Complete credited cast: | |||
Cedric Hardwicke | ... | Col. Lanser | |
Henry Travers | ... | Mayor Orden | |
Lee J. Cobb | ... | Dr. Albert Winter | |
Dorris Bowdon | ... | Molly Morden | |
Margaret Wycherly | ... | Mme. Sarah Orden | |
Peter van Eyck | ... | Lt. Tonder | |
William Post Jr. | ... | Alex Morden | |
Henry Rowland | ... | Capt. Loft | |
E.J. Ballantine | ... | George Corell | |
Hans Schumm | ... | Capt. Bentick | |
Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
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Frederic Brunn | ... | German Soldier (as Frederick Brunn) |
Ernst Deutsch | ... | Maj. Hunter (as Ernest Dorian) | |
Ludwig Donath | ... | Hitler's Voice (as Louis Donath) |
When the Germans invade Norway their Commandant and the town Mayor confront each other, attempting to maintain civility as far as possible. When the army tries to orgnanize townspeople to work for them sabotage which is at first humorous turns serious, resulting in death on both sides. Written by Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
This movie has no big-box office stars, nor a major director. Yet it tells its story effectively and, sometimes, in a deeply moving fashion, because the script is good and the actors, accustomed to playing character roles, make real individuals out of their assignments.
The movie starts off by establishing several points: 1) Norway fell fast to the Germans not because they were weak or pro-Nazi, but because they were betrayed from the inside by fifth columnists (Quislings), a fear that runs through several wartime U.S. movies (Keeper of the Flame is perhaps the best of those.) 2) The Norwegians are decent people, and therefore worth helping. The town's militia refuse to shoot at the German paratroopers as they are falling through the sky because "you're not supposed to do that," even though the Germans promptly slaughter the militia from hidden positions.
This could be compared to American movie presentations of the fall of France, in which the French are not portrayed as having been betrayed from the inside - though in fact they were, to an extent, by Pétain. That may, at least in part, be because the American government maintained diplomatic relations of a sort with the Vichy government until the Germans finally invaded formerly "Free France" in the hope of winning them over, with the result that Pétain could not be portrayed as the traitor he really was.
This is a fine movie, worth watching.