Address Unknown

This movie was made from a tiny, now classic 1938 book by Kressmann Taylor (her full name was Kathrine Kressmann Taylor) that was written in the form of letters only between the two lead characters.

As such it is not only a brilliantly conceived horror story of how an evil idea poisons a society but how it continues on to destroy life.

The small book was re-issued in 2001 by Washington Square Press and at this writing currently available. No matter how you reacted to the movie this is a must read. It can be read in a single, short sitting but it packs an incredible wallop. The little story is compared to the best writing of O. Henry for its sly plot twists and lauded by Kurt Vonnegut who compares it to WWII as what Uncle Tom's Cabin was to the Civil War.

You can then return to the movie and enjoy it at a far deeper and more profound level. Beyond all of that…if Paul Lukas is in a film, any film, you can trust that it is worth watching if only for his performance.

For a brief period, by dint of the Oscar he won Paul Lukas became leading man material. In Watch On The Rhine he played an anti-Nazi fighter. In Address Unknown Lukas tries the other side of the fence, playing a man who is seduced by Nazi ideas and makes a Faustian bargain for expediency.

Lukas and Morris Carnovsky play partners in San Francisco with their art dealing business. Nursing a bit of nostalgia for Germany, the Wilhelmine Germany he grew up in Lukas moves back to Germany as he says it might be better business wise for him to acquire the art on the scene and for Carnovsky to sell it in America. With the exception of his oldest son Peter Van Eyck who stays with Carnovsky, Lukas moves wife Mady Christians and his children back to Germany post World War I. Later on Carnovsky's daughter K.T. Stevens goes to Europe to pursue her acting career. Carnovsky is also Jewish.

Which is not looked kindly on by people who are rising in power. But Lukas who probably was not all that political is seduced by all the promises the Nazis and their leader. He gradually loses his entire moral compass. In that he was far from alone. K.T. Stevens is the one who loses her life tragically.

Lukas and Carnovsky are an interesting story of old friends torn apart. Carnovsky registers well as a man who cannot believe his old friend has turned on their past friendship and what it meant for business and personal reasons. Carnovsky cannot comprehend what is happening in the old homeland. In that he wasn't alone, those targeted by the Nazis including Jews couldn't quite believe it either. Remember Address Unknown was made before the concentration camps were liberated, but rumors were growing stronger by the day about what was happening.

As for Lukas he's brilliant with what he does as a man who loses it all. The ending is a truly original piece of vengeance and betrayal of Lukas, fitting payback for all he betrayed.

Address Unknown got two Oscar nominations for Art&Set Design and for music score. With William Cameron Menzies directing I'm sure he had a big hand in creating the set that got said nomination. But with what he does with Lukas and Carnovsky, Menzies shows how well he can direct people too.

One of the better films to come out of the World War II era it holds up brilliantly for today.

Paul Lukas gives probably a career-best performance as a businessman who becomes seduced by Nazi ideology when his return to Germany coincides with the rise of Hitler. Director William Cameron Menzies piles on the tension in the final third of the film without gloating over his antagonist's increasingly precarious situation, and by doing so he strengthens the film's power and message immeasurably.

This is a must see with all the drama coming from tiny choices that add up and how you can be seduced by evil for nominal reasons. Well worth tracking down.

Martin Schulz (Paul Lukas) and Max Eisenstein (Morris Carnovsky) are business partners. Martin moves to Germany with all of his family except for his eldest son Heinrich (Peter van Eyck), who stays behind to look after things in San Francisco with Max. Meanwhile, Max's daughter Griselle (KT Stevens) travels to Germany to become an actress. The families are very close and Heinrich and Griselle have future plans to marry. Once Baron von Friesche (Carl Esmond) appears on the scene, Martin goes through a change and is indoctrinated into the Nazi lifestyle. This means rejecting his Jewish friend, Max, and his friend's daughter Griselle.

The story develops through letter correspondence between the two friends, Martin and Max. There are several stand out scenes, my favourites being the performance at the theatre when Griselle disobeys the Nazi authorities and the following chase that ensues in order to catch her. The acting is good, particularly from Carl Esmond. You just know that there is a nasty ulterior motive lurking behind everything that he says and does. Once Martin begins to receive coded letters, suspicion is aroused by the German censors and it's a matter of time before something happens to him... There is a twist at the end.