Hunt in the fog

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Movie
German title Hunt in the fog
Original title Confidential Agent
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1945
length 118 minutes
Rod
Director Herman Shumlin
script Robert Buckner
music Franz Waxman
camera James Wong Howe
cut George Amy
occupation

Hunt in the Fog is a film based on the novel of the same name by Graham Greene and directed by Herman Shumlin from 1945. The film is set mainly in a night London , which is given an unreal, metaphorical atmosphere by the extremely thick fog.

action

Luis Denard, a former concert pianist who had given up his career to fight on the side of the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War , comes to England to buy a large amount of coal for his country to prevent it from falling into the hands of Franco - Regime lands.

On entry to England he met Rose Cullen, the daughter of the owner of the coal mine. Due to the delay of the ferry and difficulties with customs control, they miss their train and Rose takes it with her in a rental car. When one of the car's tires bursts, they stop at a rest house. There Denard discovers that his opponents are already tailing him. He wants to flee, but is caught and beaten up by his enemies, led by Licata. They cannot find the secret documents for his assignment because he has hidden them in his shoe.

In London he contacted Contreras, an agent of his government. Then he wants to meet with Rose, who wants to give him back the notebook that his opponents took away from him last night. On the way to the rendezvous he is assassinated, but he survived. Rose knows some of his enemies, whom she is hostile to, and decides, not least because she has fallen in love with him, to help Denard.

The hunted finds out that the hotel landlady Mrs. Melandez, with whom he is staying, and Contreras have allied themselves against him. You are after the money and want to do the business on your own account. Denard discovers Mrs. Melandez's hidden pistol and is able to escape by threatening them with it. The maid Else, who helped Denard hide the files, is pushed out of the window of her room by Mrs. Melandez during an argument.

During his meeting with the coal baron, Lord Benditch, his new butler stole the documents that identify him as an envoy for the Spanish Republican government. The police come and want to interrogate him about the murder of Else. Rose tries to defend him, but the evidence speaks against him. Denard draws the pistol he took from Mrs. Melandez and flees. During the foggy night he escaped the police and went to hide in an abandoned apartment.

Denard succeeds in putting Contreras under pressure to learn more about the plan. Under this pressure, Contreras dies of a heart attack just as Rose arrives at Denard's abandoned apartment. On his vengeance campaign, Denard comes to Mrs. Melandez, who has already poisoned herself. She confesses her guilt, but does not regret it, and dies before his eyes.

In Scotland, the mines are to be reopened to deliver coal to the Franco regime. Denard gives a speech to the workers and is supported by a worker veteran. Shots are fired, Licata's men try to put down the uprising. But the coal shareholders decide not to do business with the fascists. You help Denard escape from England. After being briefly in the hands of his enemies, he is freed and meets his beloved Rose on a ship. Denard's last words are: "One day, I know, we have to win."

background

Hunt in the Fog is the second and final film direction by Herman Shumlin, who was very successful as a Broadway director and producer.

In the film, Lauren Bacall plays her second major role to Have and Have Not by Howard Hawks with her future husband Humphrey Bogart . Her acting performance was heavily criticized, so that a shadow seemed to fall firmly on her next film Dead Sleeping and therefore scenes were shot especially for this film.

criticism

  • Lexicon of international film : Routinely staged agent film, which does not do justice to Graham Greene's model and which depicts the political background in a very striking way. Some dense moments and the appealing photography cover up such weaknesses fairly well.
  • New York Times : Herman Shumlin has directed for menace, with a camera that has a roving eye alert to pick up a frightening detail or a person concealed behind a door. "Herman Shumlin directs by hiding the threat in a detail or behind a door."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Prisma.de
  2. New York Times, January 9, 1997 (Eng.)
  3. Hunt in the fog. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ^ Critique by Bosley Crowther in the New York Times, November 3, 1945