Daily Archives: September 17, 2014

 Edge of Darkness
Directed by Lewis Milestone
Written by Robert Rossen from a novel by William Woods
1943/USA
Warner Bros
First viewing/Errol Flynn Adventure Collection DVD

[box] Gerd Bjarnesen: What sacrifice? What are you giving up? Your life? Maybe they’ll take that from you whether you fight or not? Your farm? It isn’t yours anyway until you fight for it. Your peace? What peace is there when a body of troops can come in the middle of the night and arrest you as a hostage. To be shot, for something you never did or never even thought of. To live in constant fear. Have blackings at your windows. Talk in whispers. Have guards at your church doors.[/box]

The plight of Norway under Nazi occupation apparently was especially moving to audiences of this time.  This is the second film on the topic I’ve seen in the past few days. See my review of Commandos Strike at Dawn with Paul Muni, also a Warner Brothers project.

The opening shot reveals a town square filled with the dead bodies of Nazi soldiers and local residents.  The story is told in flashback as a couple of other Nazis investigate.

A Norwegian coastal village has suffered under Nazi occupation for a couple of years.  The only resistance the villagers have been able to muster is to contaminate fish processed at the cannery, which is owned by Karen Stensgard’s uncle, a true Quisling.  Karen’s father (Walter Huston) is the town doctor and doesn’t want to get involved in politics.  Her brother collaborated with the Nazis when he was in Oslo.  Karen (Ann Sheridan) herself is a proud patriot and is in love with fisherman Gunnar Brogge (Errol Flynn), who is the “leader” of the group meeting in secret to plot against the Nazis.

Then the English supply villages up and down the coast with arms.  The plotting gets more definite as the conduct of the soldiers under their ideologue commander gets more and more brutal.  The story builds up to some satisfying action scenes of the revenge of the villagers.  The film ends with President Roosevelt’s words exhorting Americans to “look to Norway” if they are wondering if war could have been averted.  With Ruth Gordon as Karen’s gentle mother and Judith Anderson as a patriot.

This movie captured my interest and is a above-average Hollywood drama.  When I am watching these things sometimes I think the portrayal of the Nazis is over-the-top for propaganda purposes.  Then I remember that they were actually far worse than anyone imagined even at the time.

I didn’t know until doing research for this film that Errol Flynn was rejected as 4-F from every branch of the service due to previous bouts with malaria and TB and a weak heart.  He saw the several war pictures he made during the conflict as a way to contribute to the war effort, according to a biographer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSJz3bEP_4s

Clip

Day of Wrath
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer
Written by Carl Theodor Dreyer, Poul Knudsen, and Mogens Scot-Hansen (all uncredited) from the play “Anne Pedersdotter” by Hans Wiers-Jenssen
1943/Denmark
Palladium Productions
Repeat viewing/Hulu Plus

[box] Anne Pedersdotter: I see through my tears, but no one comes to wipe them away.[/box]

Director Carl Th. Dreyer didn’t make many films but he made masterpieces.  This is one of them.

The action takes place in 17th Century Denmark.  Anne Pedersdotter is the young second wife of Rev. Absalon Pedersson, a middle-aged devout cleric in their small town.  The couple lives with Absalon’s mother Merete who views the May-September pairing as “scandalous” and freely admits that she hates Anne.  Absalon has a grown son, older than Anne, named Martin that is expected to come home and meet his new stepmother for the first time.

On the day Martin is to arrive, the local council of clerics announces that it is arresting Herlofs Marte as a witch.  We see the old woman selling herbs gathered under the gallows as a remedy before she runs off into hiding.  She shows up at Absalon’s house and begs Anne to hide her.  She informs Anne that she protected Anne’s mother from a witchcraft charge herself.  But Marte was spotted entering the house and is dragged out of the attic kicking and screaming.

Apparently part of the deal is that the witch must confess.  We move on to some non-graphic but nonetheless horrific torture scenes. Poor Marte is defiant but terrified and demands to talk to Absalon.  She tells him she knows he falsely ruled that Anne’s mother was not a witch in exchange for permission to wed Anne and threatens to disclose this if he does not likewise protect her.  But Absalon only exhorts Marte to repent and save her soul.  Marte replies that she is not afraid of heaven or hell, only of dying.  The torture proceeds and Marte finally confesses.  She refuses to name anyone else as a witch however.

In the meantime Anne and Martin are getting acquainted.  All this talk of Anne’s mother being a witch with the power to invoke the living and the dead gets Anne wondering whether she has any powers herself.  Sure enough, she can “invoke” Martin to her side and the two begin an affair.  It is a troubled union due to Martin’s great guilt.  Anne, however, is transformed into a laughing, defiant girl who stops taking orders from her awful mother-in-law.  She admits she has speculated on the happiness that could be hers if Absalon were dead.  She resents the fact the loveless marriage has robbed her of her youth.

As Herlofs Marte awaits her execution at the stake she curses Absalon, Anne, and another clerical torturer.  These curses rapidly seem to take effect.

I don’t know how to convey the beauty of the images and compositions Dreyer creates except to say each frame seems to me to resemble a great Dutch Master painting.  He didn’t allow his actors to wear any makeup at all, saying that he would paint their faces with light. He certainly did do that.

Another thing I love about Dreyer is that his films are so thought-provoking.  They always leave me with more questions than answers. What I find intriguing about this story is that every character in it actually believes in witchcraft.  The accusations are not cynically made.  In fact, the plot development seems to suggest that something more than coincidence is at work.  But, equally, this film is about man’s terrible inhumanity to man in the name of religion.  I also find Anne’s submission at the end intriguing.  She may believe herself to be a witch but just as likely she might feel she has nothing else to live for.

Some people see this as an allegory for Nazi persecution but Dreyer always denied having any such intention.

If you have patience for a slow, sedate pace, this is truly not to be missed.

Clip – opening