Customer Reviews

Ministry of Fear

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

 

 

Director Fritz Lang masterfully blends Nazi espionage, psychological intrigue, and dangerous romance into the 1944 noir classic Ministry of Fear. Ray Milland stars as a man wrongfully accused of murder who must prove his innocence. Stephen Neale (Milland) innocently guesses the correct weight of a cake at a charity fair and immediately becomes entangled in a series of bizarre events. Lang's suggestive use of camera angles, dark ominous lighting, and slow tracking frames provide added suspense to his mysterious sets which include: a seance, an asylum, a train car, and a book store. Probably the most innovative murder scene ever captured on film is when Carla ( Majorie Reynolds) shoots her brother Willi ( Carl Esmond) in the pitch darkness of a hotel room. Frequent noir visitor Dan Duryea appears as Mr. Travers, a well groomed tailor who actually is a Nazi spy. The film's shadowy mood pervades the context, which is a testament to Lang's creative genius. Ministry of Fear was one of the films that inspired Alfred Hitchcock to new artistic heights.

Stephen Neal has spent 2 years in an asylum for what was judged as a "mercy killing," and when his sentence is completed, he leaves to find a world gone mad. It is 1944, the height of WWII, and it all starts with a cake. Neal wins a cake at a fair, and while on the train to London, is nearly murdered for it. He is then swept into a world of Nazis, spies, bogus fortune-tellers, and sinister people with aliases. We see the plot unfold from Neal's eyes, and are as perplexed as he is; trying to figure out the meaning as one is watching is a hopeless task.

Based on a novel by Graham Greene, the direction by Fritz Lang is excellent, and it has an atmospheric, eerie score by Victor Young. The real beauty of this film is in the superb cinematography by Henry Sharp, with a use of light/shade contrasts that are spectacular, and the composition of each scene a work of art. Added to this is the attractiveness of its leading man. Ray Milland was at the top of his career (he was to win the Best Actor Oscar for "The Lost Weekend" the following year), and is marvelous, as well as very handsome as Neal. Supporting him is Marjorie Reynolds as the Austrian Carla Hilfe, Carl Esmond as her brother Willi, Hillary Brooke as the leggy Mrs. Bellane, and Dan Duryea as a sinister tailor with a big pair of scissors.

This film may not have the most cogent of plots, but it is entertaining, and lovely to look at. Fritz Lang was forced by the studio to tack on an ending that he deplored, and I have to say it is startling in its change of mood. I suspect Lang made it purposely as short and abrupt as it is, as a signal to the audience that it was not his intent. If you like noir spy mysteries, you'll like "Ministry of Fear", but don't waste too many brain cells trying to make sense of it. Total running time is 84 minutes.

This is a bootleg Chinese import, not an authentic release. This film has not been released to DVD.

Ray Milland again delivers a fine performance, in the tradition of "Lost Weekend" and "The Big Clock". A fine outing for Lang; his angles and lighting in this genre are second only to Herr Siodmak (Siodmak was German; Lang Austrian). Marjorie Reynolds' performance, however, is wooden, and her "Austrian" accent leaves much to be desired. Sure, she's beautiful: But her faux German accent alongside brother Willi is hideous (he's obviously a native speaker) and adds nothing to the sense of reality of the film. Scene with "blind" man on train during Nazi bombing raid is particularly gripping. True noir devotees will want this for the collection.

Fritz Lang's MINISTRY OF FEAR is an entertaining film. No other Lang picture makes me think so directly of Alfred Hitchcock. One can easily see this film as an antecedent to NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959).

As in Hitchcock's film, the tone and plot developments are not particularly realistic ones. The point is to simply enjoy the ride as we trace the fate of our protagonist (Ray Milland); from asylum to fete, being bludgeoned on a train, to being framed for murder, escaping a bomb; and of course, falling in love.

It is quite correctly listed as film noir, and has many of those attributes; but it has a fairly light tone, as well. Approached as a light spy thriller; one that has some wonderful noir cinematography, it is a most satisfying viewing experience. It is amazing what Lang could do to create atmosphere, even using simple everyday items like the clock at the film's beginning. A must for Fritz Lang, film noir and espionage film aficionados.

Fritz Lang was one of the greatest directing talents to ever emerge from German cinema. Born in Vienna, he migrated to Berlin following service in World War One and became one of Germany's premier directors.

When Hitler came to power, however, Lang found himself at a potentially deadly crossroad. He was summoned by Joseph Goebbels, the Third Reich's infamous Director of Propaganda, and was offered the position of becoming the regime's head of filmmaking.

The sagacious director knew a trap when he saw it. He was aware that the Nazi regime was aware of his opposition to everything it stood for as well as one other important fact. While Lang was a practicing Catholic, his mother was Jewish, a fact of which Goebbels and Hitler were surely aware.

Lang believed that his life was at stake. He left quickly by train that evening and proceeded to Paris, leaving behind his wife and family. From there he moved to London, at which point famous producer David O. Selznick of "Gone with the Wind" fame came to his rescue by putting him under contract and bringing Lang to Hollywood.

It was with understandable relish that Lang, after reading famous British author Graham Greene's suspense novel, desired to bring "Ministry of Fear" to the screen. The 1944 release centers on the story of a victim of fate, played by Ray Milland, becoming caught up in Nazi espionage intrigue in war torn London.

In fact, the touching scene where Milland and Marjorie Reynolds realize that they are falling in love occurs during a blackout when they, along with other Londoners, seek refuge at an Underground Station.

The story begins when Milland, who the following year would win a Best Actor Oscar for "The Lost Weekend," which was directed by another famous war time émigré from German directing ranks, Billy Wilder, is released from an asylum. He has some time until catching the train for London and decides to spend it at a nearby charity bazaar.

The spy story technique of victim by mistake is employed when Milland assumes the role intended for someone else. He is steered to a fortuneteller, who provides him with the winning weight of a cake being auctioned off in a situation that involves what lies beneath crust and battered eggs. The "real eggs" factor is stressed, an important war time element during a period of shortages.

After Milland leaves the bazaar and steps aboard the train bound for London he realizes he is a marked man. He wonders why and, after a close call, decides to pursue the case when he arrives in London.

In London Milland is thrown into a labyrinthine spy network in which, as customary, it is difficult to distinguish loyalists from Nazi spies. He makes a correct judgment call in trusting and ultimately falling in love with good blonde Marjorie Reynolds, who runs a refugee organization along with her brother, over bad blonde Hillary Brooke, a phony psychic with a penchant for conducting interesting but potentially deadly séances.

The film contains a surprise twist at the end as viewers attempt to figure out the identity of an ultimate insider directing spy activity.

Two excellent character performers surface in villainous roles. They are Dan Duryea, who starred in the successful Lang film noir epics "The Woman in the Window" (1944) and "Scarlet Street" (1945) opposite Joan Bennett and Edward G. Robinson, and Alan Napier, one of Britain's leading stage performers, who was a student at the prestigious London-based Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the same time as John Gielgud and Robert Morley.

Maybe Graham Greene didn't like this movie, but he was like every other author and thought his every word was gold. The movie skips all the dreary insane asylum scenes but one, and goes straight to the heart of things, in the county fair, or fete, a concept which people in the USA probably were saying, "What did he say? Fate?" No, it's a fete, and Milland walks in directly after having been let out of the asylym, hearing the music at the train station while buying a ticket out of Ledbridge. He asks the station agent, "Where's the music coming from?" and when told it's the fete, he asks if he could leave his clothes and suitcases on a little bench outside the station while he investigated, had a little unnocent fun after being cooped up for 2 years having killed his poor wife in a Dr. Death sort of provide-me-with-poison-please-darling murder case. In Graham Greene's novel, of course, the hero was headed for a brothel, not a funfair, but the movies of the 1940s had to sanitize things a bit.

Watching this scene, with the ticket agent saying, Oh sure, just leave all your earthly belongings on this bench, nobody will take them, we just gazed in astonishment. Those were different times! They may have had blitz bombings and Nazi spy rings and people pretending to be blind just to make off with your cake, but at least you could leave your bags on a bench and no one would steal them. In general, MINISTRY OF FEAR is an appealing blend of pastoral, not to say candy box innocence, with a moral squalor best conveyed by the decadent beauty of the male leads: Dan Duryea's Dorian Gray smirk, Ray Milland's poetic, nearly Rimbaud charm and effervescence, as though he were waiting for Jean Cocteau to take him out for some opium; and then the German stud suavity of Carl Esmond, who plays Willy, the head of the charity "Mothers of the Free Nations," the brother of the woman Milland comes to love.

Other points of interest include the fabulous apartment of Madame Belaine. Never seen anything like it. A painter herself apparently, she has a fantastic collection of Surrealist art and primitive masks of African peoples. Even her doorbell is a work of art. I can't even describe it, but where most people have a doorbell she got Picasso to paint her door to conceal the bell as the nostril to one of his cubist style multi-eyed profiles of a beautiful woman, I guess herself. When Milland presses the bell I thought the whole of London would blow up. It is extraordinary set design, hallucinatory like the best of Busby Berkeley.

And the low point has to be Marjorie Reynolds' Austrian accent. Weren't there any other actresses working at Paramount who could have at any rate dubbed it in for her? After awhile, though, I gave up hooting at it and indeed developed a fondness for her. She kept slugging at it, as though eventually in twenty years she might get it right. She had courage, and that's really all you need in the movies.

The background story to "Ministry of Fear" is that Director Fritz Lang did not have complete control over production. This shows and becomes more obvious as MF progresses. As MF opens, lead Ray Milland is released from an asylum. He has done time for the mercy killing of his wife. With time to burn before his train leaves, he wanders into a fair and wins a cake. Inside the cake is a secret message intended for German agents in England. The bad guys realize this and want the cake back. The chase is on! RM escapes a hit on the train! Back in London, Milland hires a private dick but the agents kill him and implicate RM. With a murder rap on his record, Milland has to stay on the run and away from the Law. This is the fun part for the viewer! London seems full of spies; how can RM tell friend from foe? Throughout, the relatively unknown supporting cast is excellent. Salvation arrives in the form of Percy Waram, a tough, stiff-necked but fair Scotland Yard inspector. He gives RM elbowroom to clear himself and find the bad guys. This is wartime (!), so MF has the requisite disposition of justice. As recounted above, MF had some production issues: In this reviewer's opinion, it's too brief. At only 86 minutes running time, some scenes and characters are not fully developed. A few fly by. A scene with a sexy Hillary Brooke is teasingly brief. This reviewer solved the problem by frequently hitting the rewind button-and viewing MF TWICE! Since this "solution" will not appeal to all in the amazon community, the advice from this corner is to be adventurous! Those who like fast moving detective/good guy vs. bad guy films should not be disappointed. Since MF moves so rapidly, virtually no one should be bored. Viewers should watch for the mismatched fadeout. MF should have ended with Inspector Prentice (Waram) slowly walking up those stairs, from light into darkness.

"Ministry of Fear" (1944) belongs to the genre of "5th column" films that were popular around World War 2 (e.g., " Secret Enemies "). The film is directed by Fritz Lang (1890-1976) who was called the "Master of Darkness" by the BFI. More than anyone else he was responsible for popularizing the German school of expressionist film, with films like "Dr. Mabuse" (1922), "Metropolis" (1927) and "M" (1931). Lang fled German in 1934, eventually came to the US where he made such notable films as "Fury" (1936), "The Return of Frank James" (1940), "Western Union" (1940), "Hangman Also Die" (1943), and "The Woman in the Window" (1944). While he was never nominated for an Oscar, his work influenced the work of many directors, including Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock.

Ray Milland and Marjorie Reynolds star in this adaptation of Graham Greene's 1943 novel, with Dan Duryea and Alan Napier in supporting roles.

Milland (1905-86) is best known for his Oscar and Golden Globe winner performance in "Lost Weekend" (1945), although he gave us memorable performances in more than 100 films including "The Thief" (1952) and "Dial M for Murder" (1954). He transitioned to TV in the 50s and appeared in several TV movies as well as series including "The Ray Milland Show" (1953-5) and "Markham" (1959-60). Milland gives a good performance.

Marjorie Reynolds (1917-97) is best known as the wife in TV's "Life of Riley" (1953-8) although she gave good performances in more than 40 films including "Holiday Inn" (1942) and "Heaven Only Knows" (1947). She is terrific in this film as a woman who runs a charity and becomes involved with Milland, although her Austrian accent leaves much to be desired.

Dan Duryea (1907-68) appears in a mysterious role. Duryea was a staple in more than 50 films. Never an A list player, he made good contributions to films like "The Little Foxes" (1941) and "Winchester 73" (1950). Duryea often played in film noir such as "Woman in the Window" (1944), "Scarlet Street" (1945), and "Criss Cross" (1949). I liked him best as the reporter in "Pride of the Yankees" (1942), one of his first roles.

Hillary Brooke (1914-1999) makes an appearance as a clairvoyant. We know her best from her work with Abbott and Costello in films and on TV (as Lou's girlfriend), and as Charlie Farrell's girlfriend on "My Little Margie" (1952). She made more than 50 films between 1937 and 1957. I liked her best as the mom from "Invaders from Mars" (1953). She's always great to see and she steals the scene when she appears.

We know Alan Napier (1903-88) as Batman's butler in the TV series, but he had a distinguished career in more than 100 films and TV movies. He often played a cultured Englishman in films like "Joan of Arc" (1948), "Macbeth" (1948), and "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" (1949). In this film he (uncharacteristically) plays a bad guy.

Erskine Sanford (1885-1969) plays a detective. We know Sanford from his many roles in the films of Orson Welles ("Citizen Kane", "Magnificent Ambersons") with his most memorable role as the Judge in "The Lady from Shanghai" (1947). Sanford does a great job and is on screen far too little.

Director Fritz Lang specialized in "film noir" but this film is far from it. There is no femme fatale, no double or triple cross (although there is lots of deception), and the hero is a hero from the start, who ends up getting the girl and literally driving off into the sunset. Lang himself wasn't happy with the film, probably because all the major decisions were made by producer Buddy DeSylva (1895-1950) and producer/writer Set Miller (1902-1974). DeSylva was very patriotic and involved in many anti Nazi and anti Japanese films of the era ("Hitler's Gang", "The Story of Dr. Wassell", "So Proudly we Hail"). Miller won an Oscar in 1942 ("Here Comes Mr. Jordan") and gave us such big hits as "The Adventures of Robin Hood", "The Sea Hawk", and "Two Years Before the Mast". Miller also wrote several patriotic films (e.g., "Dawn Patrol", "Secret Enemies", "Fighter Squadron"). Lang was unable to exert his usual influence with such strong personalities, and Lang fans will probably find this film disappointing.

There are all kinds of plot problems with this film. For example, a cake is blown up by a bomb from a Nazi airplane, but a small piece of cake with incriminating evidence (microfilm) manages to survive despite the fact that the entire house is virtually evaporated, and Milland manages to find this small piece amongst the rubble. A Scotland Yard detective manages to show up in the nick of time at an address known only to Milland. Etc.

Another problem with the film is that there is no suspense. We know from the start that the cake is involved in some kind of spy ring and that Milland is not crazy. We simply climb on board to join Milland in his search to solve the puzzle.

In addition, the production values are really poor. The sets are minimal and the effects are laughable.

1944 was not a strong year for films. "Going my Way" was the big multiple Oscar winner. "Gaslight" did well at the box office and won Ingrid Bergman an Oscar. Other notable films were Judy Garland's "Meet me in St Louis", "Double Indemnity", "To Have and Have Not", "Arsenic and Old Lace", and "Lifeboat".

Some people think this is a great example of film noir. Personally I don't believe it is film noir and it certainly isn't a great film. Milland's performance is the only high point, but there are far better films to see his talents.

"The Ministry of Fear," (1944) is a black and white British spy story/crime drama/thriller/film noir, based on the book of the same name, The Ministry of Fear: An Entertainment (Penguin Classics), by much-honored twentieth century British author/screen writer Graham Greene (The Third Man: The Criterion Collection, The End of the Affair). The film is a bit of an oddity, in that it is based on a British novel, supposedly set in Great Britain, directed by the uber-talented Austrian-born Fritz Lang, (The Complete Metropolis,M - 2 Disc Special Edition - (The Criterion Collection)). Yet it was made in Hollywood, to escape the wartime privations and dangers of Britain at the time.

The Welsh-born, Oscar-winning Ray Milland (Dial M for Murder, The Lost Weekend), stars as Stephen Neale, who is released back into an England at war after serving two years in a mental asylum for the mercy killing of his terminally ill wife. Somehow, at a local garden fete, he stumbles across a murderous Nazi spy ring, by correctly guessing the weight of a cake - made with real eggs, we are told. As he appears to be substantially friendless, he doesn't know where to turn; but stakes his survival on that well-known British ability to muddle through. In his muddled way, he trips over Carla Hilfe, an Austrian refugee to the U.K., played by the Idaho-born Marjorie Reynolds, who is best known for playing William Bendix's wife in the popular comic TV seriesThe Life of Riley - The William Bendix Episodes (2 VHS Set) (1953-58). And her brother, Willi Hilfe, played by the Austrian-born Carl Esmond (Sergeant York (Two-Disc Special Edition)). The durable American Dan Duryea (Scarlet Street (Remastered Edition), shows up as a player for the other side: he is Cost, and then Travers, a tailor, sporting the biggest pair of scissors you ever have seen.

The movie doesn't boast the world's greatest script, but it is witty, and throws out some good lines. Director Lang is, as ever, expert at turning up the suspense: this work is frequently compared to Anglo-American master director Alfred Hitchcock's 39 STEPS. Early on, we get a blind man who isn't, and sure doesn't appreciate the slice of cake Neale gives him during a train ride. Later, a suspiciously hokey séance. An exploding suitcase - you know, leather has become so hard to get in wartime. A lucky shot through a door. The film can't be said to rank with the top work of its star Milland, or director Lang, but it's certainly worth a look, as we watch Milland muddle through.