In 1936 Germany, handsome American traveler Robert Taylor (as Mark Preysing) arrives to search for his mysteriously disappearing mother Alla Nazimova (as Emmy Ritter), an actress who has been sentenced to death after breaking property laws and harboring German refugees. Taylor learns Ms. Nazimova is being held in a Nazi concentration camp. Like his mother, Mr. Taylor finds the country Germany has succumb to the authoritarian rule of a brutal Adolf Hitler
Taylor receives little help from frightened Germans, but has better luck with finishing school headmistress Norma Shearer (as Ruby von Treck), the attractive American widow of a German Count. The two are mutually attracted, but she is also being courted by Nazi General Conrad Veidt (as Kurt von Kolb). The two are practically married. Ms. Shearer joins Taylor in a dangerous plot to get mother Nazimova out of the country before her scheduled execution
Spiteful of some skittish plot points, "Escape" creeps up on you
It's one of the better Hollywood-produced World War II dramas, with MGM and director Mervyn LeRoy capturing the horrific accentuation of Nazi consciousness over Germany with remarkable accuracy. Mr. LeRoy paces it accordingly; slow-starting suspense parallels the film's encroaching danger. Credit must be awarded novelist Grace Zaring Stone (writing as "Ethel Vance" to protect her own German relation), plus adapters Arch Oboler and Marguerite Roberts.
Highlighted by his tearful reading of a "farewell" letter, Taylor performs exceptionally; this is one of his best roles. In her last great film, Shearer is appropriately regal, classy and misty-eyed. The supporting cast is so good, it's strange to see Mr. Veidt and Nazimova did not receive "Academy Award" nominations for their work. Absent from films since 1925, "silent" screen actress Nazimova stages an especially noteworthy comeback. Like she, the film is a sleeper.
******** Escape (10/31/40) Mervyn LeRoy ~ Robert Taylor, Norma Shearer, Conrad Veidt, Nazimova
Taylor receives little help from frightened Germans, but has better luck with finishing school headmistress Norma Shearer (as Ruby von Treck), the attractive American widow of a German Count. The two are mutually attracted, but she is also being courted by Nazi General Conrad Veidt (as Kurt von Kolb). The two are practically married. Ms. Shearer joins Taylor in a dangerous plot to get mother Nazimova out of the country before her scheduled execution
Spiteful of some skittish plot points, "Escape" creeps up on you
It's one of the better Hollywood-produced World War II dramas, with MGM and director Mervyn LeRoy capturing the horrific accentuation of Nazi consciousness over Germany with remarkable accuracy. Mr. LeRoy paces it accordingly; slow-starting suspense parallels the film's encroaching danger. Credit must be awarded novelist Grace Zaring Stone (writing as "Ethel Vance" to protect her own German relation), plus adapters Arch Oboler and Marguerite Roberts.
Highlighted by his tearful reading of a "farewell" letter, Taylor performs exceptionally; this is one of his best roles. In her last great film, Shearer is appropriately regal, classy and misty-eyed. The supporting cast is so good, it's strange to see Mr. Veidt and Nazimova did not receive "Academy Award" nominations for their work. Absent from films since 1925, "silent" screen actress Nazimova stages an especially noteworthy comeback. Like she, the film is a sleeper.
******** Escape (10/31/40) Mervyn LeRoy ~ Robert Taylor, Norma Shearer, Conrad Veidt, Nazimova