Decision Before Dawn (1951)

On one hand, I could sum up the film in a few words of praise. Or I could write an entire book on it. It's that deep, and full of all the elements that make a film great.It's just hard to find a place between the two to write a brief review. I'll try by using a few examples.First, the story. It's about recruiting and using German prisoners to spy on Germany during World War II. This is before the "information age", a day when telephone calls were the quickest source of information. The Allies want to learn where certain German units will be.We get the essence of troops always being in movement many times.In fact, the film does an excellent job of showing much about the war, the bleakness, the chaos, the police state, the need to suppress caring too much.While I don't cotton much to story board artists being along to dictate the story, here our director and actors are perfect craftsmen, who use the storyboard to perfection, letting the images do much of the talking.While the story is narrated by Basehart, it is Werner who is the feature player. While all the characters are expertly handled, four men and two women are obviously the dramatic focus.The two women include a German woman who meets Werner while he is spying, and has lived through traumatic experiences. She demonstrates her emotions loudly. The other woman is a gorgeous babe who helps train Werner, and who reluctantly agrees he is a good choice to use in the upcoming mission. Her emotions are bottled, to the moment he leaves for the mission. It is a great scene where she is the one who gives him the supplies he will need for his dangerous quest.The four men are handled in what we see work very well as a military drama. Two men in charge, and two underlings. Of the two in charge, Merrill is the most sympathetic. He becomes a perfect symbol for "symbolism", for the world of intrigue and spying, in a clever use of unlit cigarettes, striking the pose accepted by all Americans for military coolness and strength, yet never having the cigarette lit. "you know I don't smoke" he says. This becomes the symbol for the very unit he operates.Basehart is the cynical one. While Merrill believes the honest Werner character makes the better spy, Basehart, for some reason, thinks he can trust a liar more. The Basehart character has a lot to learn, and he does learn.The characters are as three dimensional as they come. Based on a true story, it has the look and feel of staying very close to the truth. It is a sad story, and we know how it will end, but the efforts of our heroes are full of the pathos and wonder that one only sees in other fact based films like "The Bridges at Toko Ri" or ones from naturally gifted writers with first hand knowledge. In fact, the pathos is quite similar to Toko Ri.One thing baffles me. Why is this film not listed in more top 250 lists? I don't think it's capable of getting a "bad review", and any low rating would have to be looked at with bewilderment. This is the exact sort of film that movie makers strive to achieve.

I have seen 147239423 war films, so it takes a very unusual one to merit an 8. Heck, I almost gave this one a 9--it's that good and that unique.The film is set in the latter portion of WWII. A group of German prisoners are recruited to become spies for the Americans. They want the men to sneak back into Germany and pinpoint targets for them. However, most of the Germans are still very loyal to Hitler and the only ones willing are selfish jerks. An exception is a young man played by Oskar Werner. Unlike his countrymen, he really sees the war as an evil thing and agrees to go back into his homeland on an espionage mission. Can he discover what the Allies want AND make it out alive? I liked this film--even though Werner's performance was a bit too muted. In other words, he was generally very quiet and somewhat expressionless--an acting style he carried into other film such as "Fahrenheit 451" and "Jules and Jim". But, as I said, I still liked the film. Perhaps the biggest reason was that it was actually filmed in Germany and I was surprised that I recognized so many locales (I've visited the country a couple times). Würzburg in the movie really WAS Würzburg! And, one portion was clearly filmed in Rothenburg. Additionally, the story was unique and quite tense. Well worth your time--though it is odd how in old films the Germans almost always seem to speak English!! I wish they'd just used German with subtitles.

As I fell asleep the night I watched this film I was in a pretty good mood. I couldn't believe I missed this film all these years. I'm glad I finally caught up with it.The first half of the film sees 2 GI's on their way to a base in France stumble onto 2 German soldiers who are lost from their outfit. One of these prisoners is the Oskar Werner character. The 2 GI's take them prisoner and take them to the very base they end up at. This base is for intelligence and it also holds POW's from the German army. This is where he decides to spy for the Americans.The second half of the film is just superb. Oskar Werner is then inserted behind enemy lines in his old uniform where he proceeds to gather the intelligence that the Allies want. This part of the film keeps you on the edge of your seat for the next hour. You get to see this character weave his way through German troop movements and trying to keep an SS intelligence officer off his tale.Part of the drama is getting to see the German side of the equation and what it was really like. To me the whole film is the Oskar Werner character and his facial expressions. He does speak but most of the film is the looks on his face. They are just sad and depressing and priceless. He was the star of this film. Oskar Werner was this film.

This film was nominated for best picture in 1951 and along with "A Place in the Sun," should have received more careful attention from Academy voters. Their choice of "An American in Paris" as best picture left a bitter taste in the mouths of movie people."Decision Before Dawn" chronicles the U.S. army's attempt to recruit German soldiers to spy on their own countries. These recruits are tested at a prisoner of war camp.A very young Oskar Werner steals the show as one who is chosen. The picture becomes even more exciting as Werner eludes the German army as the gestapo is on to him. This film deals with those Germans who realized that the war was lost and what Germany had done, they want to redeem themselves even if it means that their countrymen would denounce them after the war. Then, there are those who would use this as an attempt to get back home and inform the army of the traitors among them.Werner gets terrific support from Gary Merrill and Richard Basehart, the latter a fantastically under-rated actor.