Decision Before Dawn (1951)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Anatole Litvak

Writers:

George Howe (novel)
Peter Viertel (writer)

Release Date:

24 March 1952 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

A woman's kiss . . . A lighted cigarette - Each had Its meaning! An exciting and realistic story of war . . . of German Prisoners Sent Back Behind Their Own Lines as Agents of the Allies!

Plot:

As the US Army approaches Nazi Germany, they recruit German prisoners to spy behind German lines.

Plot Keywords:

Spy | Nazi Germany | WWII | Based On Novel

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Richard Basehart	...	Lt. Dick Rennick
Gary Merrill	...	Col. Devlin
Oskar Werner	...	Cpl. Karl Maurer aka Happy
Hildegard Knef	...	Hilde (as Hildegarde Neff)
Dominique Blanchar	...	Monique
O.E. Hasse	...	Col. Von Ecker
Wilfried Seyferth	...	Heinz Scholtz - SS Man (as Wilfried Seyfert)
Hans Christian Blech	...	Sgt. Rudolf Barth aka Tiger
Helen Thimig	...	Fräulein Paula Schneider (as Helene Thimig)
Robert Freitag	...	Sgt. Paul Richter (as Robert Freytag)
George Tyne	...	Sgt. Griffin
C.A. Amos	...	U.S. Army Air Force First Lieutenant
Harold Benedict	...	U.S. Army Air Force staff-sergeant
H.W. Briggs	...	U.S. Army sergeant
D.G. Devine	...	U.S. Army Air Force corporal

Also Known As:

Legion of the Damned (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #14920) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The producers and director Litvak chose to film the movie in post war Germany because of perfect background settings - destroyed buildings - and the availability of great numbers of German original WW2 equipment such as tanks and costumes, weapons etc.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: Before Karl (AKA Happy) parachutes back into Germany, the US crewman in the aircraft says that he is glad "every time that a string of hundred pounders leave that bomb rack". The aircraft that they are in is a C47, a cargo plane, and did not have bomb racks.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "That Girl: Decision Before Dawn (#3.12)" (1968)

What memories this must have dredged up

Having served in the US Army-Europe in Germany it was easy to see that this work was an accurate depiction of the world as Germans saw it in those years. Going to the IMDb database confirmed that it was filmed in Wurzberg, a city I visited many times. One can not help but wonder what memories and nightmares came back to life for the German people in this movie, or the ones who viewed it, or even witnessed the movie being made. The film is so very realistic in script, acting, and setting that some must have almost thought WWII was alive again. For those that lived through WWII in that country it must have seemed as if those days were repeating themselves. Every detail of this movie is accurate as far as I could tell. It does not employ overused stereotypes, no action heroes, no earth shaking grand and glorious finale, it simply depicts a period of time in all its' tragedy and irony in a most realistic manner. This work deserves more praise and exposure than it has received. A must see for every WWII researcher and historian.