Commandos Strike at Dawn

Movie
Original title	Commandos Strike at Dawn
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1942
length	98 minutes
Rod
Director	John Farrow
script	Irwin Shaw
production	Lester Cowan
music	Louis Gruenberg
camera	William C. Mellor
cut	Anne Bauchens
occupation
	Paul Muni : Eric Toresen; Anna Lee : Judith Bowen; Lillian Gish : Mrs. Bergesen; Cedric Hardwicke : Admiral Bowen; Robert Coote : Robert Bowen, ; RCAF Flying Officer; Ray Collins : Johan Bergesen; Rosemary DeCamp : Hilma Arnesen; Alexander Knox : German captain; Elisabeth Fraser : Anna Korstad; Richard Derr : Gunnar Korstad; Erville Alderson : Johan Garmo; Barbara Everest : Mrs. Olav; Rod Cameron : Pastor; Louis Jean Heydt : Karl Arnesen; George Macready : school teacher; not in the credits: Lloyd Bridges : young German soldier; Ann Carter : Solveig Toresen; John Farrow : British naval officer; Gertrude Hoffman : elderly woman in the village;

Commandos Strike a Dawn (German about - attack at dawn commando is a) American dramatic this historical war film of John Farrow from the year 1942. The screenplay by Irwin Shaw is based on the short story The Commandos of Cecil Scott Forester , which in June First published in Hearst's International Cosmopolitan in 1942. Paul Muni plays the meek widower Eric Toresen, who lives in a small Norwegian fishing village that is being occupied by the Nazis . Stunned by the atrocities in the small town, he flees to Great Britain and returns with a commando force against the oppressors. Anna Lee , Lillian Gish , Cedric Hardwicke and Robert Coote can be seen in leading roles .

The film was nominated for an Oscar at the 16th Academy Awards in the category “Best Film Music” .

action

In 1939 the inhabitants of a peaceful little fishing village in Norway celebrate the wedding of Anna and Gunnar Korstad. The widower Eric Toresen is also at the party and dances with Judith Bowen, the daughter of a British admiral. Meanwhile, Johan Bergesen, known as a pessimist among the town's residents, is concerned that the German army is on the advance. Eric introduces Judith, who, to his regret, is returning to England with her father and brother Robert the next day, to his young daughter Solveig.

Soon after Eric said goodbye to Judith with a heavy heart, Hitler's march through Europe begins and does not stop at Norway. As soon as the Germans have seized power in the small fishing village, they announce that resistance will be punished with death and impose strict curfews and intervene in the lives of the residents with various restrictions. When Johan Bergesen rebelled and questioned the legality of the Germans' actions, they arrested him. They hang their swastika flags all over the village, burn offensive images in their eyes, confiscate the villagers' supplies and influence their children to guide them in the direction they want. When Solveig came home from school one day and told her father that a Nazi officer had given a lecture on the superiority of the German race over other peoples, Eric protested to his daughter's teacher. He reacts wistfully helpless and recommends Eric to join the Norwegian resistance movement in England.

When Eric realizes what the Nazis did to Bergesen, who has returned home a broken old man, he calls on the villagers to unite and form an underground resistance movement. Anna, who was still so happy at her wedding, now fears for her life and that of her husband Gunnar and is afraid of joining such a movement. However, Gunnar sees it differently and joins the resistance, what he pays with his life, since the Nazis execute him. Eric can't help himself and stabs the German officer who ordered Gunnar's execution to death. Then he brings his daughter to Mrs. Olav's hut in the hills above the village, and hopes that she will be safe there. After Eric fell asleep from exhaustion, he was woken up the next morning by the sound of German trucks. He and his daughter are hiding in a well. The Germans search every corner of the house and, after finding nothing, announce to Ms. Olav that they have five villagers as scourges, including her grandson. The five will be executed unless Eric gives up within two days.

Eric leaves his daughter in the care of Mrs. Olav and goes to the forest himself. There he overhears some German soldiers discussing the construction of a secret runway for German planes. Eric is certain that he has to inform the British about this runway, so he asks Johan Garmo to take him to England in his fishing boat. When Garmo tells him about the planned killing of the Scourges, Eric decides to surrender, but Garmo convinces him otherwise. In consultation with Eric and a few others, Garmo asks the landlord Karl Andresen to join them as well. After Andresen pretends to be there, he informs the German occupiers of the plans and receives a thriller whistle from them, which he should use to inform the German troops as soon as he gets on the boat. When the men gather in the forest that night to meet Garmo, Karl's wife Hilma warns Eric and tells him about her husband's betrayal.

When the boat is on the water, Eric takes Karl's pipe and kicks him overboard to certain death. Days later, the boat lands in England and Eric goes to London to tell Admiral Bowen about the runway. On this occasion he sees Judith again. The next plan is that Eric flies to Scotland together with the officer Robert Bowen. Under his navigation, a British ship then travels across the North Sea, up the fjords to a river that leads directly to the Germans' secret runway. After getting out, Robert sends two men to get Solveig. The British are now engaged in a lengthy fight with the Germans, at the end of which they can destroy the runway. The men who had been sent to Solveig return and report that the girl and Mrs. Olav are being held in the inn. Robert and Eric now lead the force that is supposed to free them both. In the fight that follows, not only Robert is killed by German bullets, but also Eric. Nonetheless, the command succeeds in overpowering the Germans and freeing the prisoners. After Solveig and the rest of the villagers are safe in England, they vow to return to their homeland one day.

production

Production notes, background

It is a production by Columbia Pictures Corporation, which also distributed the film. Gordon Wiles was responsible for the production design and Walter Plunkett was responsible for the costumes . The ship used in the film was the HMCS Prince David (F89). The shooting for the German base took place at the military base Heal's Rifle Range and in Saanich (British Columbia) . The recordings in the Norwegian fjord were made at Saanich Inlet . Other locations were the Pacific island of Vancouver Island and the Victoria International airport near Victoria , the capital of British Columbia (photos from Allied Airfield). The film was shot between July 20 and September 25, 1942. The budget for the film was an estimated $ 1,300,000. The opening credits contain the lines: “Dedicated to the officers and men of the armed forces of Canada, Great Britain and the fighting Norwegians who were involved in the making of this film. For a long time the Kingdom of Norway was a land of peace. With their honest and hard-working manner, the Norwegians were a people who feared nothing and were not jealous of anyone. So it was in the summer of 1939… ”This was one of a handful of films that were released around the same time and dealt with the Norwegian resistance in World War II. Other films include They Raid by Night aka The Commandos Have Landed ; First Comes Courage and Rebellion in Trollness (OT: Edge of Darkness ).

According to the industry magazine The Hollywood Reporter , Columbia is said to have negotiated a role in the film with Jean Hersholt , as well as with Edmund Gwenn . The film marks the debut of George Macready. Lillian Gish made her first appearance in a film since her leading role in the 1933 film His Double Life . Her participation earned her a contract with producer Lester Cowan. Gish later said about the film that it meant little to her, but that it gave her a great vacation. Paul Muni was also absent from the screen for two years. As Jerome Lawrence explained about him in his biography, he was enthusiastic about the film and the striking sharpness and saw his participation as an opportunity to support the Allied war effort. Muni was enthusiastic about it. While filming, he was injured climbing through barbed wire, leaving a major wound on his left arm. Anna Lee later confided to Jerome Lawrence that it had been difficult with Muni in that he was very fond of physical contact with the actresses he was filming with and that it was difficult to evade his contact. Muni once said that he was not a misogynist; he thinks women are the most beautiful 50 percent of the universe far and wide. Director John Farrow served as a highly decorated corvette captain in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II. At the time he was making the film, he was recovering from typhus , and a war injury forced him into early retirement.

The Canadian government is said to have been instrumental in the production of the film. It is said to have made aircraft, pilots and warships available for production. Producer Lester Cowan was able to deploy Canadian troops from four famous regiments: the Canadian Scots, the Royal Rilfes, the Sault Ste. Marie and Sudburys and the Rocky Mountain Rangers. Director Farrow never knew from one day to the next when these real commands would be available, as they were sent on what were supposed to be real missions with beautiful regularity. The cast and crew were instructed not to ask questions once the troops returned. A quartet of underground war experts from the Norwegian Aviation School in Canada was responsible for the technical direction of the film, according to an unspecified source.

Soundtrack

Igor Stravinsky composed a score for the film, but the form was rejected. Since Stravinsky did not want to make any concessions, he turned the material into an orchestral suite, which he published under the title Four Norwegian Moods (German: Four Norwegian moods ).

Commandos March , written by Ann Ronell and Louis Gruenberg
Out to Pick the Berries , written by Ann Ronell

reception

publication

Upon completion, the film was selected by the US government to be shown in theaters in North Africa. The film premiered on December 30, 1942 in Pittsburgh, USA. The first demonstration in Los Angeles, according to the Hollywood Reporter , was reported to have been attended by twenty home organizations and 2,000 defense workers from Lockheed Aircraft. On January 7, 1943, the film ran generally in the United States.

Commandos Strike at Dawn first appeared in the UK in 1943. It was published in Mexico and Argentina in 1943, in Sweden and Portugal in 1944, in Finland and Denmark in 1946 and in France in 1947. On May 1, 1949, it was published again in the USA. The film was also shown in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Spain, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden. The working title was: The Commandos Come at Dawn .

At the time, headlines were used to advertise: The first great cinema story of today's great heroes ... the Commandos! or finally on the canvas. The mighty story of the world famous Commandos! or heroes in the eyes of the world! Men in the arms of their wife! Other headlines: As flashy as lightning! Fight like demons! Lovingly like men dream of women! and fight! Breaking Up That They Live ... To Love Again!

Behind-the-scenes footage from filming was incorporated into the CBC television documentary Canada's War in Color .

criticism

Roger Fristoe, Turner Classic Movies , noted that Columbia Pictures' rousing drama about the Norwegian Resistance marked the return of two big stars who had moved onto the stage. Paul Muni hasn't made a film in two years and Lillian Gish has been away from film for almost ten years. Muni was praised for the sincerity that he conveyed in his role.

The critic Bosley Crowther of the New York Times wrote that it was clear that Mr. Muni openly put his heart and soul in the film and that most of the most moving movie moments were due to him.

In Variety , the industry journal for the entertainment industry, it was read that Commandos Strike at Dawn, with all its fierce battles and grim revenge justice rarely shown on the fearful American screen, was more glorifying than hopeless. The film builds up terrific emotions, although it is also allowed to act out these. Despite the film's obvious intent as propaganda and Columbia's limited war budget, it still has impact today.

In Time magazine stated that Commandos Strike at Dawn was the coolest technically most perfect fight that Hollywood has so far produced. The authentic image of the devil dogs of this war has none of the fake pepped up or greasy fantasy of most Hollywood war films. The attack on Norway was carried out with realism to the letter. But - despite its realism, the attack is strangely unspectacular.

At Rotten Tomatoes , the film achieved an approval rate of 67% with 416 users.