Man Hunt (1941) User Reviews

It's worth seeing, but is hampered by a silly premise

[MartinHafer · 6/10 · 9 December 2007]

The film begins with Walter Pidgeon sneaking up on Hitler's mountain retreat and putting the Nazi in his gun sight. Then, when he pulls the trigger, nothing happens--as the gun has not been loaded! It seems that Pidgeon is a world famous hunter and just wanted to see if he COULD have killed Hitler to prove to himself what a great and supreme hunter he was. While this all sounds very stupid and contrived, I must point out that...hey, wait...that IS stupid and contrived!! This plot point makes no sense at all and is just beyond ridiculous (though cool to watch).

However, despite this silly beginning, the film is rather exciting as the Nazis chase Pidgeon across Germany and back to Britain--where they continue relentlessly pursuing him. There are some wonderful surprises, such as how well George Sanders spoke German. His portrayal of a crazed Nazi officer was a major plus in the film. Also, the way that several Nazis died in the film were surprisingly and amazingly creative.

The bottom line is that this is an exciting film but one that doesn't make much sense. If you can just turn off your brain and accept it as a wartime propaganda, then it is a very good time-passer, as the acting was good as well as some of the action.

The man hunter

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 12 March 2020]

'Man Hunt' had all the ingredients to be a great film. It had a great director on board in Fritz Lang, whose best work was very influential. It had immensely talented actors in it, have always loved George Sanders and Walter Pidgeon was also a fine actor (Joan Bennett was a bright spot in a good deal of her work). Alfred Newman was one of the best film composers of the 30s-50s and Arthur Miller was a great cinematographer, 'Song of Bernadette' for instance still is striking in its visuals.

While 'Man Hunt' is very much well worth watching and almost everything cited above comes over very well (though all did a lot better before and since), part of me does wish it was better than it was. It could easily have been great considering what it had going for it, but it only turned out to be a little above average and a stronger second half and a more consistently executed story would have helped it immensely. Also the source material is well worth reading, but if you love the book and haven't seen the film yet but plan to be prepared for a lot of unfaithfulness in detail and in spirit. On its own though, and it is best to judge it on its own terms without comparing, 'Man Hunt' really isn't a bad way at all to pass the time.

Visually, 'Man Hunt' looks great. It's handsomely designed which is enhanced by the eerily shadowy lighting and Miller's cinematography that is gritty and shadowy yet also luminous. Newman may not be at his finest, but it complements well and one recognises his style from anywhere. Especially standing out of the whole music score are actually the recurring themes, an instrumental version of "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and the ominous recurring theme for the Germans. Lang directs with skill and generates some nice tension.

The script is tight and intriguing and while the story is uneven, enough of it is compelling and suspenseful. The brilliant opening and an exciting climax stand out. The characters may not be complex but carry the narrative well. Was worried initially about miscasting upon hearing of the film, but actually most of the cast come off very well. Was not sure before watching as to whether Pidgeon would have the intensity for the lead role, with it being different from his previous roles, to my relief in his best moments he seared in it. Had no doubt though that Sanders would be perfect as his character, it was one that played brilliantly to his strengths and he is chillingly sinister in it. John Carradine also gives one the chills.

Bennett didn't work quite as well for me however. She does credibly in making her character likeable but there are points too where she tries much harder than necessary. Others have commented negatively on her accent, she gives it a noble go but yeah it is far from great (proof that Cockney accents are not easy to do if not cockney, from my experience watching films and plays/musicals the accent can be over-exaggerated, the case with Bennett, or sounds too Australian). She and Pidgeon don't have enough chemistry and their romantic scenes really slow the film down, at worst they are quite tedious.

As said too, while with enough fine moments, the story is uneven. At its worst in the scenes between Pidgeon and Bennett, but the second half suffers from being too over-complicated to the point of not always being coherent and some of it is implausibly ridiculous to the extreme. It is a shame because of the amount of promise it and the film had.

In summary, worth watching but somewhat disappointing. 6.5/10

A Sporting Stalk

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 19 August 2010]

While on holiday in Bavaria, British big game hunter Walter Pidgeon gets a once in a lifetime chance when he spots Adolph Hitler whom as we well know through history had his retreat at Berchtesgarden there in the Alps. Pidgeon gets Der Fuehrer in his sights and then, curses, he forgot to load. No matter to the Nazis who catch Pidgeon in the act, they beat him up and leave him.

Sad to say this is what makes Man Hunt a silly story because the plain truth is they would have just put one behind his ear and told the British government their citizen met with a hunting accident. They might not have even made up the story since war was on the horizon in any event.

But when they realize Pidgeon's reputation they determine to get some propaganda mileage out of this incident that Pidgeon described as a 'sporting stalk'. They even hound Pidgeon right to Great Britain after he escaped stowing away on a Danish freighter. Trained assassin John Carradine goes after him and later a high ranking Gestapo man in George Sanders does the same.

Not to say that Man Hunt does not have some good parts. Pidgeon's battle with Carradine on the London subway tracks is thrilling and he and Sanders play quite a battle of wits at the climax. Some of how Pidgeon was able to deal with Sanders comes from his experience as a hunter and look toward The Most Dangerous Game for the solution. Joan Bennett is also in this with a nice cockney accent that she must have studied real hard to get right for the film.

Still the basic premise as other reviewers have pointed out weakens the overall film. Man Hunt is one of Fritz Lang's lesser films as a result.

Nice Thriller with Fine Performances

[Michael_Elliott · 7 November 2010]

Man Hunt (1941)

*** (out of 4)

Entertaining but severely flawed thriller about big-game hunter Alan Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon) who crosses over to Germany and hunts down Hitler. He has the evil man in his rifle range but when he pulls the trigger it's a blank. He's eventually captured and beaten but he swears that he had no intent on actually killing the man. He manages to escape but Major Quive Smith (George Sanders) is soon on his trail as is a hired killer (John Carradine). It's important to remember that at the time of this film's release American had yet to join WW2 so there's a lot of talk here, which is clearly meant to build up spirits for when our country did join. The ending is certainly preaching but this isn't the downside of the film. The real downside happens when Thorndike meets a young woman (Joan Bennett) who insists on following him on his journey. Up until this point the film has some nice tension building up and after her character is out of the way we get back to that tension but I must say that this added romance was downright bad and really kept this film from being much better. The biggest problem I had is that I could never make heads or tails of why it was included in the first place. There's really no "love" story being told and there's really no point in having her along for the ride as it appears the main reason she's here is for comedy relief and there aren't any laughs. Her character is so annoying that you can't help but wish she'd just go away and why she was given such a big part in the story is beyond me. Outside of that we're left with a pretty good thriller with some excellent performances and tight direction. Pidgeon is perfect as the hero who refuses to sell out his country to save his own life. I thought the character went through quite a few changes in the film and the actor perfectly handled the material. Sanders easily steals the film as the evil SOB tracking him down and you can't help but feel as if you're hearing someone who really was behind the evil wishes of Hitler. Sanders is so cold and stern in the part that you can't help but love to hate him. Carradine offers up his typical fine performance and we get Roddy McDowall, Frederick Worlock and Roger Imhof in nice supporting bits. Bennett didn't work for me but this had more to do with the screenplay and not her performance. The final moments take place inside a cave and makes for some wonderful tension but I won't ruin what happens. MAN HUNT is certainly worth watching due to the cast and Lang's direction but I can't help but feel a little disappointed that it's not better. Had the film stayed focused on the tension and left the romance somewhere else then we'd have had a much better film.

A fine adaptation

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 2 June 2021]

A good thriller in the Hollywood mould, courtesy of Fritz Lang. The story is an adaptation of the Geoffrey Household novel ROGUE MALE with the assassinating Hitler storyline made much more explicit. It was novel for me to see Walter Pidgeon as the lead, given I'm used to him in roles like the one in FORBIDDEN PLANET, while George Sanders plays against type as a Nazi villain and Joan Bennett (who I know best from her much later role in DARK SHADOWS) has a Cockney accent, which is a real surprise. John Carradine shows up too in a highly entertaining supporting role. The film follows the same kind of chase/wronged man plot as a Hitchcock movie - SABOTEUR sprung instantly to mind - and has plenty of suspense and action to recommend it.

A Strong Fritz Lang American Film

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 25 August 2015]

British hunter Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon) 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.

Generally speaking, I think Fritz Lang went downhill after coming to America. His German films are classics, and remain hugely inspirational and influential. The American films, a mix of war, crime and noir, are more of a mixed bag.

This film is quite good, and is a bit brave. We open with a hunter contemplating the murder of a foreign leader. That is quite a strong visual (assassination of an actual rather than fictional leader). And even more so because America was neutral at the time -- not that Hitler was thought of as a good guy, but he was not officially our enemy (yet).

Tense Wartime Thriller

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 6 December 2009]

Fritz Lang brought with him from Germany the ability to use light and shadow effectively and it certainly shows in this taut drama. When Joan Bennett enters her apartment for the last time, she flicks on the light and sees three strange men in the corner, waiting for her. The two men on the sides act as bookends for the boss in the middle, George Sanders, who stands in silhouette except for the glint of his monocle. It's a shocking moment.

The story has Walter Pidgeon as an aristocratic big game hunter visiting Germany just before the war. He makes what he calls "a sporting stalk" and zeroes in with his high-powered rifle and scope on Adolf Hitler, resting on a balcony 500 yards away. He pulls the trigger on an empty chamber. The sporting stalk is now complete. But as he prepares to leave, Pidgeon has second thoughts, repositions himself, and inexplicably inserts a round into the chamber.

He's captured by German guards before he can fire the rifle and is beaten before managing to escape. Roddy MacDowell, as a cabin boy, stows him on a Danish ship that brings him to England.

Thereafter it gets a little complicated. The Germans still have Pidgeon's passport and identification and they slip a spy into England disguised as Pidgeon. At least I think the fellow is a spy. It was never clear to me why he was sent in. Nor was it clear to me why it was so necessary for this cabal of German miscreants in England to murder Walter Pidgeon.

Joan Bennett is conventionally pretty. Her features are even. And she does her best at a working-class London accent but fails. (George Sanders' German is perfectly acceptable.) But she has a function in the plot. She gets swept up in Pidgeon's predicament and gets him out of some tight spots, paying for it later. And she teaches the upper-class Pidgeon how to eat fish and chips with his fingers. Too bad they weren't at the Edinburgh Castle on Geary in San Francisco. Their fish and chips are better than any I've had in England.

The story is confusing at times but still chilling with its urban paranoia and its setting of dark alleys and empty underground stations.

The ending has Pidgeon parachuting into Germany armed with a new precision rifle and fully aware of his intention now to kill the Fuhrer. In 1941, that was wish fulfillment on a large scale.

very good propaganda film

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 16 February 2008]

Walter Pidgeon is the subject of a "Man Hunt" in this 1941 film directed by Fritz Lang. Joan Bennett, George Sanders, John Carradine and Roddy McDowell also star. Alan Thorndike (Pidgeon) is caught by the Nazis as he prepares to shoot Hitler. After he is worked over and denies it was anything but a "sporting stalk" to see if it were actually possible to shoot the Fuhrer, the head man (Sanders) demands that he sign a document stating that he tried to shoot Hitler at the request of the German government. As a reward, they'll let him live. Thorndike won't sign, and his reward for that is being thrown off of a cliff and left for dead. He survives and makes his way onto a ship, where he is helped by a young boy (McDowell). However, there is a suspicious and too curious man on the ship (Carradine). Once in London, Thorndike realizes he is being followed and gets into the apartment of Jerry Stokes (Bennett) who helps him. Eventually he escapes to a small town, only to find out he's still being hunted.

This is an exciting and suspenseful film with good performances by Pidgeon, who doesn't try a British accent, and Bennett, who sports a Cockney one. Boy, Lang must have loved her. She was certainly perfect for the roles he cast her in. Here she's her usual low-class self but instead of being rotten as in "Scarlet Street" and "Woman in the Window," she has a heart of gold and falls for Alan.

Some of this movie is predictable, but one really roots for Thorndike, and the denouement is quite original. I have a quibble with the film - Alan should have realized that he had put Jerry in danger and taken her to his brother's. To me it was a big hole in the script and a deliberate one.

Though released in 1941, the story takes place probably right at the beginning of the war, so we can see what the next years bring. Nothing good, that's for sure.

Man Hunt A Major Disappointment **

[edwagreen · 4/10 · 2 February 2010]

Disappointing film with Walter Pidgeon as a hunter who goes to Germany to assassinate Hitler. When he is discovered, he is coerced into signing a document stating that he acted on orders from England. His refusal to sign the document brings us to the plot of the film.

Pidgeon is pursued back to England by the evil George Sanders and his cohort, John Carradine, who speaks little, but is again as always, the embodiment of wickedness personified.

Along the way of being pursued, Pidgeon meets up with Joan Bennett, the latter displaying a wonderful cockney accent.

The story gets bogged down somewhat as love develops between the two, but again as we approach World War 11, realism becomes the object of the day.

The near-ending scene in the cave between Sanders and Pidgeon is nicely realized but we know where that arrow is going to go to.

Very interesting that while Pidgeon is fleeing Nazi Germany, he meets up again with a young Roddy McDowall, one of Pidgeon's many co-stars that same year in the memorable "How Green Was My Valley." How green was "Man Hunt?"

Not All Cave-Dwellers are Neanderthals

[dougdoepke · 2 February 2009]

Hot at the time of release (1941), the movie's focus on assassinating Hitler has lost its topicality, to say the least. In fact, the one lasting quality is Joan Bennett's poignantly spirited hooker with the proverbial heart-of-gold. When her earthy presence crosses the snobbish boundaries of England's class system, we know the island kingdom is serious about winning the war. What a contrast her sparkling character is with the cruel, exploitative trollop she played in Scarlet Street (1944). Hard to believe it's the same actress in both parts.

In fact the romance phase of Man Hunt holds up better than the suspense parts. The subway cat-and-mouse is well staged and believable. However, the two outdoor stalking scenes are marred by poor staging, especially the opening sequence where the painted alpine backdrop almost rubs our nose in the fakery. And that final standoff outside the cave is both badly staged and ill-conceived. Are we really supposed to believe that Thorndike (Pidgeon) has been living in that 5x5 cave for months, emerging spic-and-span with no food or extra clothes in sight. I realize Fritz Lang is a cult director, but these are sloppy production values at best. Perhaps the movie was rushed to cash in on the appeal of the novel from which the screenplay was adapted.

Despite the excellent cast and Bennett's appealing turn, the film looks overrated to me. This is a good movie, but no classic. There's little of Lang's proved way with atmospherics, made more regrettable by a screenplay that would have clearly benefited. Instead of moody light and shadow, the tones are flat and grayish throughout. The more I think about it, the more I think the deficiencies are the result of a rushed production schedule. After all, the lull in Anglo-German combat was about to end and the US would soon enter, then everybody would be trying to kill Der Fuhrer. Anyway, I continue to marvel at how convincingly well- cultivated English gentlemen like George Sanders are able to play well-cultivated German Nazis. Must be something in the schooling.

An intelligent and absorbing WWII thriller.

[Hey_Sweden · 8/10 · 2 March 2014]

Captain Alan Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon) is captured by the Nazis after having been caught aiming a rifle at Adolf Hitler. He insists that he wasn't consciously making an assassination attempt, that he was merely a hunter relishing the prospect of taking down "big game". They naturally don't believe him, and try to make him a sign a "confession" that he was acting on behalf of his government. He refuses to sign his name to a lie, and they proceed to torture him and set him up for execution, but he escapes. Soon he makes it back to London, but they continue to pursue him on his home turf. Fortunately, he receives the help of a street waif, Jerry Stokes (Joan Bennett), who quickly overcomes her distrust and becomes quite taken with him. He tries not to put her in harms' way while evading sinister Nazi officials such as the well-spoken Major Quive-Smith (George Sanders).

Fritz Langs' wartime film, based on the story by Geoffrey Household, may not suit all tastes because it doesn't actually have a sense of urgency, at least not all the time. It even gets lighthearted and romantic at times, as Alan and Jerry start hitting it off. There still are some wonderfully moody moments, such as Alan managing to sneak onto a ship (where a precocious lad, well played by a very young Roddy McDowall, helps to hide him), and the sequence where a Gestapo thug portrayed by an effectively creepy John Carradine tails Alan into a subway tunnel. You do worry for the safety of Alan, especially when the odds are so stacked against him. Pidgeon does indeed have an interesting "devil may care" quality to him at times, and he and the lovely Bennett do have nice chemistry. Ms. Bennett is appealing playing a "common" type of gal who relishes in the comfort of a mansion at one point. Sanders is excellent, delivering just the right amount of quiet, refined menace.

Langs' direction keeps you riveted, especially in the opening few minutes where very little dialogue is spoken. The material may strike some viewers as far-fetched, but in his hands it makes for stylish entertainment.

Eight out of 10.

Effective WWII thriller directed by Fritz Lang...*****Possible Spoilers Ahead*****

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 1 September 2009]

If you like atmospheric B&W film noirs from the '40s dealing with the Nazi threat, look no further than MAN HUNT.

WALTER PIDGEON plays a big-game hunter who fixes on stalking no less a prey than Adolph Hitler. However, it's this first scene that is most vexing--because he's stalking his prey with empty chambers in his gun. Then, as Hitler comes perfectly into view through his finder, he changes his mind and decides to shoot to kill. Inexplicable behavior, since later on in the film he confesses that he DID set out to shoot the Fuhrer, not just play the stalking game. He's too late in firing the gun because he's overtaken by a Nazi officer.

Pidgeon plays a cat-and-mouse game with monocled Nazi GEORGE SANDERS, who decides to let him go, even though Pidgeon refuses to sign a confession that he attempted to kill Hitler on assignment from the British government. He sets him free in the Bavarian forest and from then on it becomes a tale of pursuit as Sanders and other henchman are intent on tracking him down for the kill. Sanders reveals that he's a big-game hunter too.

Along the way, Pidgeon runs into JOAN BENNETT (a girl of the streets with a heart of gold), whom Lang manages to direct skillfully despite an occasional lapse of Cockney accent. RODDY McDOWALL turns up as a as a helpful cabin boy who helps Pidgeon escape detection and JOHN CARRADINE is the sword-cane man who stays hot on Pidgeon's heels.

A very effective London underground chase showing railroad trains and tunnels is well staged and recreated among the shadowy interiors of Arthur Miller's fantastic set design. All of the exteriors in London are lit so as to fit extremely well into the film noir environment mirrored in the cobbled streets of foggy London town. Alfred Newman's subtle score increases the tension. The newly minted DVD reveals all of the crisp B&W photography in great detail and adds to the overall effectiveness of the gripping story.

One can quibble with some of the character motivations and the instant attraction of street girl Bennett to Pidgeon's British gentleman, or her willingness to stick closely to him under the strange and dangerous circumstances, but, hey, this is a movie and a darned suspenseful one at that. In this respect, it reminded me of Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps."

One drawback: Sanders never manages to be more than a one-dimensional figure as the monocled Nazi who predicts: "Tomorrow the world." Although fluent in German, he underplays his role with no particular distinction, but it doesn't matter too much because most of the spotlight is on Pidgeon and Bennett.

Wartime propaganda rears its head toward the film's climax, but that's understandable given that America had not yet participated in the war until six months after the film's release. MAN HUNT was intended to arouse interest and knowledge of Germany's criminal tactics and intent.

Interesting Story and Lang's Expressionism Undone by Bennett's Character

[LeonLouisRicci · 7/10 · 11 June 2015]

Opinions on this Fritz Lang Pre-War Film Vary a great deal. Robert Osborne, a Host on TCM and Film Historian, called it Lang's Best American Film. Wow. That is Highly Debatable, but makes the point.

The Movie has many Lang Touches with some Outstanding Scenes, but the Overall Tone of the Movie is Inconsistent. The Chase Sequences and Suspense Pieces are almost Overwhelmed by the Goofy Upper Class-Street Girl Patronizing and Giddiness.

Joan Bennett's Panting and Crying really Grates the Nerves and Stops the Movie's Momentum a number of times. Walter Pidgeon is Miscast but Manages what He can. George Sanders and John Carradine as Nazis are also Inconsistent, Especially Sanders.

The Highlights of the Movie all come from Lang's use of Trademark Expressionism but are Ultimately Undone by Fish and Chips and Bennet's constant Begging for Thorndike's Attention.

Overall, there are Enough Lang Flourishes and the Story is certainly One for the Times and Tapped into a Fantasy that Continued even After the War was Over. You know, that Hypothetical, "If You could go back in time and assassinate Hitler", etc.

Not the Best American Film from Fritz Lang but a Good Entertainment with the Subject Matter, especially in the Time Frame when it was Made (Pre-War), adds to the Appeal.

Excellent WW2 Thriller

[utgard14 · 8/10 · 3 May 2014]

English hunter Walter Pidgeon is caught by Nazis as he aims his rifle at Hitler. He escapes to London but he's not safe for long as Nazis George Sanders and John Carradine are on his trail. Gripping, exciting WW2 thriller expertly directed by Fritz Lang. One of his best American films. Walter Pidgeon is great. Joan Bennett steals the show as the lively and lovely working class girl who helps him. She was a truly underrated talent. Roddy McDowall is also good in a small part as a boy who is instrumental in helping Pidgeon make it to London. Sanders and Carradine make for great villains. Love the ending. Very cool and fitting.

If the Nazis Don't Get You, That Cockney Accent Will

[evanston_dad · 7/10 · 9 May 2014]

TCM host Robert Osborne could sell me a three-dollar bill.

What he promised with "Man Hunt" was a superb thriller expertly directed by Fritz Lang. What I got was a perfectly entertaining but not especially remarkable thriller with serviceable if not distinguished direction by Fritz Lang. Walter Pidgeon plays a big-game hunter who's captured by the Nazis and accused of trying to assassinate Hitler and then escapes, only to be hounded by them upon his return to London.

George Sanders, playing the German officer in charge of the man hunt, is the reason to see this one. Joan Bennett supplies a lovely face and an atrocious Cockney accent.

Based on other Fritz Lang movies I've seen, there's absolutely no reason he himself could not have turned this into a WWII-era classic, but as it was I spent the whole movie thinking how much more stylish and memorable it might have been in the hands of a director like Carol Reed.

Grade: B

A great thriller from right before USA entered WWII

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 8 October 2020]

"Man Hunt" is an excellent thriller that doesn't look like it is almost eighty years old, and is one of my favorite Fritz Lang films. Ahead of its time in the complexity of its characters, it is about a man (Walter Pidgeon) who tries to assassinate Hitler but gets caught. Left for dead at the bottom of a cliff by the authorities, he lives and makes his way to a boat on its way to London. However, on the ship there is someone all too interested in his story. Soon he realizes he is being followed and, once back in England, turns to Joan Bennett for help. Lang manages to do a very good job of portraying the Nazis in a more complex and insightful manner than other films of this time period (it was made in 1941).

Rumors were at the time (2009) that this was cleaned up and released on DVD to capitalize on the DVD release of Tom Cruise's Valkyrie. Oh well, I'll take my classic films any way that I can get them.

Kind of stupidly plotted

[zetes · 6/10 · 31 July 2011]

As this is a Fritz Lang thriller, it has some very well directed scenes and some awesome photography. Unfortunately, the story is too often ridiculously stupid, and the filmmaking alone is never enough to overcome these stupidities. It also stars Walter Pidgeon, who is in general too boring to carry a movie. He plays a famed British big game hunter who has come to Germany to hunt the biggest game on Earth, Adolf Hitler. As the film opens, he gets Hitler in his sights, but, this being set before Britain was at war with Germany, it's all just a game to him. He does finally decide that perhaps he should waste the guy, but before he can do it, a soldier stops him and arrests him. Then there's this ridiculous scenario where the Nazis don't want to kill Pidgeon because they are afraid that it will start a war with the British, so they decide to fake a suicide by throwing the guy off the cliff. The Nazis ridiculously propose that they "accidentally" find his body the next morning. Of course, by then Pidgeon, injured but still alive, has run off. What kind of Nazis are these anyway? There are more ridiculously conceived plot points later on, and the film is never especially gripping anyway. I do like George Sanders and John Carradine as Nazis, and Joan Bennett is very good as a lower class gal who helps Pidgeon when he arrives back in England (although I hate the way he talks down to her).

those dark and wet London streets

[christopher-underwood · 8/10 · 14 July 2017]

Directed by someone other than Fritz Lang, this strange mix of thriller, romance and anti-nazi propaganda would probably have fallen apart. Under Lang's ever focused cinema eye and noir inclinations this is transformed from some 'Boy's Own' or Biggles adventure to a surprisingly strong attack on the then surging forces under Hitler. Walter Pidgeon is only okay in the lead and Joan Bennett struggles a little with the cockney accent but together they rub along well and Bennett looks great throughout with her sparkling eyes. George Sanders is far too good as the big bad man working for the forces of evil within the US and if the ending is a little drawn out, these three help to make this such an enjoyable and just believable yarn. It is those dark and wet London streets with the deep noir shadows that provide the overriding atmosphere and mean that the film is just as watchable today as it must have been to, I imagine, astonished audiences back in the day.

Under appreciate Fritz Lang's near masterpiece!!!

[elo-equipamentos · 9/10 · 13 December 2020]

Since the first time Man Hunt impressed me so deeply, adapted from the book Rogue Male, it has many elements of the Noir, exciting prior wartime thriller about the British Captain Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon) a cunning hunter at own leisure, enters on Germany ground to proves himself that is easy kill the Fuher Adolf Hitler, there he was arrested by the Major Kive-Smith (George Sanders) and coerce to sign a paper that actually was the England send him to kill Hitler, thus an act of aggression to Germany that should be trigger so wanted war by the Germans, even under a heavy thrashing he didn't sign nothing, therefore the clever Major pretends an accidental death pushing him on nearby cliff that ends up in a swampy area at late night in order to found him death on next morning, luckily his backpack hangs up in a tree cushioning the fall, he escapes with Germans at his neck, with struggles and thru a cargo ship soon he is back to London he meets his guardian angel the pretty girl Jerry, Joan Bennett) who saves him for their pursuers sheltering at his room, Jerry at first glance seems an easy girl, just presumably by Fritz Lang, clearly fond by Thorndike she wants a change with the charming man, meanwhile through German spying network who chase Thorndike in every corner on London, then came his worst enemy the Major Kive-Smith takes over to catch his beloved prey, a rare movie to see, intense thriller that holds the viewers as few, Joan Bennett was warm-hearted as Jerry, by the way in early eighties I'd watched the remake Male Rogue with Peter O'Toole, I've been looking for this picture with candles at my hands and fruitlessly for years, who knows one day it comes!!

Thanks for reading. Resume:

First watch: 2006 / How many: 4 / Source: Cable TV-DVD / Rating: 9

Hunt the hunter

[Lejink · 7/10 · 26 December 2018]

This was one of the few bold Hollywood movies to call out the Nazi regime and the danger of Hitler's menace while America sat it out on the sidelines seemingly heeding the "Isolationist" call in certain prominent quarters. Emigre German director Fritz Lang was in no doubt about the global threat posed by the German war machine and made and released this striking call-to-arms in only three months, even before the Japanese's attack on Pearl Harbour actually precipitated the U.S. entry into hostilities.

Of course he had to contend with American censorship guidelines guarding against upsetting them German, Italian or Japanese authorities, but remarkably succeeded, ending the film with Walter Pidgeon's Roger Thorndike character's vehement anti-Hitlerian speech.

The film starts arrestingly as a solo wild life hunter emerges through the undergrowth and lines up in the cross-hairs of his rifle his next apparent target. One can only imagine the impact on contemporary audiences when into view comes the immediately recognisable figure of Adolf Hitler at his mountainside retreat. Initially so surprised at what he sees that he only pretends to go through with the kill-shot, he quickly realises the opportunity with which he's been presented but before he can go back to get off the cataclysmic shot that would have been heard around the world, he's discovered, imprisoned and being brutally interrogated by the suave, urbane Senior German Officer, the bi-lingual George Sanders, like Thorndike, a big-game hunter. He wants Thorndike to sign a confession admitting the attempt, to justify subsequent actions by Germany but when this fails means to kill him in a supposed outdoors accident to avoid any blame. When this unexpectedly fails, Thorndike strives to get back to England to foil the fiendish plot.

On his travels and travails he subsequently encounters a young cabin boy (Roddy McDowall in his child actor debut) who gamely helps conceal him from a German inspection team and then an attractive, thinly disguised street-girl, played in broad Cockney style by Joan Bennett, who helps him and forms an immediate crush on her new charge, even after he offends her by not taking up her offer of a free one.

There are some amusing scenes when he takes her to his lordly brother and his lady wife, but in the end Bennett will pay the ultimate price for her loyalty when Sanders and his gang corner her. The film concludes with Thorndike himself apparently trapped by Sanders in his cave retreat and a showdown ensues between the two men with world events dependant on the outcome.

While parts of the narrative seemed somewhat haphazard and Thorndike's gallant stiff upper lip is so pronounced that he could probably lick his own nose, Lang propels the story along and makes effective use of darkness and shadows especially in the night-time London streets. Pidgeon is charming as the pucker Thorndike, Sanders equally so as his German counterpart while Bennett steals her scenes as the tart who loses her heart.

While some of this does seem frightfully old-fashioned in terms of how it depicts class and manners, the essential message Lang conveys is dressed up in an otherwise entertaining adventure movie.

He should have fired at the madman

[theowinthrop · 25 January 2005]

History cannot be changed, but one wishes it can. The crew sites the iceberg before the TITANIC reaches it. The Ripper falls on his knife accidentally impaling himself fatally before he meets his first victim. Booth gets into a quarrel about his theatrical reputation vs. his father and brother Edwin, and is unable to get into Fords Theatre that night. But none of these happened. The Titanic sank. Mary Ann Nichols met the Ripper, and died. Booth got behind Lincoln and fired.

Adolf Hitler is probably the most hated man in modern history. Even the Ripper or Booth have more fans than Adolf (except for the extreme right). But he had a remarkable ability to escape assassination. Most of us recall that Count Stauffenberg tried to blow him up at a conference in 1944, supported by military leaders in his plot. But that was the last and most deadly attack on Hitler (two or three others were killed), and he survived it...unfortunately for the conspirators, his political victim, and the majority of mankind. Other plots never got that far. Nobody (that we know of) ever had a loaded rifle aimed at Hitler's head in the Bavarian alps. In fact, even Walter Pigeon in the excellent thriller MANHUNT had an unloaded gun aimed at Der Fuhrer (although a moment later he starts loading it, after he has clicked the trigger and realized that Hitler would have been dead).

One wishes it happened that way. But it did not. Sometimes fiction makes one really regret reality.

Hunting Hitler

[sol-kay · 7/10 · 13 August 2007]

***SPOILERS***Off beat WWII flick that has to do with big game hunter Alan Thorndike, Walter Pidgeon, putting his talents to use in trying to knock off the German Fuhrer on his home grounds in his Bavaria mountain retreat. It turns out that Thorndike got himself caught by Hitler's SS bodyguards and worked over by them in order to have him sign a statement that the British government put him up to killing their Fuhrer.

Keeping his mouth shut Thorndike is later thrown off a cliff and left for dead with the Nazis making it look like it was as suicide. Thorndike in fact survives and makes it back to England with the help of British cabin boy Vaner, Roddy McDowell, on a Danish steamboat.

Back home Thorndike is in far more trouble then he was in Germany with Nazi SS chief Quive-Smith, George Sanders, and his top hit-man Mr. Jones, John Carradine, tracking his every move in trying to get him to sign a statement of British involvement in the Fuhrer's attempted assassination in order to embarrass the British government. All this happens just weeks before the start of WWII with the British and German governments still having diplomatic relations with each other.

The handsome and refined Thorndike gets cute and impressionable Jerry Stakes, Joan Bennett, to help him escape his Nazi pursuers having her risk her life in hiding him and later getting killed by Quive-Smith, off camera, when he got out of Jerry where Thorndike was hiding himself. Thorndike had earlier gotten away from Mr. Jones who after chasing him in the London subway was electrocuted when he fell on the third rail and was run over by a train. With Mr. Jones having Thorndike's identification papers and passport it's reported that he, Thorndike, not Mr. Jones was the person killed.

With him being reported dead Thorndike is now both a man without a country and without a name as well as a suspect in his own murder! It's later that Quive-Smith with the information that he got from Jerry tracks Thorndike down to a cave that he's been hiding in for the last three weeks. Quive-Smith seals Thorndike in his cave threatening to have the trapped man suffocate to death if he doesn't sign the paper implicating the British government in Hitlers attempted assassination. Playing along with Quive-Smith Thorndike uses the time he gives him, to read and sign his confession, to make himself a makeshift bow and arrow that in the end is used to run Quive-Smith through and kill him.

It turns out that Thorndike was actually serious in killing Hitler not just seeing if it could be done like he kept telling Quive-Smith and anyone else who would bother listening to him. This destroyed the theory of Thorndike being a reformed hunter and killer, in the case of Hitler he made an exception, which we were made to believe all throughout the movie. Thorndike who was shot by a dying Quive-Smith outside his cave is later seen recovering from his wounds and joining the Brtitsh RAF in order to fight the Nazis.

The ending is a bit ridiculous in that we see Thorndike jumping out of his plane, against orders, and drifting down into Germany,by parachute, with his sturdy sniper rifle in hand going back to finish the job that he started at the beginning of the film: Tracking down and killing Adolph Hitler.

A perfectly made period film that holds its own to this day...thanks to Fritz Lang

[secondtake · 8/10 · 15 December 2012]

Man Hunt (1941)

Offhand the title and idea to this movie sounds a bit routine--a man singlehandedly avoiding authorities and pursuers. Even the extra theme that the Nazis are the bad guys sounded well worn, though the fact it was shot and released during that interesting two year period of WWII before the Americans got involved is something of a hook.

But I watched mainly because the formerly German director, Fritz Lang, is one of the handful of best directors ever.

And it pays off. The clichés are made fresh--even the Nazi types are different than you'd expect. The filming is great, showing the use of shadows and ominous points of view that film noir would take up in the next couple of years. And the plot has a mixture of one man against the world survival as well as boy meets girl romance.

It's terrific stuff, hardly dated at all. And the cinematography is by one of the stalwarts of the period, Arthur Miller, so it has lots of moving camera and interesting tight compositions.

The main character Alan Thorndike is played by Walter Pidgeon, one of those leading males who hasn't always stood up well over time. The deep voice, nice guy quality he is famous for isn't always matched by a pertinent acting intensity. His physical presence in a film is often a shade unconvincing. Lang might have found a perfect balance here because Thorndike's situation is so harsh, at least at times, and there is often a contrasting focus on Pidgeon's face and the innocence it is so good at projecting.

Oddly (and maybe with some political savvy, who knows), Pidgeon is a Canadian playing a Brit, with no attempt at an accent, so this supposedly patriotic movie has a weird falseness in every scene. The reason this might be on purpose is it's carried through all along--the leading woman, Joan Bennet, is a New Jersey girl who has adopted a strong Irish (I think, or Cockney) accent. And the main Nazi is played by upper crust British legend George Sanders (who was born in Russia). And so goes this international plot.

Of course, Lang was an expatriate German Jew working for Hollywood. He was becoming known for his anti-Nazi fervor to the dismay of the right wing Hays Code commission, which we now understand better. Lang's penchant for shooting at night (which goes back to his days in the German film industry) and his ability to make people sinister without actually showing them doing sinister things is partly why this simple movie works. It's also made complicated by the large range of locations used (or invented in the studio), and by the irony of the sweet love affair in the wings in the second half.

You might say it's a propaganda film if you want to use that word loosely. It does at the very end send a message to the viewers, and to Hitler, that the British are out to get him. But really this is a movie about good against evil, about free thinking versus doing what you're told. And about love, completely unfulfilled, but so incipient you feel it and want it.

Yes, see this, if you like movies from the period, or know you like Lang's films. Or if you like film noir, since this is a pre-cursor. Or see it if you appreciate a very well made film with an edgy historical setting.

Quite a tale to enjoy if you understand the background

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 9 June 2015]

For this movie to make sense, you have to understand 2 things. First. the story takes place before England declares war on Germany. Second, at the time the action takes place, England is still appeasing Germany, so the main character would have to be extradited to Germany for his "crime". If you don't understand those 2 points, then you won't understand the overall film.

I'm not sure which is stronger here -- the story or the actors. The story is simple -- big game hunter (Walter Pidgeon -- stalks Hitler as he might stalk big game, with no real intent to assassinate him. But then when he has the chance to shoot him, he tries, but is captured just before pulling the trigger. Nazi (George Sanders) has him tortured due to his refusing to sign a confession of his crime. Pidgeon is ultimately pushed off a cliff to make it appear as an accident, but survives the fall and escapes back to England. Sanders and another Nazi -- John Carradine -- stalk him back in England. Can he get away.

Walter Pidgeon is superb here. I wonder if this might be his finest role. Joan Bennett, as the female lead...well, I found her very annoying here, and generally I felt she was a decent actress. George Sanders was a true class act, and he is also superb here as the relentless Nazi. John Carradine turns in an electric performance! Ahem. And the annoying young Roddy McDowall is along for the boat ride.

I give this film a good, solid "7", and for a war movie (or in this case, a pre-war movie) that's pretty good for me. Recommended!

Uneven Drama

[kenjha · 7/10 · 2 August 2009]

A famed British hunter gets Hitler in the crossbars of his rifle but doesn't pull the trigger and becomes the hunted one himself. Lang creates a marvelous atmosphere marked by foggy London streets. Pidgeon as the hero and Sanders and Carradine as the villains are all pretty good, as is young McDowell. Bennett (what would her career have been without Lang?) is surprisingly effective, sporting a Cockney accent as a prostitute (although not described as such due to censorship). However, the sum is less than the parts. Despite all it has going for it, the film is undermined by a script that is disjointed and rather silly, although based on a celebrated novel.