Product Details

• Actors: Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, Carl Esmond, Hillary Brooke, Percy Waram
• Directors: Fritz Lang
• Writers: Seton I. Miller, Graham Greene
• Producers: Buddy G. DeSylva, Seton I. Miller
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: April 28, 1998
• Run Time: 87 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0783224885
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,227 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #11 in

  Video > Mystery & Suspense > Blackmail, Murder & Mayhem > Blackmail

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It Begins At 6 O'Clock, June 15, 2000

By	Vincent Tesi "Vinny" (Brick, New Jersey) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Someone Left the Cake Out in the Train, August 10, 2005

By	Alejandra Vernon "artist & illustrator" (Long Beach, California) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

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.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Milland in his element, November 15, 2000

By	michael bownds (kent, wa United States) - See all my reviews

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.