Edge of Darkness (1943)

 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

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