Wow! Such a good movie.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Fritz Lang made a riveting movie, here, which could be viewed on several levels. It starts with a world-famous British big-game hunter, Capt. Alan Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon), on vacation in Bavaria in 1939. Since his thrill is the stalk sport more than the kill, he stalks Hitler to his hideout and puts him in his gun site without trying to kill him. He then loads his gun with his finger ready to squeeze the trigger. But he is overtaken by Hitler's guards and brought to the headquarters of the Nazi Gestapo leader, Major Quive-Smith (George Sanders). Quive-Smith is also an avid hunter and speaks perfect English. When Thorndike is told to sign a letter as an English agent assigned to kill Hitler, he refuses and is tortured. After torture, he still refuses to sign the letter, so Quive-Smith decides to kill him by staging an accident: having him fall from a steep, deep cliff. But, Thorndike survives the fall and manages to become a stowaway--with the help of the cabin boy (played by Roddy McDowall)--on a Dutch ship bound for England. He is constantly chased, hidden, and hunted throughout the movie--first by Nazi spies, then by London police. It really doesn't matter if this movie was made as a propaganda film or not. It totally captivated me and held me in my seat to until the very end.Of interest to me is that this movie was released in the USA on 20 June 1941. Pearl Harbor was not attacked until 7 December 1941. So, at the time this movie was released in the US, the US had not officially entered the war.

For this movie to make sense, you have to understand 2 things. First. the story takes place before England declares war on Germany. Second, at the time the action takes place, England is still appeasing Germany, so the main character would have to be extradited to Germany for his "crime". If you don't understand those 2 points, then you won't understand the overall film.I'm not sure which is stronger here -- the story or the actors. The story is simple -- big game hunter (Walter Pidgeon -- stalks Hitler as he might stalk big game, with no real intent to assassinate him. But then when he has the chance to shoot him, he tries, but is captured just before pulling the trigger. Nazi (George Sanders) has him tortured due to his refusing to sign a confession of his crime. Pidgeon is ultimately pushed off a cliff to make it appear as an accident, but survives the fall and escapes back to England. Sanders and another Nazi -- John Carradine -- stalk him back in England. Can he get away.Walter Pidgeon is superb here. I wonder if this might be his finest role. Joan Bennett, as the female lead...well, I found her very annoying here, and generally I felt she was a decent actress. George Sanders was a true class act, and he is also superb here as the relentless Nazi. John Carradine turns in an electric performance! Ahem. And the annoying young Roddy McDowall is along for the boat ride.I give this film a good, solid "7", and for a war movie (or in this case, a pre-war movie) that's pretty good for me. Recommended!

Compact well directed drama of the dawning realization of the Nazi threat in Europe. A noir before that was a popular genre. Walter Pidgeon handles his role well, his suave dignity enabling him to move from the lighter tone at the start of the film to the serious one later on. Joan Bennett is a breezy delight as a practitioner of the world's oldest profession although the Hayes office ludicrously insisted she have a sewing machine in the corner of her room to make it appear she's a seamstress. She did some of her best work in Lang films, he was a tough director but she was herself a straight shooter who had no problem giving as good as she got enabling them to work well together through four films.

Walter Pidgeon (Captain Thorndike) is captured trying to assassinate Hitler and somehow escapes back to Britain where he is pursued by a gang of Nazis including George Sanders (Major Quive-Smith). Pidgeon is helped along the way by Roddy McDowell (Vaner) and Joan Bennett (Jerry). However, we eventually get to the confrontation between Sanders and Pidgeon. Can these two men make a deal with each other...? I enjoyed this film despite the story being a load of nonsense. Thorndike would have just been killed at the beginning of the film. However, the writers manage to contrive a situation so that he can escape. The cast are all likable and this wins over actually being any good. A case in point is Joan Bennett - she puts on a terrible cockney accent but she wins us over coz she's likable and it comes as a shock when we hear about what happens to her. It makes the scene where Bennett and Pidgeon walk away from each other on a foggy London bridge one of the more poignant and memorable scenes of the film. As for Pidgeon, why on earth is he the lead playing an Englishman? It doesn't matter, though coz he's likable and he has a determined character transformation at the end of the film.The story has some good sequences (eg, the chase on the London Underground and the game of cat and mouse in the cave), but it also drags a bit once the platonic romance is introduced. There is quite a lot of humour during these moments but a real prostitute would have just shagged the guy, taken his money and said goodbye. I'm not wholly convinced as to why she would want to follow him around so much. Overall, it's an entertaining film that is worth seeing again.