Man Hunt (1941)

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).

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.

Compact well directed drama of the dawning realization of the Nazi threat in Europe. A noir before that was a popular genre. Walter Pidgeon handles his role well, his suave dignity enabling him to move from the lighter tone at the start of the film to the serious one later on. Joan Bennett is a breezy delight as a practitioner of the world's oldest profession although the Hayes office ludicrously insisted she have a sewing machine in the corner of her room to make it appear she's a seamstress. She did some of her best work in Lang films, he was a tough director but she was herself a straight shooter who had no problem giving as good as she got enabling them to work well together through four films.

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).