Strong and Moving!

Sick Product of a Sick System

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

We now have all the answers, but this picture was released before WWII became a world war. It is likely there were rumors and inklings about underground movements but this may have been the first picture about a German resistance movement brought to the attention of the movie-going public. Imagine the surprise and amazement of American audiences trying to fathom the concept that Germany was not a monolith."Underground" is the tense and suspenseful story of two brothers on opposite sides of the war. Jeffrey Lynn is a Nazi officer discharged and returning home after losing an arm in combat and Philip Dorn is his older brother who is a member of the underground. We learn of the consequences to a resistance member if caught and of the attendant paranoia prevalent among members. Secrecy is necessary and required, under penalty of death.The storyline is absorbing and the direction is spot-on throughout. The two stars are at their best, and this may be one of Jeffrey Lynn's best roles. The supporting roles are filled with competent German character actors who may be unfamiliar to many of us. "Underground" is a memorable rendering of a theme which has become very familiar to us over the years since the war. Well worth the time, which is only 95 fast-moving minutes.

Early Hollywood Nazi Movie set in Germany Following a Pirate "Underground" Radio Station and the Nationalist but Anti-Nazi Germans that Risked Their Lives trying to bring Truth to the Population. Oppressive and Gestapo Tactics were being "Jack Booted" on the People with Restrictions on Everything from the Media to Free Speech. This Group of Resistance Fighters and Their Tribulations are Presented in a High Suspense Social Picture that WB did so Well.It has a basically No-Name Cast but all Deliver Riveting, Believable Performances and the Film was Gripping and Obviously Topical, at the Time, and Deserves to be Rediscovered as one of the Best, Unseen and Forgotten Films that is Preachy Without being Overbearing and Thought Provoking Without Doubt.Concentration Camps and the Devastating Effect the Torture had on "Enemies of the State", Brutal Beatings of Suspects (including Women and old folks), Nazi Iconography Dominating Scenes, and a Family Literally Torn Apart by the Hitler Regime are all Included here and No Restraint.The Ending is Wicked and Heart Wrenching but Turns to an Upbeat Note in the "Nick of Time" (but at such cost). This is a Powerful Film and Holds Up much more than many of its Type made Throughout the War. A Must See.

In 1941, rising Warner Brothers director Vincent Sherman took two different looks at the World War II underground. The Damon Runyeon like "All Through the Night" took the mugs of New York City and had them exposing Fifth Columnists utilizing an upscale auction shop as their base of operations, and "Underworld" revealed that even the families of World War I who were still haunted by losing that war didn't want to be involved in Hitler's war simply because they knew the motivations for it were wrong. In fact, an entire family finds themselves being torn apart by the political differences between two brothers (Jeffrey Lynn and Philip Dorn), the youngest a devoted Nazi soldier and the other secretly working in the underground.While the outstanding "All Through the Night" focused on comic undertones with a serious main plot, "Underground" is strictly dramatic, and powerfully so. It was released before the United States got involved in World War II, while "All Through the Night" got released almost immediately afterwords. That film had the ironic coincidence of an attempted attack on the New York Harbor, coming just as Pearl Harbor was attacked. Certainly heavy on propaganda, it served the purpose of letting Americans know that just because the enemy was near didn't mean that every citizen of that enemy nation was on the side of evil. The righteous include Lynn and Dorn's parents, a neighbor (Ludwig Stossel, a victim of Nazi villainy in "All Through the Night") who lost his son in battle, a café violin player (Kaaren Verne, "ATTN's" heroine) and even the severe looking assistant (Mona Maris) to nasty Nazi Martin Koslock, also called back by Sherman to play the head speaker at the Nazi meeting in the conclusion of "ATTN". It should be noted that Maris looked pretty much exactly the same in 20th Century Fox's banal "Berlin Correspondent", although in that film, there was no doubt where her loyalties lay.This is one of those war films which grabs you from the beginning and never lets you go. While it is clear that the underground for the most part will come out on top, there are some gripping moments where your doubts take over, such as a chase sequence where Kosleck and his men head to the location where Dorn's radio truck is in the process of delivering an underground message. There's also a hand-ringing confrontation between Dorn and another member of the underground with a recently released concentration prisoner, basically brainwashed by years of torture into doing the Nazi's bidding. When he tries to plead for his life, it almost appears that the good guys are the actual bad guys, but a twist in their decision of how to handle him gives way to a powerful moment of retribution and atonement. The ending is straight out of "A Tale of Two Cities", but is moving rather than corny, even though I found myself quoting Ronald Colman's delivery of Dicken's immortal words in the film's final moments. Verne, whose "All Through the Night" character became involved with the Nazi's merely to save her imprisoned father, is clearly on the side of the underground, and when she is exposed for being the recipient of newly purchased radio equipment, she undergoes a torture so brutal that it is difficult at times to watch, especially when Kosleck forces her to sign a statement indicating that she was treated fairly. Presented with much subtlety, "Underground" is an important film in the sense that almost 75 years later reminds its new audiences to not judge the entire population of a nation by its leaders or military, in other words, to minimize the hate and remember that people of free minds will always stand up to their government, even if their lives are threatened.

This top rate production from Warners Bros., tells the story of the anti-Nazi underground and its attempts to sway the German people to reject the Nazi regime and put an end to its war machine. This film is far better than many other later anti-Nazi films cranked out by Hollywood during WW2. The cast all give top rate performances. Martin Koslec is effectively slimey as the Nazi secret police leader who is out to crush the underground. After seeing him here, no wonder he made a career portraying evil Nazi leaders. Perhaps the most memorable performance is by Wolfgang Zilzer as the sad, pathetic former underground leader who becomes a traitor in exchange for release from the hellish torture he is undergoing in a Nazi concentration camp. The scene where he is confronted by underground leaders and forced to commit suicide has real power. The lighting and the music are perfect. Seen today, this film might seem a bit optimistically naive. It gives the viewer the impression the Nazi regime would soon fall from power. None the less the film effectively portrays the terror inflicted on the German people to assure obedience to its corrupt and evil regime. Note; One odd idea thrown in, is a suggestion about why Rudolph Hess fled Germany and flew into London. During one of the underground broadcasts, Philip Dorn states that Hess fled to escape the gestapo and tell the world the truth. This sounds a bit naive, since everything suggests in real life Hess was always a staunch supporter of the Nazi regime. Of course the whole Hess affair is still to this day shrouded in mystery, and we may never know the real reason why Hess flew into London. That, however is a matter of discussion for another forum.