The Mortal Storm (1940) is a powerful film that reveals the tenets of fascism, and specifically that which would overtake the Europe of its time. It opens with some narration that ends with a question (the title of this review) in "January 1933 (in) A small university town at the foot of the Alps in southern Germany".
It's a day of celebration, Professor Viktor Roth (Frank Morgan) is turning 60; he's a well respected man in his household, by his family and friends, and among his colleagues and students at the university, where he teaches science. On this special day, many show Viktor their love, including his daughter Freya (Margaret Sullavan), or speak his praises, including one of his top students Fritz Marberg (Robert Young), who does so in front of perhaps the entire university in his jam-packed classroom, and a longtime family friend Martin Breitner (James Stewart), who's a farmer.
However, that day, January 30, 1933, is also the day that Adolf Hitler was named chancellor of Germany, and the Roth's dinner celebration of Viktor's birthday turns sour: Fritz, who's just claimed Freya as his fiancée, and her stepbrothers Otto and Erich (Robert Stack and William T. Orr, respectively) receive the news of Hitler's appointment with great enthusiasm while most of the others do not. Besides Viktor, it's Martin - who'd had designs on Freya himself and was just as shocked by Fritz's claim of her as she was - that appears to be the least excited about it.
This division of family continues because Viktor is non-Aryan, so his life is soon in danger, despite the fact of his laudable reputation within the community. Flags with swastikas soon appear and Fritz, Otto and Erich are caught up in a sick kind of patriotism that finds them persecuting another non-Aryan Professor Werner (Thomas W. Ross) at the urging of the fanatical Holl (Dan Dailey in his film debut), before turning on Martin - who publicly defends Werner before helping him escape to neighboring Innsbruck - and finally Viktor, who's arrested in August. When winter comes again, Viktor dies in prison, and his wife Emilia (Irene Rich) also leaves for Austria.
Freya had long rejected Fritz and his politics, before their town had devolved into a more threatening and violent environment for anyone that resisted the Nazi party or wouldn't return in kind the "Heil Hitler" salute. That included Elsa (Bonita Granville), an hysterical teenager working on the Breitner's farm with Martin's mother Hilda (Maria Ouspenskaya); they're bullied by a thuggish partisan soldier named Franz (Ward Bond).
When Martin daringly returns, he and Freya have a brief romantic moment with Hilda, before attempting an escape on skis. Fritz's commander forces him to decide whether to show loyalty to the Fuhrer or former friends by leading his fellow soldiers to intercept them. The party wins out, and Fritz is responsible for Freya's murder. He guiltily confesses it to Otto and Erich claiming "he had no choice" while Otto laments how much their lives have changed.
It's a day of celebration, Professor Viktor Roth (Frank Morgan) is turning 60; he's a well respected man in his household, by his family and friends, and among his colleagues and students at the university, where he teaches science. On this special day, many show Viktor their love, including his daughter Freya (Margaret Sullavan), or speak his praises, including one of his top students Fritz Marberg (Robert Young), who does so in front of perhaps the entire university in his jam-packed classroom, and a longtime family friend Martin Breitner (James Stewart), who's a farmer.
However, that day, January 30, 1933, is also the day that Adolf Hitler was named chancellor of Germany, and the Roth's dinner celebration of Viktor's birthday turns sour: Fritz, who's just claimed Freya as his fiancée, and her stepbrothers Otto and Erich (Robert Stack and William T. Orr, respectively) receive the news of Hitler's appointment with great enthusiasm while most of the others do not. Besides Viktor, it's Martin - who'd had designs on Freya himself and was just as shocked by Fritz's claim of her as she was - that appears to be the least excited about it.
This division of family continues because Viktor is non-Aryan, so his life is soon in danger, despite the fact of his laudable reputation within the community. Flags with swastikas soon appear and Fritz, Otto and Erich are caught up in a sick kind of patriotism that finds them persecuting another non-Aryan Professor Werner (Thomas W. Ross) at the urging of the fanatical Holl (Dan Dailey in his film debut), before turning on Martin - who publicly defends Werner before helping him escape to neighboring Innsbruck - and finally Viktor, who's arrested in August. When winter comes again, Viktor dies in prison, and his wife Emilia (Irene Rich) also leaves for Austria.
Freya had long rejected Fritz and his politics, before their town had devolved into a more threatening and violent environment for anyone that resisted the Nazi party or wouldn't return in kind the "Heil Hitler" salute. That included Elsa (Bonita Granville), an hysterical teenager working on the Breitner's farm with Martin's mother Hilda (Maria Ouspenskaya); they're bullied by a thuggish partisan soldier named Franz (Ward Bond).
When Martin daringly returns, he and Freya have a brief romantic moment with Hilda, before attempting an escape on skis. Fritz's commander forces him to decide whether to show loyalty to the Fuhrer or former friends by leading his fellow soldiers to intercept them. The party wins out, and Fritz is responsible for Freya's murder. He guiltily confesses it to Otto and Erich claiming "he had no choice" while Otto laments how much their lives have changed.