Man Hunt (1941)

British hunter Thorndike vacationing in Bavaria has Hitler in his gun sight. He is captured, beaten, left for dead, and escapes back to London where he is hounded by German agents and aided by a young woman.

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

Geoffrey Household (novel), Dudley Nichols (screenplay)

Stars:

Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett, George Sanders

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Walter Pidgeon	...	Captain Alan Thorndike
Joan Bennett	...	Jerry Stokes
George Sanders	...	Major Quive-Smith
John Carradine	...	Mr. Jones
Roddy McDowall	...	Vaner
Ludwig Stössel	...	Doctor (as Ludwig Stossell)
Heather Thatcher	...	Lady Alice Risborough
Frederick Worlock	...	Lord Gerald Risborough
Roger Imhof	...	Captain Jensen
Egon Brecher	...	Pawnbroker
Lester Matthews	...	Major
Holmes Herbert	...	Saul Farnsworthy
Eily Malyon	...	Lyme Regis Postmistress
Arno Frey	...	Police Lieutenant
Frederick Vogeding	...	Ambassador (as Fredrik Vogeding)

Storyline

British hunter Thorndike vacationing in Bavaria has Hitler in his gun sight. He is captured, beaten, left for dead, and escapes back to London where he is hounded by German agents and aided by a young woman.

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Plot Keywords:

gun sight | german agent | assassination attempt | nazi agent | suspense | 

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

20 June 1941 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rogue Male

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was one of several films mentioned in the September 1941 Senate subcommittee hearings on Propaganda in Motion Pictures, where isolationist senators Nye, Clark and Wheeler attacked Hollywood for "war-mongering." Senator Nye, who testified before the committee, had not seen most of the films mentioned. The subcommittee did not reconvene after September due to the attack on Pearl Harbor in December. The featurette included on the 2009 DVD release contends that the making of war-mongering films would be a violation of the Neutrality Act, which focused on restricting arms sales to belligerent nations, regardless of their status of aggressor or defender.

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Goofs

While searching for Thorndike at the bottom of the cliff, Major Quive Smith finds his shoe, yet in the first sight of Thorndike regaining consciousness in the brush, he is fully shod.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Announcer: And from now on, somewhere in Germany is a man with a precision rifle and the high degree of intelligence and training that is required to use it. It may be days, months or even years, but this time he clearly knows his purpose and, unflinching, faces his destiny.

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Connections

Version of Rogue Male (1976)

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Soundtracks

God Save the King!
(uncredited)
Traditional
[Attributed to Thomas Augustine Arne and Henry Carey]

User Reviews

Early Lang noir

Compact well directed drama of the dawning realization of the Nazi threat in Europe. A noir before that was a popular genre. Walter Pidgeon handles his role well, his suave dignity enabling him to move from the lighter tone at the start of the film to the serious one later on. Joan Bennett is a breezy delight as a practitioner of the world's oldest profession although the Hayes office ludicrously insisted she have a sewing machine in the corner of her room to make it appear she's a seamstress. She did some of her best work in Lang films, he was a tough director but she was herself a straight shooter who had no problem giving as good as she got enabling them to work well together through four films.