Best movie of this year hands down!

Nice effects though.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Most interesting is when Mr Bergesen, the outspoken man who had been trying to warn everyone else about the threats of the day said sarcastically to one of the German officers, "Your Norwegian brother is ready to enter the New World Order". Remember, the favorite line of G.H.W. Bush. His dad, Prescott funded Hitler. I also liked the message Eric told his daughter about people are bad, and people are good. People can make themselves better or make themselves worse.

The title here is a bit of a come-on, as there is actually very little action and the script is inclined to be slow-moving. Also Paul Muni's character is not supplied with a direct motive for the commandant's murder. True, there is some tension, but less talk and more action would have helped. Fortunately, the movie starts well. The first ten minutes are really great. True, director John Farrow tries hard to keep building up suspense despite the handicaps of stilted dialog and miscasting in crucial roles - for instance, instead of playing the sadistic German commandant, George Macready plays the local schoolmaster! Actually, Alexander Knox would have been ideal in this role, but instead he is cast as the vicious German captain! This odd miscasting is shown up when it's Knox who says the chaplain's prayer before the commando raid, and Knox again who supplies the off-camera propaganda plug at the film's conclusion about corruption in high places.Paul Muni tends to overact and is often indulgently shown in close- up where his penchant for eye-rolling gets full rein. Sir Cedric Hardwicke is surprisingly stiff as the admiral and Anna Lee makes a rather colorless daughter. Despite making a strained attempt to speak and look like a hearty Norwegian, Ray Collins, comes across strongly as the tortured Bergerson, but Lillian Gish plays his wife with an over-theatrical technique that approaches caricature. Oddly enough, the most convincing performance comes from Flying Officer Robert Coote (though don't let this billing confuse you. Coote was a professional actor who had been making movies since 1931!)The script is inclined to be slow-moving. The title, for instance, is a misnomer as there is very little action apart from the climactic raid.

Its propaganda roots are obvious now but still a well acted war drama about the struggle of Norway against the Nazi machine. Paul Muni is strong in the lead. Famed for parts where he was under heavy makeup like Emile Zola and Louis Pasteur those performances viewed today are heavy and hammy whereas in plain clothes such as here and I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang he is far more naturalistic. A cast of fine character actors all add texture to the film. Lillian Gish's part is small and mostly without dialogue but of course she could convey more with a look than most actresses with a telephone book worth of words.

It is easy to overlook COMMANDOS STRIKE AT DOWN as just one out of many, many other propaganda-films against Nazism made in Hollywood during the war. In fact, this seems to be pretty much what has happened, because despite starring Paul Muni, the for his time unusually versatile and complex actor, and co-starring the legend of the silent screen Lillian Gish (I wish she was given more screen time!), this film rarely gets any mention at all, even in discussion of the aforementioned performers. Yet, among the films of this kind I have seen, this one is, despite some obvious short-comings, by far one of the most exciting, touching and enjoyable.The film covers the story of a few Norwegian people deciding to actively fight against the occupation, Eric Toresen (Muni) being among them. As is to be expected, Muni is the strongest aspect of the film, as he is always able to make the best out of what he's got to deal with; unlike many of his contemporaries, Muni never leaned towards a particular screen image, choosing instead to examine his character for each situation he had to encounter. He never expresses the different emotions that erupt from his character through one particular viewpoint; anger and joy is evoked to various degrees, always depending on the circumstances. The result is that, although there's never any doubt about our sympathy towards Ericson as an honest, good-natured man, he comes across as being quite complex at the same time. In a propaganda-film of this kind, it could be expected, perhaps even accepted, that the definite hero of the film gets sugarcoated throughout, but I never felt that way about Ericson which should say a lot about Muni's talent as an actor.The ability to show various aspects of conditions in this film is not solely thanks to Muni, however. There is one fact which Norwegians are not fond of talking about, but which I, being a Norwegian myself, think would be pointless to avoid mentioning here; during World War II, most Norwegians never dared to speak up against a Nazi. Hitler had given special orders to treat Norway nicely as long as the people didn't protest, and for the most part my country responded to this by not protesting at all. There were only a few like Ericson who eloped to England in order to fight the war from there. In a film like this one, one could expect such aspects of the story to be overlooked, but to my amazement it did occur at least once that even an anti-Nazi suggested to give up the fight, and enjoy the "good things" he expected to get under an occupation.Also as mere entertainment, COMMANDOS is pretty good; California landscape makes pretty well up for the absence of accurate "Norwegian fjords," and there are quite a few touching scenes, especially the one involving Ericson hiding from Nazis in a well with his daughter. There are some instances of overly theatrical dialogue, which doesn't come as a surprise considering how quickly these films were made. All in all, however, COMMANDOS STRIKE AT DAWN holds up well, both as a reminder and as entertainment.A final note -- it was an absurd experience to me hearing the Norwegian national song being sung in American!