Love Affair

Sanovat sitä rakkaudeksi / Det handlar om kärlek... US (c) 1939 RKO. D: Leo McCarey. SC: Delmer Daves, Donald Ogden Stewart - based on a story by Mildred Cram and Leo McCarey. DP: Rudolph Maté. AD: Van Nest Polglase, Al Herman. M: Roy Webb. Theme song: "Plaisir d'amour" (1780, Jean Paul Egide Martini). ED: Edward Dmytryk, George Hiveley. CAST: Irene Dunne (Terry McCay), Charles Boyer (Michel Marnay), Maria Ouspenskaya (grandmother). 88 min. A MoMA restored print with funding provided by The Film Foundation. Viewed at Cinema Orion, 9 April 2009. - This is the best print; the restoration has been conducted from partially worn and scratched materials. - A masterpiece revisited. - The Madeira turning-point. Two shallow people who have been drifting through life experience a moment of gravity. - The story of spiritual regeneration through love.

Hitler's Children

Hitlerin lapset. US (c) 1943 RKO. P: Edward A. Golden. D: Edward Dmytryk. SC: Emmet Lavery - based on the book Education for Death (1941) by Gregor Ziemer. DP: Russell Metty. M: Roy Webb. Starring Tim Holt (Ltn. Karl Bruner), Bonita Granville (Anna Miller), Kent Smith (Prof. Nichols), Otto Kruger (Col. Henkel), H.B. Warner (the Bishop), Lloyd Corrigan (Franz Erhart), Erford Gage (Dr. Schmidt), Hans Conried (Dr. Graf), Peter Van Eyck (arresting sergeant). 82 min. A 16mm C&C television print viewed at Bio Asta, Filmens Hus, Copenhagen, 5 September 2008. - Dmytryk already had a long career when he started to attract attention directing films like this. It is a straightforward political drama about Nazi Germany in 1933-1939, with an interesting montage in the beginning. The fictional story bringing to life the story of the rise of Hitler's Germany. The main characters are the schoolchildren Karl and Anna who grow into young adults, Karl into a Gestapo soldier, Anna into a young woman believing in the American ideal of liberty (she is an American citizen). - The drama is harsh and abrupt, but not far removed from reality? - The Nazis are not caricatures, which makes convincing the greatest horror that Anna could become a Nazi, too. - A memorable character is journalist Franz Erhard, who has to be afraid of his own children. He never gives up silent resistance. - A major theme: compulsive sterilization for those who cannot support strong Germany, including women with incorrect political thought. - A turning-point at the church where the bishop is proud to denounce the Führer. "Let me die while I'm still proud I'm a German". "A special prayer for our speedy destruction at the hands of our enemies". - As Anna is about to be whipped and sterilized, Karl rescues her, but submits to a radio trial, where he is expected to give an example for all. He utilizes the opportunity to praise Goethe's lesson of life against an education for death. "To live is to be free. Long live the enemies of Nazi Germany". All Germany hears Gestapo shoot Karl and Anna live on the air. - The film is based on the personal experience of Gregor Ziemer, an American educator in Germany in the 1930s. The book was also the source for the Disney propaganda short Education for Death (also 1943).

Back to Bataan

Viidakon partisaanit / Djungelpartisaner / Urskovens partisaner. US 1945. PC: RKO. EX: Robert Fellows. D: Edward Dmytryk. SC: Ben Barzman, Richard H. Landau - from a story by Aeneas MacKenzie, William Gordon. DP: Nicholas Musuraca. M: Roy Webb. Starring John Wayne (Col. Joseph Madden), Anthony Quinn (Capt. Andrés Bonifácio), Beulah Bondi (Bertha Barnes), Fely Franquelli (Dolici Dalgado), Lawrence Tierney (Lt. Cmdr. Waite). 95 min. A DFI print with danske tekster viewed at Bio Carl, Filmens Hus, Copenhagen, 4 September 2008. - The story of the Philippines during WWII told as Hollywood entertainment. Japan conquers the Philippines from the US and grants them fake independence. The US manage to win even former anti-US Filipino freedom fighters to their side (the Bonifácio story). - An interesting feature is that the influential Filipino female speaker on the Japanese radio, Dolici Dalgado, is actually a counter-spy for the US. - John Wayne is very good in his role of the guerrilla leader. - It starts with desperate losses, and guerrilla warfare is punished with excessive retribution by the Japanese. - Wayne portrays convincingly the control needed in heated moments, when he is provoked, and especially when the arguments against him are valid: the terrible moral choice of carrying out guerrilla strikes while innocent civilians get sacrificed. Wayne can project leadership based on innate authority and dignity. - Beulah Bondi is also very good as the schoolteacher turned guerrilla. - There are fine action scenes, as the one where Andrés Bonifácio (Anthony Quinn) is rescued from the prisoners' terrible death march by ruse. - Maybe the finest sequence is the confession in the Catholic church, where Bonifacio disguised as a priest meets Dolici and first then realizes that she is on their side and not the Japanese propagandist everyone thinks she is. Also Fely Franquelli gives a fine performance.