Hangmen Also Die! (1943)

I was drawn to "Hangmen Also Die" for two reasons: 1. It's directed by Fritz Lang and 2. I thought it was a film noir. Well it's not remotely noirish, so anyone else who's intrigued by it for the same reason beware. It's an old school bit of pro-Allies WWII propaganda, and a pretty good one at that. The film is about a man hunt led by the Nazis to find the assassin of a high-ranking German official in an occupied Czech village. Brian Donlevy is the man they're looking for, and all sorts of Czechs suffer at the hands of the Nazis because the villagers collectively refuse to cooperate and turn Donlevy over to the authorities. The movie is a rallying cry for standing up to oppression and not giving into bullies, because once you do you've given them control over you.The plot is a bit convoluted, and there's a lot of it. The film clocks in at a meaty 130 minutes or so, long by the standards of the time and especially for a film like this. But I appreciated its grimness and its willingness to show some of the horrors of the conflict to its audience at the time the conflict was actually occurring. Gene Lockhart is despicable as a Nazi informer while Walter Brennan is marvelous (wasn't he always?) as a heroic academic. "Hangmen Also Die" received two Oscar nominations in 1943, one for its score by Hans Eisler and the other for its sound recording. Neither is especially remarkable, but those were the days when a whole slew of movies were nominated in those categories because of different Academy rules.Grade: A-

The film reminds one of 'The Mortal Storm' made a few years earlier by MGM, especially the part about the professor father who is sentenced to die. But that is just one element of the story, and there is actually a lot going on in Fritz Lang's great film. Hangmen Also Die! contains elements of noir, and there is a detective angle to it as well. The performances by Brian Donlevy and Anna Lee are good, but it's Gene Lockhart who steals this movie. He's simply fantastic as the doomed beer tycoon who has sold his soul to the Gestapo and gets double-crossed. The scene at the end, where he is told to take a walk has a gangster picture feel to it. So what we have is an amalgamation of genres, and it all comes together in a suspenseful way thanks to Mr. Lang's capable direction.

This is a very interesting film produced at the height of the war in Europe (1943). The script was based upon actual incidents but was fictionalized for a heightened dramatic effect. It's a frightening and at times depressing film, yet fascinating at the same time. Walter Brennan plays a straight role of a professor whose family is indicted in terror when the eldest daughter (Anna Lee) unwittingly assists an assassin (Brian Donlevy) escaping from the Nazis. This film portrays the cruelty and the overwhelming terror of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. Directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and Bertolt Brecht, it is very powerful, forthright and unflinching with an almost documentary like style. Particularly strong performances by Brennan and Lee with Gene Lockhart and Alexander Granach as the films two unbelievably despicable villains. The filmmakers don't shy away from war in it's most terrifying form - the destruction of the lives of average people.

On 27 May 1942, in Prague, the Deputy Reich-Protector of Bohemia and Moravia "Hangman" Reinhard Heydrich is shot by the resistance member Dr. Franticek Svoboda (Brian Donlevy). After the attempt on Heydrich's life, Nasha Novotny (Anna Lee) gives the wrong runaway direction of Svoboda to the Gestapo agents. When Svoboda sees that he is trapped, he goes to Nasha's apartment seeking shelter and he introduces himself as the architect Karel Vanek. He is welcomed by the patriarch and former revolutionary Professor Stephen Novotny (Walter Brennan) and he spends the night with the family. On the next morning, the Gestapo captures hostages including Professor Novotny to force the population to denounce the assassin. Nasha goes to the St. Pancracio Hospital to seek out the resident surgeon Dr. Franticek Svoboda and ask him to surrender to the German authorities to protect the hostages. But sooner she learns that the occupation police has no intentions to let the prisoner go and she helps the resistance in the plan to frame the traitor Emil Czaka (Gene Lockhart). "Hangmen Also Die!" is a flawed but entertaining war propaganda film based on a true event, the murder of "Hangman" Reinhard Heydrich. The fictional plot of fight for freedom is engaging and it is interesting since it was filmed in 1943, before the end of the war. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Os Carrascos Também Morrem" ("The Hangmen Also Die")