In the chaos surrounding the Italian campaign, an American flier and a British officer meet after having escaped internment. They make their way north towards Switzerland. They are aided by ordinary people. When news comes that Mussolini has escaped the partisans, a local Fascist rats them out to the Germans and they have to make a run for it over the wintry mountains, leading a desperate band of refugees.
This Swiss movie was directed and co-written by Leopold Lindtberg. He knew something about being a refugee. He began his career in the theater and the movies in his native Vienna, but in the early 1940s, his Jewish religion forced him to flee to Switzerland. By chance he was able to cast this movie well: two of the "escaped British officers" were precisely that, and professional actors to boot; the American was a flier whose plane came down in Switzerland, and was being held there until matters could be sorted out.
Although there are dramatic, theatrical moments, the setting in the mountains and towns of Switzerland, and the casting of locals lends a humanist air to the movie that made me think of Pressberger & Powell's movies of the period. the camerawork is extraordinary; instead of using rapid cutting to create excitement, cinematographer Emil Berna uses a moving camera, with fast, long movements to produce a sense of panic.
Although this sort of movie was almost a commonplace of the era, it's ANABASIS-like plot of trying to escape -- only this time, it's to Switzerland, instead of the sea -- and its fortuitous casting makes it extraordinary.
