Escape (1940)

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Movie
Original title Escape
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1940
length 102 minutes
Rod
Director Mervyn LeRoy
script Arch Oboler
production Mervyn LeRoy
Lawrence Weingarten for MGM
music Daniele Amfitheatrof ,
Franz Waxman (both without credit)
camera Robert H. Planck
cut George Boemler
occupation

Escape is a 1940 American film starring Norma Shearer , Robert Taylor and Conrad Veidt and directed by Mervyn LeRoy . As one of the first large-scale productions, the film paints a critical picture of the political and social conditions in Germany. The film is based on the bestseller of the same name by Grace Zaring Stone, who publishes her work under the pseudonym Ethel Vance.

action

The actress Emmy Ritter was interned in Germany in 1936. With the help of friends, she manages to send a letter to her son Mark Preysing in America. With the help of the Countess von Treck, Mark can find his mother. The Countess is the mistress of the influential General von Kolb, which she uses to support Mark in his plan to save Emmy. Disguised as a young girl, Emmy finally manages to get out of the country. The Countess von Treck refrains from accompanying Mark and remains at the side of the now terminally ill general out of loyalty.

background

After the death of her husband Irving Thalberg, Norma Shearer reached an agreement with MGM on a new contract for six films, for which the actress was to receive a fee of 150,000 US dollars each. When choosing the right scripts, however, Shearer had no luck and in the next few years she turned down a number of roles, which were then taken over by Joan Crawford or Greer Garson , including Susan and the good Lord and Mrs. Miniver . The role in Escape , the film adaptation of a popular novel, was rather marginal and Shearer ended up having fewer scenes than her co-star Robert Taylor. In 1942 the actress retired into private life after two financial failures. The direction was initially offered to Alfred Hitchcock , who turned it down. In the end, Mervyn LeRoy took over the implementation of the script. For Alla Nazimova, who was one of the most popular cinema stars around 1917 and appeared in numerous anti-German propaganda films at the time, the film meant her return to the screen.

Theatrical release

The cost of production was $ 1,205,000, making the movie an average expensive production. At the box office, the film proved to be reasonably successful and grossed 1,357,000 US dollars in the USA. With comparable foreign revenues of US $ 1,007,000, the cumulative total income was US $ 2,364,000. In the end, the studio was able to realize a meager profit of $ 345,000.

Reviews

The critics received the film benevolently.

Bosley Crowther found in the New York Times that it is by far the most dramatic and exciting film that has been made on the dark topic of totalitarianism (“this is far and away the most dramatic and hair-raising picture yet made on the sinister subject of persecution in a totalitarian land ”).

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