Ministry of Fear

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Movie
German title Ministry of Fear
Original title Ministry of Fear
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1944
length 83 minutes
Rod
Director Fritz Lang
script Seton I. Miller
production Seton I. Miller for Paramount Pictures
music Victor Young
camera Henry Sharp
cut Archie Marshek
occupation

Ministry of Fear is a 1944 American spy film directed by Fritz Lang, based on the novel by Graham Greene .

action

Great Britain in 1944, against the backdrop of the bombing war between Nazi Germany and the Allies: Stephen Neale is released from the Lembridge mental hospital where he was imprisoned because he euthanized his wife. At a charity event of the "Mothers of the Free Nations", which he visits to pass the time, he receives a cake as a "prize" with the help of a fortune teller named Mrs. Bellane. On the train, the cake is stolen from him by an allegedly blind man who is then killed - during an attack by German bombers - while trying to hide from Neale.

Neale continues to London and hires the private detective George Rennit to investigate the incident. During the research he meets the siblings Carla and Willi Hilfe (in the German dubbing: Hofer) at the “Mothers of the Free Nations”. Willi leads Neale to Mrs. Bellane, who looks very different from the previous Mrs. Bellane, but claims to have been a fortune teller at the event in Lembridge. A séance is being held at Mrs. Bellane's home, and a female voice accuses Neale of murdering his wife. A shot is fired and one of the other guests, Mr. Cost, is dead. Neale is accused of killing him.

Neale flees, first to Rennit, who cannot be found in his ransacked office, and then asks Carla for help. She leads him to a bookstore where he supposedly can hide. In the meantime, Carla finds out that the "Mothers" are being abused as a covert network by Nazis, all of whom Dr. Forrester, who is a member of the Department of Security and who was also at the séance. The bookseller Mr. Newland asks Neale and Carla to bring a leather suitcase with books to Dr. Bring Forrester. A Mr. Travers allegedly resides at the address, and when unpacking the suitcase, the contents turn out to be an explosive charge. Neale wakes up in the Scotland Yard infirmary, where Inspector Prentice tells him that he is wanted for the murder of the private detective he hired, Rennit. Neale talks about the cake. Where the blind man died, the two find remains of the cake and a piece of microfilm in it that contains recordings of free shipping lanes between minefields. It is now clear that the group is Dr. Forrester and Mrs. Bellane is a spy ring.

The trail leads to a gentleman's outfitter named Travers, who turns out to be the allegedly shot Cost. When Travers realizes he's been discovered, he commits suicide. Neale discovers that Cost / Travers had previously delivered a suit with microfilm sewn to a Mr. Macklin at the Hilfes address. Arriving there, Neale is attacked by Willi alias Mr. Macklin, who now appears to be the head of the agent ring, and when he tries to flee, he is shot by Carla. Carla and Neale flee from the other Nazi agents who have since arrived on the roof and are increasingly harassed by them until the Inspector Prentice who follows them shoots them.

The film ends with a scene in which Neale and Carla talk about their upcoming wedding and the cake that goes with it (sic!).

background

According to Michael Töteberg , Fritz Lang spontaneously accepted the offer to direct Ministry of Fear because he valued Graham Greene as a writer. After reading the script, he tried unsuccessfully to get rid of the directorship. "Lang refrained from lending credibility to the fantastic espionage story and concentrated on lighting control that worked with paradoxes ... The film's negative attitude towards the script can be seen."

The film was first shown on German television on March 29, 1973 at 8:15 p.m. on ARD .

criticism

“Carefully staged anti-Nazi and espionage thriller based on a Graham Greene novel, which, after creating confusion and tension in Hitchcock manner at the beginning, falls sharply and has a big happy ending. The lively, entertaining game compensates for the paper mache backdrops and various clichés. "

- Lexicon of international film

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Michael Töteberg : Fritz Lang. With personal testimonials and picture documents (= Rowohlt's monographs. 339). Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1985, ISBN 3-499-50339-5 , p. 104.
  2. ↑ Filmdienst.de and Spiegel.de, .
  3. ↑ Ministry of Fear. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used