KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Armand great cast. interesting script. noble message. touching story of love and honor. for discover it in deep sense it is useful to remember the year of its birth. a film about war from the war period. this little detail could transforms the dialogs and the story in more than pieces from a lost age, pathetic or almost fake, ridiculous or out of our period manner to discover reality. it remains touching for the science to present the soul of a moment in honest manner. for the splendid performance by Charles Laughton, for George Sanders and his character's vulnerability and, sure, for Maureen O'Hara as the strong woman. nothing surprising in each performance but the large picture is touching and convincing. because its subject is the ordinary every day life, its values, sacrifices and metamorphoses. more than a film, a manifesto. or only reminder about what is real important.

vincentlynch-moonoi Of all the actors who ever worked in Hollywood, Charles Laughton is the one, perhaps more than any other, that I wouldn't want to meet. He's creepy.But that doesn't mean that I can't see good acting, and his performance here as an initially cowardly teacher/mama's boy is uncanny.The secret love of his life is Maureen O'Hara, a fellow teacher. The role does not provide here with as strong a vehicle as Laughton, but she is very good. George Sanders is a coward of a different sort, who eventually commits suicide in the film (ironically, since that's how he died in real life) Walter Slezak was almost always a gem...and is here...as a Nazi leader, The one disappointment is the performance of Una O'Connor. O'Connor had a reputation for playing off the way mother-type characters...and she certainly does here. But, what was needed was a far lighter hand in the role. It's not a comedy, but she seemed to think it was.I was delighted to see this out on DVD-R, and immediately purchased it for my DVD collection, because it is one of the best propaganda films of World War II. Una O'Connor as Mrs. Emma Lory

writers_reign I've just been reading some positive comments about this movie which I find difficult to agree with. Surely it could only have been shot in a Canadian lumber camp given the wooden performances by virtually the entire cast. I couldn't believe it was made by the same director who gave us the sublime La Grand Illusion, also on the subject of war. George Sanders was beyond incredible and gave the impression he'd never been on a sound stage and in front of a camera in his life. With a Dudley Nichols screenplay you expect hoke but after Charles Laughton came out with 'You - my own mother ...' to Una O'Connor I kept waiting for the kicker 'Dead ... and never called me mother'. Okay, I know it was made in the heart of the war but so was Casablanca and there's no comparison. I was bewildered during the first two thirds when notorious ham Charles Laughton was playing subdued but he made up for it with his grandstanding in the courtroom scene. Instead of editing this they should have had Paul Bunyan take his axe to that cast.

MartinHafer This film was set in an unnamed nation that was just conquered by the Nazis. Given the statue of the WWI soldier at the beginning of the movie, it probably was intended as either Belgium or France (given the style uniform on the statue). However, in an odd Hollywood decision, the cast was made up of a wide variety of actors and accents--such as the very American Kent Smith, the Irish Maureen O'Hara, Englishman Charles Laughton and the very cultured George Sanders (who hailed from Russia from English parents). It was also confusing because the country was just conquered and yet by this point the Americans were apparently in the war (meaning it most likely occurred in 1942 or 43)--and no nation fit this pattern. All were fine actors, however, and the excellent writing made me forget about all this.The story of this fictional nation is all about collaboration versus resistance. Some are obviously evil and seem to like the Germans--or at least look to get rich off the suffering of their own people. Some appear to be collaborators but are actually brave resistance fighters. And Laughton is a nice case--a very wimpy 'everyman' who eventually finds his strength of character through the course of the film.While some might find this all a bit hokey, the film was an excellent piece of positive propaganda. It must have been incredibly rousing when it debuted and according to IMDb it set box office records. Good acting and a nice script make this one of the better films of its type--well worth watching and memorable--especially for Laughton's fine characterization as well as his impressive speech near the end.