Truly Dreadful Film

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

A Major Disappointment

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Executive producer: Dore Schary. Copyright 6 May 1948 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Victoria: 20 May 1948. U.S. release: May 1948. U.K. release: 18 October 1948. Australian release: 17 February 1949. 7,893 feet. 87 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Underground Nazis are hunted in post-war Germany.COMMENT: Actually photographed in Frankfurt and Berlin (by authorization of the British, Soviet and U.S. authorities), this taut, exciting, suspenseful thriller has a director who knows how to get the atmospheric best out of his stark and striking natural locations. Moody lighting is a great help too - and so is the ironic background commentary, rarely obtrusive and often neatly counterpointing what occurs on the screen. Tourneur's direction is highly inventive - the characters introduced as the camera tracks along the outside of the train's compartments, the clown toppling into the camera - and he is well served by his cast: Merle Oberon has little to do, though she is a graceful actress and it is pleasing that she does not get involved in any romantic cliches; Robert Ryan is ideally cast, bringing some depth to a part that could easily have been turned into either a foolish caricature or just a walking mouthpiece for philosophic ideals; Charles Korvin has a difficult role, but he and the director have chosen the easy way out by keeping him in the background; Paul Lukas plays with his usual easy authority and assurance; Robert Coote essays the stage Englishman, but with some restraint; former Hollywood director Reinhold Schunzel plays a traitorous friend with convincing weariness and passion; Roman Toporow is a little green as the Russian lieutenant, but this suits the part; Peter Von Zerneck plays the clown with style; Otto Waldis has a small part but he turns it into the film's most memorable portrayal, spitting out revolutionary lines with the spellbinding skill of a satanic demagogue. Even the minor roles are enacted with unobtrusive artistry - Michael Harvey as a phoney sergeant, Charles McGraw as the interrogating officer. Siodmak evidently wrote his story to utilize the actual German locations to the utmost, with every twist in the plot bringing in a new background, as well as piling suspense on suspense. Tourneur handles the action episodes with as much skill and unobtrusive yet exciting authority as he brings to the dialogue and documentary scenes. Other credits are likewise skilled-the music score is unpretentiously effective and the art direction is quite striking. Production values are A-1. OTHER VIEWS: Exciting direction and excellent photography in a neat thriller that tries a little too hard to stress its political message.

What Clark Gable was doing the Soviets in Comrade X Dana Andrews is doing to the Nazis in Berlin Correspondent. Of course Comrade X was a far better film.This quickie from 20th Century Fox takes place starting in the summer of 1941 when the Nazis broke their pact with the Soviet Union and invaded. Dana Andrews is broadcasting to America with strict supervision, but still manages to get news in print to his home paper in New York that is too accurate for Nazi taste. This has the Gestapo most concerned and Martin Kosleck sends in his own girlfriend Virginia Gilmore to find out.What she does find out hits home because her father Erwin Kalser is one of the helpers. She does a 180 degree spin and falls for Andrews and the rest is for you to watch.This is one of those films from the WW2 years which makes the Nazis out to be ludicrously stupid. They weren't all Wilhelm Klink's or they would not have done what they did. You have to marvel at what our concept of a concentration camp was before they were liberated and how easily Andrews escapes.Sig Ruman and Kurt Katch are also stupid Nazis in this film and Mona Maris is a jealous Nazi girl who has her own war with Gilmore to fight. Berlin Correspondent is a mediocre remnant of World War II days and hardly likely to be in the Dana Andrews top 10.

"Berlin Correspondent" is set just before the United States entered World War II. Bill Roberts (Dana Andrews) is an American news correspondent and it's pretty obvious he hates Nazi Germany, which is where he's been stationed. The Nazis heavily censor his news broadcasts...yet somehow information about the Nazis seems to sneak out...and they suspect Bill is up to something. Eventually they learn his secret but instead of just being tossed out of the country, the Nazis have other plans for him.Despite having Dana Andrews in the picture, this is a pretty unremarkable film. The Nazis are almost all stupid as well as evil...and Bill is able to trick them again and again because of this. If only the Nazis were this dumb! Overall, a decent time- passer but not much more. And, by the way, oddly the Germans almost all sound just like Americans!

Ridiculous film here. Dana Andrews was miscast in 1945's "State Fair," and is a victim of unbelievably bad writing and some poor taste exhibited in this very stupid film. Thank the Lord for Andrews that 1946's "The Best Years of Our Lives" allowed him to display his great acting talents.This film is ludicrous at best. The escape scene of the heroine's father becomes comedy at its worst. Sig Ruman and Andrews are literally caught with their pants down. Ruman's remark that Hitler needs a psychiatrist and that by the Nazis killing all the insane people, will leave Germany as a sane country is insensitive to the say the least. Hitler needed more than a psychiatrist. It is called a bullet between the eyes. Am sure we would have loads of volunteers to carry this out.The movie also brings out that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned-even a dedicated Nazi woman.Notice that the Nazi woman sent to spy on reporter Andrews is as Nazi as they come, but how she changes when it's determined that her father is part of the anti-Nazi spy ring. Unrealistic. Obedient Nazis were taught to turn in their own parents if necessary.