Escape (1940)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

Arch Oboler (writer)
Marguerite Roberts (writer)

Release Date:

1 November 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

1938: A young man arrives in Hitler's Germany, frantically seeking information about his German mother, and finds she is pending execution at a concentration camp.

Plot Keywords:

Germany | Escape | Deception | Heart Disease | Political Prisoner

Cast

Norma Shearer	...	Countess Ruby von Treck
Robert Taylor	...	Mark Preysing
Conrad Veidt	...	General Kurt von Kolb
Alla Nazimova	...	Emmy Ritter (as Nazimova)
Felix Bressart	...	Fritz Keller
Albert Bassermann	...	Dr. Arthur Henning
Philip Dorn	...	Dr. Berthold Ditten
Edgar Barrier	...	Commissioner of Police
Bonita Granville	...	Ursula, a Student
Elsa Basserman	...	Mrs. Henning
Blanche Yurka	...	Concentration Camp Nurse-Matron
Lisa Golm	...	Anna, Emmy's cellmate

Also Known As:

When the Door Opened

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Approved (PCA #3610)

Company:

Loew's

Trivia:

Author Grace Zaring Stone used a pen name when her book was published to protect relatives living in Europe from Nazi retribution. Similarly, no composer credit was given in the film for the same reason, and some of the actors used fictitious names.

Quotes:

Mark Preysing: She knows nothing about international politics, she has the mind of an artist, she sees people as general humanity, not as separate races.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Miracle of Sound (1940)

Soundtrack:

Liebestod

Norma Shearer and Robert Taylor's love affair may cost them everything… including their lives!

This is an unusual film for the Queen of MGM, Norma Shearer. Although she has never looked better, in this suspense drama, she is not the central character but rather a supporting one. The story centers on Robert Taylor who is desperate to evacuate his mother (played by the silent screen legend Alla Nazimova) from Nazi occupied Europe. Director Mervyn LeRoy keeps the pace going swiftly and contemporary audiences will enjoy the film as much as they did in 1940 when it opened at Radio City Music Hall in New York.