Address Unknown (1944)

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Movie
Original title Address Unknown
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1944
length 70-85 minutes
Rod
Director William Cameron Menzies
script Herbert Dalmas
production William Cameron Menzies,
Sam Wood for Columbia Pictures
music Morris Stoloff ,
Ernst Toch
camera Rudolph Maté
cut Al Clark
occupation

Address Unknown (to German address unknown ) is an American film drama by William Cameron Menzies from the year 1944. The screenplay by Herbert Dalmas is based on a story by Kathrine Taylor , the 1938 first-Magazine US in Story Magazine was published and 1939 appeared in book form. The book, Taylor's best-known work, was banned in Germany at the time. The film is starring alongside Paul Lukas with Carl Esmond , Peter van Eyck , Mady Christians , Morris Carnovsky and KT Stevens .

Address Unknown was nominated for an Oscar in two categories .

action

In the early 1930s, Martin Schulz, who, together with his Jewish friend Max Eisenstein, owns an art gallery in San Francisco, went on a shopping tour to Germany with his wife Elsa and their sons. During this time the gallery is run by Eisenstein and Martin's eldest son Heinrich. Heinrich is engaged to Max Eisenstein's daughter Griselle. Since Griselle is just at the beginning of a career as an actress, she first wants to travel to Europe to study at various theaters there before she and Heinrich start a family.

Martin Schulz made the acquaintance of Baron von Friesche in Germany, one of what it appears to be a cultivated nobleman and supporter of the aspiring National Socialists . Influenced by the charisma of the Baron, Martin turned more and more of Hitler - Doctor to and believe his claim that Hitler was Germany it were sent from heaven. The letters that Martin sends to San Francisco cause concern among his friend Max and his son Heinrich, because he is very euphoric about Hitler and National Socialism and wants to stay in Germany.

Griselle, who is now playing theater in Vienna, is also to give a guest performance in Berlin, which she tells Martin. When the baron learns that Griselle's real surname is Eisenstein and that her brother runs a gallery with Martin, he warns Martin and advises him that he must choose between his loyalty to Germany and his friendship with a Jew. Max gives in and accepts the baron's unspoken threat and asks his partner not to write to him anymore. Since he was Jewish, he had to terminate his friendship. Max believes that Martin's letter can only have sprung from his fear of the German censorship and asks a friend who is traveling to Germany to bring Martin a message from him. His answer, however, is clear, he distances himself completely from Max.

One day, during the rehearsals for Griselle's play, a representative of the censorship office appears in the theater and demands the deletion of several lines that extol the virtues of the meek. Defiant and unaware of the consequences, Griselle speaks the lines in question during the performance of the play anyway. When the audience learns that she is Jewish, hateful words are thrown at her and attempts to storm the stage. Griselle can only barely escape the angry mob. She makes her way to Martin's house to seek refuge with him. When she knocks on his door, Martin slams it in front of her nose and seals Griselle's fate. Since her pursuers are already on her heels, there is no more escape, in the end the young woman is shot.

Martin's wife Elsa can neither understand nor approve of her husband's behavior. She leaves him and travels to Switzerland. Max is informed by Martin without any empathy that his sister is dead. In the following years, Martin repeatedly received cryptic messages from Max, which the German censorship authorities did not hide and which suggested that Martin was a spy. His requests to Max to stop correspondence immediately remain unheard. Martin panics more and more because it is forbidden to send or receive encrypted letters, which the baron expressly points out to him again. So he turns to his son Heinrich and asks him to stop Max. Martin directs the same request to his wife Elsa, who is supposed to influence his former friend. Although Martin protests his innocence, he comes across granite at the baron's house, who turns away from him.

When Martin is tormented that night by imaginary voices whispering Griselle's name and about to rush into his study, he hears the footsteps of soldiers who arrest him shortly afterwards. In San Francisco a postman has meanwhile tried to deliver the last letter from Max to Martin, which came back with the stamp “Address unknown”. Max insists, however, that he stopped correspondence with Martin a long time ago. Martin's son Heinrich now reveals himself to Max and confesses that he wrote the incriminating letters.

production

Production notes, background

The shooting time extended from November 22, 1943 to January 13, 1944; further scenes were shot in the week beginning Tuesday, January 25, 1944.

According to Columbia promotional material, the beer pub seen in the film was an exact replica of the location Adolf Hitler visited.

Although it has been widely written that this was KT Stevens' debut film, the director's daughter Sam Wood has previously appeared in films under the name Katherine Stevens and made her debut as a toddler in the 1921 Jackie Coogan comedy Peck's Bad Boy , in which her Father directed. In Address Unknown she appeared for the first time under the name KT Stevens. For the then child actor Gary Gray (1936-2006), however, this was the first appearance in a movie.

According to a message published in the Hollywood Reporter in October 1943 , the film was to be the first production by Wood's independent production company in partnership with Columbia. The Daily Variety Review noted, however, that although the project was originally planned as a Woods production, William Cameron Menzies directed and produced alongside Woods. Menzies, a close associate of Woods, also rewrote a number of scenes to expand the role of Carl Esmond, who was loaned to Paramount. Screenwriter Herbert Dalmas changed the profile of the female main character to create a romantic component and added a surprising twist to the ending.

John M. Miller pointed out at TCM that the stylish visual leitmotif comes from William Cameron Menzies, who is known for his great success as a production designer and who is presenting his only film in the 1940s that he directed. At the time Taylor's story first appeared, the United States was years away from entering World War II. In history, however, there are already massive references to fascism in Nazi Germany and warnings about it.

It was generally believed that Lionel Banks and Walter Holscher were heavily influenced in their work by director Menzies, who had already made a name for himself in this field. Thanks to this team and the cameraman Rudolph Maté, the film is full of exciting shots.

publication

The film premiered in the United States on April 24, 1944 and was released in American cinemas on June 1, 1944. It started in the United Kingdom and Mexico in the same year, in Portugal in 1945. It was also published in Argentina, Brazil, Greece and Poland.

reception

criticism

The Classic Film Freak page states that it is difficult to see why some films will last while others are forgotten relatively quickly. Address Unknown is a strong film by the famous cameraman William Cameron Menzies, so it also contains some of the finest shots ever shot in black and white. What the film lacks in strength, although Paul Lukas is wonderfully talented, it makes up for in tension and its entertainment value.

Classic Film Guide found the film to be a powerful reminder of the power charimatic leaders exude and the vigilance required to withstand their rhetoric.

DVD Beaver praised this fascinating Hitchcock- style thriller as breathtakingly photographed by Rudolph Maté and mixed tension, romance, action and a powerful message in a unique and exciting film.

John M. Miller wrote at TCM of an overlooked Columbia Pictures gem based on an anti-fascist novella first published before the United States entered World War II, the film also maintaining the preventive power of the source material and which is sometimes overwhelming Avoid pro-American propaganda from other wartime studio films. The original story is given an intrepid visual impression.

Thomas M. Pryor, New York Times critic , was very impressed with the film and said it wasn't just another anti-Nazi film. It is a gripping study of a man who is driven by his own fear. The central figure is portrayed by Paul Lukas with a lot of dynamic force. The tragic atmosphere of the film is heightened by the brilliant use of low-key lighting effects by Menzies, better known as Hollywood's leading production designer; deep, brooding shadowy images methodically built the tension into one of the scariest climaxes one could imagine.

The film critic Edwin Jahiel, however, was of the opinion that the film, while well-meaning, was sketchy and unconvincing. The psychological and sociological depth and a real feeling for Germany and the Germans are missing. He was also one of the few who was bothered by the interior and said that Maté's good camera work often gave the film a strange artificiality. In conclusion, Jahiel said, whatever his reservations about the film, it deserves to be seen. And he wants to do that again, if possible, before giving a final note.

Awards

Academy Awards 1945

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Address Unkown (1944) see notes at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English).
  2. ↑ Address Unkown (1944) original print info at TCM (English).
  3. ↑ a b c d Address Unknown (1944) see Articles at TCM (English).
  4. ↑ Address Unkown (1944) with Paul Lukas sS classicfilmfreak.com (English, including movie poster). Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  5. ↑ TCM Picks - Address Unknown (1944) sS classicfilmguide.com (English). Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  6. ↑ Address Unknown sS dvdbeaver.com (English, including various film posters and film images). Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  7. ^ TMP: Address Unknown In: The New York Times . April 17, 1944 (English). Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  8. ↑ Address Unknown (1944) see edwinjahiel.jessicajahiel.com (English). Retrieved January 14, 2019.