Customer Reviews

Decision Before Dawn

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you haven't seen this movie ( & I'm very sure most haven't ) you will be transported back to a space & time when realism meant business.
I saw this film about half a dozen times during the 60's on T.V., & as a kid I kept asking myself how could they make a movie that was so atmospheric, so vivid. Everybody & everything involved with this project clicks because they had Karma.
For the plot line, to the authenticity of the locals, all that is on the web. But if you know something about WWII in western Europe, specifically this stage of the war, the details the producers went to will astound you. From the cuff bands on uniforms, vehicle markings, to the single decal on the Waffen S.S. motorcyclist's helmet et al., these guys/women knew what they were doing.
It wasn't long after I first saw this film that I realized it was, in fact, Richard Basehart ( not a dashing figure, but the man could act ) who was the narrator for the great David L. Wolper WWII documentaries, also produced in the 60's.
Again, this is a tremendous humanistic/spy movie to experience, this is the benchmark.

Offbeat and emotionally involving tale of German turncoats spying for the Yanks in the closing days of WWII.

Largely forgotten, this intelligent thriller captured a best picture Oscar nomination in 1951. Unusual for war films of that period, it pulls no punches about the fears and miseries of that time in Europe. Oskar Werner is sensational as the German traitor motivated to help end the suffering caused by his country's continued resistance to the inevitable Allied victory. Similar in tone to "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold."

No extras on this Fox "Heroes of War" series title other than an odd news clip about the film getting an award.

I was delighted (and rather surprised) to see this long overlooked film getting a much deserved DVD release. It had been many years since I last saw it - on television - but much of it remained vividly in my memory. Finally seeing it again, it's not hard to understand why.

Based on a true story and filmed in atmospheric black and white, Decision Before Dawn was made entirely on location among the ruins of postwar Europe - unusual for Hollywood films of the time. The story of German POW's being recruited to work as undercover agents in their own country in late 1944 benefits from understated performances and an almost total lack of background music. Much more of an espionage film than a war movie, the heightened sense of reality serves the stifled emotions and confused motives of the characters perfectly. The film only briefly loses its way once - to include the obligatory fallen female - but even this episode is handled well.

Although not top billed, Oskar Werner plays the central character - an idealistic medic caught up in circumstances that have little to do with truth or honesty. One of the finest screen actors ever, Werner gives a superb multi-layered performance, acting as much with his eyes as his voice. The rest of the cast is also good - many of them in far from sympathetic parts. The fact that this was considered a prestige film is underlined by the presence of Richard Basehart, an actor who reputation has underservedly faded over the years.

The direction by Anatole Litvak provides just the right mixture of drama and suspense - more genuine suspense than most Hitchcock films. The script is a taut, no-frills affair. It asks questions but provides no easy answers. The film was nominated for a best picture Oscar. Of course, it didn't win and became rather neglected over the years. Not because it's not a good film, which it certainly is, but possibly because it's not just another bit of mindless entertainment. The drama and suspense engage your emotions, but Decision Before Dawn also gives you a lot to think about.

Richard Basehart plays a US Army Intelligence Officer who recruits former German Army POW's (Oskar Werner)to go back into Germany to gather information to help the Allies near the end of the war. Tough, realistic view of spys and the intelligence business. A very good film and well worth watching. One of the best of this genre.

Anatole Litvak's engaging WWII drama "Decision Before Dawn" examines the war from an entirely different perspective. Filmed in the war ravaged remains of Nazi Germany in 1950, the story commences as American troops are poised to cross the Rhine and enter Germany. In the waning days of the war an American intelligence detail lead by Col. Devlin played by Gary Merrill and Lt. Rennick played by Richard Basehart are using captured POW's to act as spys. Using specially trained and suitable German soldiers they hope to gain sensitive information to aid in the war effort. Oskar Werner playing Cpl. Karl Maurer is just such a man.

Werner, an educated son of a physician, and not a loyal Nazi supporter, is a medic in the German Luftwaffe. He and Basehart along with another Nazi traitor code named Tiger and played by Hans Christian Blech are dropped behind enemy lines to determine the location of crack Panzer units.

What makes the film so unique, was that Werner's odyssey through the dying Third Reich gives us insight into the disposition of the German populace. Their downtrodden existence scrounging out an existence in the final months of the war is a disturbing sight to behold.

Litvack's film is a tribute to the nameless German spys who aided the Allied war effort.

I'd never seen or heard of "Decision before Dawn" until it appeared in my recommended list on Amazon.com. Released in 1951, it apparently has been on TV a number of times, but I never caught it. Having it on DVD, especially at a bargain price, is welcome, indeed.



There are no big stars in the movie, although Gary Merrill, Richard Basehart, and Oskar Werner are certainly well-known names. The story is rather obscure in that it features Germans who change sides at the end of World War II, and end up spying on and fighting the Nazis. Some of these spies are heroic, like Oskar Werner's character; others are simply mercenary. In any event, we see that there were some good Germans who were loyal to their country, if not to the savage regime that took it over for 12 years.



The movie is in black-and-white, which lends itself well to the feel of the subject. It comes across almost as a docu-drama, to use modern terminology. Many of the outdoor shots feel like how Germany must have been in the latter years of the war after allied bombing had reduced most cities to rubble. You get a sense for the desperation and futility of ordinary people, as well, as the only "love interest" in the show, Hildegard Neff, vanishes almost as quickly as she appears. And she never is seen again.



If you're looking for a film that shows one of the pivotal points of the war, like "The Battle of the Bulge," or "The Battle of Britain," you might be disappointed in this show. But if you want to see a realistic depiction of patriotic Germans who resisted the Nazis and helped end the war, you should be pleasantly surprised. Acting is first-rate and the story is well-written and engaging.



There is not really a happy ending in "Decision before Dawn," unless you feel that the war is closer to its end as a result of what you've seen. In that sense, the movie really seems much ahead of its time and should find a receptive audience. As other reviewers point out, "Decision before Dawn" is really an anti-war film, showing as it does the futility of one group of humans intent on destroying another group.



In summing up, I can't think of another movie to compare this one to. I'd have to say the film is unique and worthy of its place in any World War II collection.

"Decision Before Dawn" was written by Peter Viertel, once himself a member of the O.S.S.
It's a good script, full of weird characters, played by German actors like Hans-Christian Blech, Hildegard Neff and the famous O.E. Hasse. If you look close enough, you can even spot a very young Klaus Kinski!
The performance given by young Austrian master-actor Oscar Werner is simply superb.
If you like a gripping (anti-) war-movie, you'll be delighted with "Decision Before Dawn".
Watch out for a TV-documentary on the screenwriter Peter Viertel: "PETER VIERTEL: BETWEEN THE LINES". It will be shown in the fall of 2008. Don't miss it!

Based on real facts, this movie scrutinizes the ethic side of an idealistic and disappointed German medic / P:O:W: who decides by own will to become spy for his captors. He will be parachuted in order to demonstrate his firm resolution.

This might be the masterpiece of Anatole Litvak and the best performance ever given by Oskar Werner.

Tense, absorbing and high voltage movie.

There are a jillion Second World War movies out there and most of them you'll enjoy if you like the genre. I really don't care much for the genre and yet this one really grabbed me. Why? As you can read many places it is the story of an idealistic young German soldier whose ideals are rather easily turned 180 degrees after being captured by the Americans, and who returns behind enemy lines as a spy. I don't know enough about WWII history to say with certainty that this actually happened but I'd bet money it did.

While the movie's traditional values are all operating at high levels, I think it is the psychological struggle of young Maurer (Oskar Werner) that really drive it. Watch his performance as he phones his father at the hospital and then hangs up. Or when the girl comes upstairs to spend the night and notices the strange brand of cigarettes. Or, I think most specially, when he is forced to perform medical procedures he's not qualified to. It all makes for some intense viewing, more than just cheap suspense. The temptation to return to his own people is strong against this mercurial, mysterious personality who claims to be 'weary of the war'. Experience the joy of paranoia.

There are certainly other reasons to recommend this film. Its depiction of interwar Germany as bleak and wintry in B&W may in some sense be part of the bias of its day, but in many ways it precedes the aesthetic of Schindler's List.

There is some fine acting to be seen by lesser names such as Wilfried Seyferth (as Heinz), O.E. Hasse (as Col. Von Ecker) and Werner himself. There is, of course, the unavoidable patriotic hamfistedness of the times, and the occasional lapse in character (which I think you'll agree are the product of the day's conventions) but all in all I consider it a fine meditation on the struggle between personal ideals and national ideals. This on one level, and on a more personal level, the struggles of a mercurial personality.

"Many a road to the Rhine, many roads to death!"

Just saw this movie today on TV (not for the first time) and had to review it despite its age. It has never gotten the attention it deserves I guess because it is too true to life (no sexy blonds or dinner jackets). It is an excellent example of tactical Human Intelligence (HUMINT) as it was actually conducted by the Office of Stategic Services (OSS) tactical detachments during WWII. The assessing, recruitment, training and dispatch of the assets all rings true. One incident that shows the veracity of the movie is when the OSS lieutenant returns to friendly lines and meets up with his fellow OSS members. Some of them see the loss of his best asset on the mission as no big thing because "he was just a traitor" or "just another kraut". This is truly indicative of the outlook of many people on the fringes of HUMINT with no feel for the art of agent handling. read some of the official histories of the OSS and then watch the movie and you'll see how well the subject matter was handled.