often relegated to the comic relief at MGM.
Other people have said that the word "Germany" is never used, but I am almost sure I heard it. For sure, everything else said certainly indicates without doubt that this is the country that is being talked about. The one thing the film does not do is mention the Jews specifically and the danger that they are in under the new regime. The closest the film comes is Sullavan's character talking to Robert Young about "her people".
The film is a powerful one, and includes a good but brief supporting role for Maria Ouspenskaya as the mother of James Stewart's character. She is no frail old woman - she knows what is at stake and what she is up against. You get the feeling she has seen authoritarian governments come and go before.
Highly recommended - it packs a powerful and heart rending punch.
The film opens with the 60th birthday party of an imminent German professor. His wife, two stepsons, and his son and daughter are at the table. This happy family moment is meant to contrast with the rest of the film, which is a downhill slide into intolerance and fear from that point forward, as Adolph Hitler is named chancellor of Germany that very night.
Margaret Sullavan plays the professor's grown daughter, engaged to Robert Young who turns out to be a fanatical party member who sees obeying as a duty above all else. James Stewart is the family friend and geeky guy who loves Sullavan's character from afar and also loves democracy and hates bullies - things that will get you in trouble in 1930s Germany. The role of the Jewish college professor who refuses to bend his teaching to suit government beliefs is probably the best of Frank Morgan's career. It's a good serious role for someone so often relegated to the comic relief at MGM.
Other people have said that the word "Germany" is never used, but I am almost sure I heard it. For sure, everything else said certainly indicates without doubt that this is the country that is being talked about. The one thing the film does not do is mention the Jews specifically and the danger that they are in under the new regime. The closest the film comes is Sullavan's character talking to Robert Young about "her people".
The film is a powerful one, and includes a good but brief supporting role for Maria Ouspenskaya as the mother of James Stewart's character. She is no frail old woman - she knows what is at stake and what she is up against. You get the feeling she has seen authoritarian governments come and go before.
Highly recommended - it packs a powerful and heart rending punch.
The first half of the film is extremely well made and credible
antoniocasaca12326 March 2018
A good film by Frank Borzage, curiously a director who has won 2 Oscars and is practically a stranger. We have seen many films in the second war but few on the awakening of Nazism, when Hitler comes to power in 1933, and the consequences of this in Germany itself, particularly in the families and relations between people, depending on the position of each on ideology of Hitler and Nazism. The first half of the film is extremely well made and credible, with Hitler's supporters wanting to impose the new ideology by force on those who do not refer to that ideology. We see that, very quickly, non-supporters of the regime were persecuted, arrested and even murdered. Hitler's doctrine was quickly assimilated by much of the German youth of the time. Thankfully there were exceptions such as the cases of the characters played by James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan, in the figure of two in love that Nazism in Germany threatens to separate. All these aspects are shown very convincingly in the first half of the film. The second half of the movie does not have the same level as the first, being a bit melodramatic and dragged. The film culminates in a beautiful scene filmed by Borzage, with the leading pair, on the run, "getting lost" in the snow...
great anti-Nazi film
SnoopyStyle8 August 2019
It's 1933 southern Germany. Professor Roth (Frank Morgan) is beloved by his students. Hitler comes to power and most of his students are overjoyed. Student Martin Breitner (James Stewart) is a pacifist and much more cautious. His friends keep trying to recruit him but he resists. The professor's daughter Freya Roth (Margaret Sullavan) cancels her engagement to Fritz who has become a Nazi fanatic. Family friend Werner comes to the Breitners and seeks safe harbor from arrest. Martin guides him to Austria through a mountain pass. Then Professor Roth is himself arrested.
This is an early anti-Nazi film and one of the best at its time. It does pull back a couple of punches but it lands a lot of great hits. It doesn't state right out that the Roth are Jewish or not. The most compelling is when the Nazis confront Professor Roth in his class. It has a similar echo for today when scientific facts are once again challenge without reason. It is emotional and compelling historically. It was very relevant in its day and still relevant today.
This is an early anti-Nazi film and one of the best at its time. It does pull back a couple of punches but it lands a lot of great hits. It doesn't state right out that the Roth are Jewish or not. The most compelling is when the Nazis confront Professor Roth in his class. It has a similar echo for today when scientific facts are once again challenge without reason. It is emotional and compelling historically. It was very relevant in its day and still relevant today.
Stormy morals
AAdaSC25 July 2014
Frank Morgan (Professor Roth) is a respected German Scientist/Biology Lecturer. The film starts on his 60th birthday in 1933 – the same day that Adolf Hitler assumes the Chancellorship of Germany. Uh-oh
. Maybe things won't be the same.
This film entertains as it shows the bullying power (Nazis) that can be very scary – in any walk of life. The satisfaction comes from the fight back, in this film, led by James Stewart (Martin Breitner) and his mother Maria Ouspenskaya (Mrs Breitner).
A scene that stands out for me is the mock wedding that is staged by Ouspenskaya as she unites her son, James Stewart, and his wife-to-be Margaret Sullavan (Freya) at her home before the two lovers embark upon their escape. The scene is played with sentimentality at first that may make you feel that you are embarking upon some kind of nonsense until you realize that this is Ouspenskaya's last moment that she can share in happiness. Very touching.
What is interesting is this film as a document of a time gone by with how things were in Nazi times. There will always be suppression in some form across the globe. I felt that the film delivers a standard ending, however, but the tears should be saved for Maria Ouspa and her fate.
This film entertains as it shows the bullying power (Nazis) that can be very scary – in any walk of life. The satisfaction comes from the fight back, in this film, led by James Stewart (Martin Breitner) and his mother Maria Ouspenskaya (Mrs Breitner).
A scene that stands out for me is the mock wedding that is staged by Ouspenskaya as she unites her son, James Stewart, and his wife-to-be Margaret Sullavan (Freya) at her home before the two lovers embark upon their escape. The scene is played with sentimentality at first that may make you feel that you are embarking upon some kind of nonsense until you realize that this is Ouspenskaya's last moment that she can share in happiness. Very touching.
What is interesting is this film as a document of a time gone by with how things were in Nazi times. There will always be suppression in some form across the globe. I felt that the film delivers a standard ending, however, but the tears should be saved for Maria Ouspa and her fate.
One Of The 10 Best Films Made In The 20th Century
hoyteiii27 December 2000
I have been an avid film buff for many years, and I thought I had seen all of the best, until I first saw "The Mortal Storm" in 1989 on late night television. This film which is from the novel by Phyllis Bottome, is without question one of the most well constructed films I have ever seen. This film was produced and released in 1940, before World War II was declared, and was a very courageous undertaking, considering the subject matter. But then Metro Goldwyn Mayer was noted for doing almost the impossible. The character study of these individuals, whose lives are totally disrupted is remarkable. This film should be shown to every student who is learning the true facts about world history. Personally I rate this film with an A+.
To Be A Nazi, Or, To Not Be A Nazi? That Is The Question
strong-122-47888521 December 2013
Despite Mortal Storm's numerous flaws and its unintentionally laughable opening narration (which came across to me as being almost lunatic), this film still manages to deliver a powerful anti-Nazi message that packs a punch, even when viewed today, 74 years later.
Considering that back in 1940 the USA was not yet involved in the war that was raging away in Europe, I'm quite surprised that MGM Studios actually went out on a limb and released a film of this one's nature, which clearly paints a very negative picture of the gloom & doom regarding the rise of The Third Reich in Nazi Germany.
Is it any wonder that after the infuriated Adolf Hitler viewed Mortal Storm he promptly ordered his minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, to have all films produced by MGM banned throughout Germany?
Set in 1933 (the year Hitler was elected as Chancellor of Germany), Mortal Storm's "swastika-in-your-face" story of escalating emotions, blind intolerance, family betrayal and Nazi loyalty takes place in a small Bavarian university town situated at the base of the Alps.
The action of Mortal Storm's story focuses in on the well-respected and well-to-do Roth family whose head of the household is a greatly admired professor at the Bahnhoff University.
Once Hitler is placed in supreme power this, in turn, gets the "party-loyalty" juices flowing amongst the young, adult males throughout this once-quiet town. (Never do we ever see any women joining in on this fanatic political movement)
Needless to say, all of this turmoil quickly begins to sever the close-knit ties that had previously held the Roth family (as well as many others) together.
I think that it's interesting to note that neither the word "Jew" nor "Nazi" were ever spoken in this film.
And, finally - When it came to Mortal Storm's cast, I, personally, thought that both James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan were clearly unconvincing and not at all suited for the dramatic demands of their parts.
On the other hand, the one performance that I consider to be something of a standout was that of Robert Young as Fritz Marberg, the zealous yet tortured young student who finds himself torn between his loyalty to his friends and his fanatical allegiance to Nazism.
All-in-all - Mortal Storm, which was filmed in b&w, was certainly well-worth a view.
Considering that back in 1940 the USA was not yet involved in the war that was raging away in Europe, I'm quite surprised that MGM Studios actually went out on a limb and released a film of this one's nature, which clearly paints a very negative picture of the gloom & doom regarding the rise of The Third Reich in Nazi Germany.
Is it any wonder that after the infuriated Adolf Hitler viewed Mortal Storm he promptly ordered his minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, to have all films produced by MGM banned throughout Germany?
Set in 1933 (the year Hitler was elected as Chancellor of Germany), Mortal Storm's "swastika-in-your-face" story of escalating emotions, blind intolerance, family betrayal and Nazi loyalty takes place in a small Bavarian university town situated at the base of the Alps.
The action of Mortal Storm's story focuses in on the well-respected and well-to-do Roth family whose head of the household is a greatly admired professor at the Bahnhoff University.
Once Hitler is placed in supreme power this, in turn, gets the "party-loyalty" juices flowing amongst the young, adult males throughout this once-quiet town. (Never do we ever see any women joining in on this fanatic political movement)
Needless to say, all of this turmoil quickly begins to sever the close-knit ties that had previously held the Roth family (as well as many others) together.
I think that it's interesting to note that neither the word "Jew" nor "Nazi" were ever spoken in this film.
And, finally - When it came to Mortal Storm's cast, I, personally, thought that both James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan were clearly unconvincing and not at all suited for the dramatic demands of their parts.
On the other hand, the one performance that I consider to be something of a standout was that of Robert Young as Fritz Marberg, the zealous yet tortured young student who finds himself torn between his loyalty to his friends and his fanatical allegiance to Nazism.
All-in-all - Mortal Storm, which was filmed in b&w, was certainly well-worth a view.
Not one of Hitler's top ten favorites
tbsuta13 April 2019
Great movie showing the beginnings of a transformation of a democracy to tyrannical rule. Interesting that the first stage was the intolerance of any dissenting views and opinions. Any democratic country MUST preserve freedom of speech and oppose any political party of movement or company that seeks to silence based on political views. Every American should watch this movie!
Smiling: Streng Verboten.
rmax30482328 November 2009
Warning: Spoilers
This is like the ABCs of Naziism. In 1933 Germany there is this perfect family headed by a beloved, elderly professor of physiology, Frank Morgan (the wizard of Oz). His wife is devoted to him and their children, two young men and a girl, Margaret Sullavan. On the old fellow's 60th birthday he is given a tribute in his classroom by two of his students, the medical student Robert Young, and the veterinarian James Stewart. Both of them are in love with Sullavan but Young is the more assertive of the two and seems to be winning her heart.
That night, at dinner, the prof is presented with a birthday cake and the family and guests, including Young and Stewart, applaud when he blows out the candles.
The dinner is interrupted by the radio announcement that Hitler has been appointed chancellor. The festive group creaks for a few moments and then falls apart. Young and the prof's two sons cheer. Germany will now be renewed and the so-called pacifists quieted. The professor himself looks thoughtful. Stewart is patently disappointed. The women voice no opinion but seem worried. Kinder, Kirche, Kuchen.
Overnight -- and I mean RIGHT AWAY -- Robert Young and the prof's two sons begin wearing Nazi uniforms and acting like robots. They denounce the Roth family and Stewart while standing at attention and addressing the walls. They are organized by Gauleiter Dan Dailey, if you can imagine Dan Dailey as a sneering Nazi.
What follows is a kind of Kindergarten lesson on how Fascism works. You must be of Aryan descent to be free of harassment, naturally, and you must be politically correct. Otherwise you are either jailed like the professor, who has been teaching that there are no differences between Aryan and non-Aryan blood, or else you are beaten and finally driven into exile like the dissident Stewart. One by one, the political demands destroy the affectionate world we were introduced to. Stewart and Sullavan try to make their escape over the mountains into Austria, not anticipating that it will be only a temporary haven.
It's a Classic Comic version of the rise of Naziism, boiled down to its value-laden essence. The story doesn't try to explain the nationalistic appeal of Hitler. There's nothing about the resentment and humiliation of the treaty ending World War I. There's nothing about the reparations Germany paid or the explosive inflation that followed. There are virtually no thoughtful conversations about anything. The comic book characters seem to speak in little balloons over their heads.
Yet I think it's a valuable movie. For one thing, there are some gorgeous second-unit shots of mountains under a silvery sheen of snow, stippled with dark evergreens. The final scene, in which we hear Robert Young's boots echoing forlornly in the empty house, is pregnant with loss. For another, the evolution of social relationships lends the movie some poignancy. For another, I honestly believe that this will provide a necessary history lesson for people, mostly youngsters, whose curiosity doesn't extend beyond their own body sheaths. Years ago, Barbara Tuchman gave a lecture on the causes of World War I at a famous Midwestern university and one of the students thanked her, adding that he'd always wondered why the other was called World War II. (That's at a university, not a home for the cognitively challenged.) For another thing, it helps put our current Zeitgeist into the perspective it so desperately cries out for. We're throwing around words like "Fascism" and I doubt that half those using it could define it. And -- isn't it terrible to throw this lovable old professor in jail because the science he teaches is politically incorrect, discordant with what a certain segment of the population wants to hear? "Creationism," anyone? Or will you have "evolutionary theory?" I watched it all the way through, despite its dated qualities, wishing that everyone under the age of, say, fifty could sit through it. This is how bad it can get.
That night, at dinner, the prof is presented with a birthday cake and the family and guests, including Young and Stewart, applaud when he blows out the candles.
The dinner is interrupted by the radio announcement that Hitler has been appointed chancellor. The festive group creaks for a few moments and then falls apart. Young and the prof's two sons cheer. Germany will now be renewed and the so-called pacifists quieted. The professor himself looks thoughtful. Stewart is patently disappointed. The women voice no opinion but seem worried. Kinder, Kirche, Kuchen.
Overnight -- and I mean RIGHT AWAY -- Robert Young and the prof's two sons begin wearing Nazi uniforms and acting like robots. They denounce the Roth family and Stewart while standing at attention and addressing the walls. They are organized by Gauleiter Dan Dailey, if you can imagine Dan Dailey as a sneering Nazi.
What follows is a kind of Kindergarten lesson on how Fascism works. You must be of Aryan descent to be free of harassment, naturally, and you must be politically correct. Otherwise you are either jailed like the professor, who has been teaching that there are no differences between Aryan and non-Aryan blood, or else you are beaten and finally driven into exile like the dissident Stewart. One by one, the political demands destroy the affectionate world we were introduced to. Stewart and Sullavan try to make their escape over the mountains into Austria, not anticipating that it will be only a temporary haven.
It's a Classic Comic version of the rise of Naziism, boiled down to its value-laden essence. The story doesn't try to explain the nationalistic appeal of Hitler. There's nothing about the resentment and humiliation of the treaty ending World War I. There's nothing about the reparations Germany paid or the explosive inflation that followed. There are virtually no thoughtful conversations about anything. The comic book characters seem to speak in little balloons over their heads.
Yet I think it's a valuable movie. For one thing, there are some gorgeous second-unit shots of mountains under a silvery sheen of snow, stippled with dark evergreens. The final scene, in which we hear Robert Young's boots echoing forlornly in the empty house, is pregnant with loss. For another, the evolution of social relationships lends the movie some poignancy. For another, I honestly believe that this will provide a necessary history lesson for people, mostly youngsters, whose curiosity doesn't extend beyond their own body sheaths. Years ago, Barbara Tuchman gave a lecture on the causes of World War I at a famous Midwestern university and one of the students thanked her, adding that he'd always wondered why the other was called World War II. (That's at a university, not a home for the cognitively challenged.) For another thing, it helps put our current Zeitgeist into the perspective it so desperately cries out for. We're throwing around words like "Fascism" and I doubt that half those using it could define it. And -- isn't it terrible to throw this lovable old professor in jail because the science he teaches is politically incorrect, discordant with what a certain segment of the population wants to hear? "Creationism," anyone? Or will you have "evolutionary theory?" I watched it all the way through, despite its dated qualities, wishing that everyone under the age of, say, fifty could sit through it. This is how bad it can get.
As Subtle As A Sledgehammer
bhoover24718 December 2021
I guess when this film was made there might have been some dim witted Americans who were indifferent about the politics of Germany. In that instance this film does its job in showing the world what was going on in Germany. With the luxury of hindsight this film comes off as a heavy handed propaganda piece. It was important to be made at the time but now it is dated.
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