Has anyone seen this movie?
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dmh7-1 — 17 years ago(August 16, 2008 10:57 PM)
Yes. It's a marvelous looking film, it has all the atmosphere a film could use, and it has both great leads, and the usual "salting" of reliable character actors, but the storyline is not only terribly dated (and preachy/pompous about its politics) but - as you also note - seems to turn from a 1500 meter run into a short sprint at the very end. One wonders what the problems were - a pushy producer, an impatient director, a disinterested editor. Who knows? There are plenty of films about that era, about Nazis and the like that are still greatly enjoyable today ("Casablanca" stands out of course), but it's because the themes are rendered universal, the creators refuse to take themselves too seriously, and the real story is one of love or loyalty, etc. Here, we are led to believe something "important" is being revealed to us, and yet - the film wraps up in a headless rush. Very disappointing
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lordhack_99 — 17 years ago(August 18, 2008 01:35 PM)
Yes, the preachiness, even for its times, is tiresome, along with the somewhat Italianate pronunciation of 'fascist'. A fash-chist! Of course, if we begin thinking of films whose themes are above the, shall we say, intellectual station of its makers, or are made juvenile in an assumption that the viewer is a straw-chewing bumpkin, we could have a list here that runs for miles. I am thinking right now of SABOTEUR, but I really digress
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teaandoranges — 15 years ago(June 16, 2010 05:14 PM)
Wow.didn't occur to me when I was watching but of course it is based on Lindbergh Could also have been based partly on Joseph Kennedy.I enjoyed the movie and Hepburn/Tracy are wonderful to watch as usual.
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gbennett5 — 15 years ago(June 16, 2010 07:00 PM)
I saw this years ago, but hadn't seen it again until this afternoon on
TCM. Unlike other posters, my problem is the beginning, which is
muddled and highly irritating (credit Audrey Christie) in spots. But the
final 45 minutes unfold beautifully, with Hepburn and Tracy giving fine
turns in their roles. -
tireless_crank — 15 years ago(August 20, 2010 04:22 PM)
Lindbergh is more likely, he was a huge populist hero, he loved the Fascist ideology, touring Germany and meeting German leaders. He was an expressed racist and believed in eugenics. Not a pretty character up close.
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simplemines — 10 years ago(April 11, 2015 11:55 PM)
Eugenics was a huge movement in the US, starting around the time of Woodrow Wilson. It was, btw, a leftist movement (but then Nazis were National Socialists.) Nazis learned a lot about eugenics from American eugenics.
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molly-31 — 15 years ago(August 20, 2010 10:35 PM)
I'm getting distinct Lindbergh vibes off it. Especially the minute the guy mentioned "true Americanism".
It's like a twisted Capra movie. The dark side of that stuff. Or like what everybody thought Senator Paine was like vs. what he was really like.
Let's just say that God doesn't believe in me. -
X-Evolutionist — 15 years ago(August 22, 2010 07:13 AM)
I just finished watching it. I had never heard of it before. The beginning of the "mystery" story reminded me of Citizen Kane.
X
Reasons Why I Believe in God:
http://X-Evolutionist.com/ -
neighturboy — 15 years ago(January 19, 2011 05:27 PM)
Nothing to contribute to this already interesting discussion, but wanted to let you all know the film is finally being released on DVD by Warners on April 12th, 2011. It and "The Sea of Grass" (also new to DVD) will also be part of the 10-disc box set, "Tracy and Hepburn - The Definitive Collection" containing all the Tracy/Hepburn films. In addition to their nine films it'll also contain the documentary "The Spencer Tracy Legacy". This will be a joint effort from Warners, Sony and Fox, similar to the combined effort to release "The Elia Kazan Collection" last year.
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whitetigerzone — 13 years ago(April 18, 2012 09:57 AM)
This film was a thought experiment reflecting on unspoken assumptions and questions in the nation's reaction to what was happening in Germany at the time: What if America had a Hitler? Could it happen here? How might it happen? Could someone who is a sufficiently charismatic speaker spellbind this nation with patriotic idealism and then lead it down an ugly murderous path? The story structure the film takes, with a reporter covering the figure's untimely death, which occurs at what would have been a pivotal moment in his ascent, is a device that allows a widening circle of truth to be revealed about this figure throughout the course of the film; the reporter is meant to be the audience's surrogate within the film, leading us through a transition of feelings of first admiration, then discomfort and ultimately horror for the absent figure.
The movie cheats a little bit on the experiment: the ugly side of the Hitler character in the movie is revealed as a secret plot to be implemented after his rise to power. The real Hitler was quite upfront and open about his race hatred and warlike intentions from the beginning and rose to power anyway. Was this discrepancy written in because the makers of the film thought this a genuine distinction in American vs. German culture: that a completely parallel series of events could not actually happen here? Or because they feared the American audience would reject such a portrayal of themselves? Or was it to give the story the elements of mystery and suspense? -
butaneggbert — 9 years ago(April 06, 2016 09:22 PM)
Agreed. Plus the pacing was off - plodding at some points, which was a barrier to my getting swept up in it.
And the smashes of thunder when the mom's house comes into view, and again at some perfectly-timed line in the long scene with the mom, were just plain comic. Young Frankenstein was more subtle.
Hepburn was a fabulous character in her own right, but her strongest acting came many, many years after this. In this movie she was particularly weak.
Tracy of course barely ever failed, and in this he was as reliable as ever.
But not really a good move - nah.
Nothing to see here, move along.
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Toshi51 — 9 years ago(August 01, 2016 09:29 PM)
I have seen it a few times over the decades. An interesting film in the context of the early years of WWII and the current political situation.
One of Hepburn's best films. She was at the height of beauty and skill.
Tracy did his usual sturdy work. His hat annoyed me no end- the deflection of the brim was way too stylish