Shadow of guilt

Movie
German title	Shadow of guilt
Original title	Mother night
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1996
length	109 minutes
Rod
Director	Keith Gordon
script	Robert B. Willow
production	Keith Gordon , Robert B. Willow
music	Michael Convertino
camera	Tom Richmond
cut	Jay Rabinowitz
occupation
Nick Nolte : Howard Campbell Sheryl Lee : Helga Noth / Resi Noth Alan Arkin : George Kraft Bernard Behrens : Reverend Dr. Lionel Jones Anna Berger : Epstein's mother Arye Gross : Dr. Abraham Epstein Norman Rodway : Werner Noth Frankie Faison : Robert Sterling Wilson Gerard Parkes : Father Patrick Keeley Vlasta Vrana : August Krapptauer Zach Grenier : Joseph Goebbels Kirsten Dunst : the young Resi Noth Shimon Aviel : Bernard Liebman John Goodman : Major Frank Wirtanen David Strathairn : Lieutenant Bernard B. O'Hare

Shadow of Guilt (Original Title: Mother Night) is an American war drama from 1996 . Directed by Keith Gordon , the screenplay was written by Robert B. Weide based on the novel Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut from 1961.

action

The American Howard Campbell is in custody in Israel . In flashbacks, it is shown how it came about.

Campbell moved to Germany as a child, where his father was on business. He becomes a writer, marries Helga Noth and stays in the country, although his father returns to the United States. The US Major Frank Wirtanen suggests Campbell to work for the secret service, which the latter initially refuses. With the beginning of World War II , Campbell worked for Nazi propaganda and appeared on the radio. At the same time he sends messages to the Americans. His wife travels to the Eastern Front as an entertainer and is considered missing after an attack by the Red Army. Helga's sister Resi Noth meets Campbell and reveals to him that she is in love with him.

Campbell is arrested by the Americans who show him the bodies of the Nazi victims. Wirtanen obtained his release and helped him move to New York . Campbell later travels to Moscow and receives news that his wife should be alive. It turns out that Resi has assumed her sister's identity. She commits suicide after meeting Campbell.

Campbell faces the Israelis and spends some time with Adolf Eichmann in a cell. At the end, you can see that he is preparing to hang himself.

Reviews

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times on November 15, 1996 that the film illustrates that most people would share the view of the country in which they grew up. However, he is not really effective and gets lost in caricaturing the characters Campbell meets after the war. It seems like notes for an unfinished work ("notes for a lecture that is not completed").

Cinema magazine wrote that the film showed a "US spy and Nazi collaborator looking for moral integrity." The actors are good, but the staging appears to be "very tough". The film lacks “the sense of style and the biting cynicism of the original”, the complexity of which it “does not quite do justice”.

backgrounds

The film was shot in Montreal . The production cost was estimated that 5.5 million US dollars . The film played approx. $ 392,000. It had its world premiere on August 14, 1996 at the World Film Festival in Montreal.

literature

• Tom Marvin: "Who Am I This Time?" Kurt Vonnegut and the Film Mother Night . In: Literature Film Quarterly 31: 3, 2003, pp. 231-236.

Web links

• Mother Night at the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Mother Night at Rotten Tomatoes (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Film review by Roger Ebert , accessed June 26, 2008
2. ^ Cinema , accessed June 26, 2008
3. ^ Filming locations for Mother Night , accessed June 26, 2008
4. ↑ Box office / business for Mother Night , accessed June 26, 2008
5. ↑ Release dates for Mother Night , accessed June 26, 2008