Right at the start, we learn six of the seven have been executed. We then follow a grim Tracy (in a very constrained performance) as he hides out with a childhood friend and eventually connects with the German Underground. The film is less about being hunted by the Gestapo and more about how average Germans react to Tracy's plight - and help him, or not.
It was so boring, I assumed it was a box office bomb.
Incredibly, it made $3.4 million on a $1.4 million budget! But even in 1944, critics were less concerned with the films entertainment value then its politics. Examples? Bosely Crowther, (who no doubt planned "Blood baths on the Rhine" from his comfy chair in Manhattan) worried the film might show Germans as too human, and incline Americans to a "Soft Peace"
Summary: Dull and dated with too many uber-American actors. There's some nice Film-noir photography, and Hugh Cronyn got an Oscar nomination*** for some reason - but its a LONG two hours unless you're a WW II historian. Rating 2 of 4
It was so boring, I assumed it was a box office bomb.
Incredibly, it made $3.4 million on a $1.4 million budget! But even in 1944, critics were less concerned with the films entertainment value then its politics. Examples? Bosely Crowther, (who no doubt planned "Blood baths on the Rhine" from his comfy chair in Manhattan) worried the film might show Germans as too human, and incline Americans to a "Soft Peace"
Summary: Dull and dated with too many uber-American actors. There's some nice Film-noir photography, and Hugh Cronyn got an Oscar nomination*** for some reason - but its a LONG two hours unless you're a WW II historian. Rating 2 of 4
Notes
* The film is based on the 1941 bestselling novel by German Communist Anne Seghers, whose life was more interesting than the movie. After escaping from Paris in June 1940, Seghers somehow made it to Marseilles and then Mexico City in 1941 (shades of Casablanca). She wrote the novel in English and German. In 1947, Seghers left Mexico and returned to Communist East Berlin, where she wrote fiction for the East German Government.
** - Director Fred Zimmerman directed with the same lack of "suspense" in Julia (1977)
*** To me, Hugh Cronyn (like Burgess Meredith) always seem to be *acting*. Despite being a character actor, I never forget for a second that I'm watching Hugh Cronyn play someone else. Rarely does he "disappear into character". Its even worse in the Seventh Cross - since Cronyn's no more German than Gary Cooper.
* The film is based on the 1941 bestselling novel by German Communist Anne Seghers, whose life was more interesting than the movie. After escaping from Paris in June 1940, Seghers somehow made it to Marseilles and then Mexico City in 1941 (shades of Casablanca). She wrote the novel in English and German. In 1947, Seghers left Mexico and returned to Communist East Berlin, where she wrote fiction for the East German Government.
** - Director Fred Zimmerman directed with the same lack of "suspense" in Julia (1977)
*** To me, Hugh Cronyn (like Burgess Meredith) always seem to be *acting*. Despite being a character actor, I never forget for a second that I'm watching Hugh Cronyn play someone else. Rarely does he "disappear into character". Its even worse in the Seventh Cross - since Cronyn's no more German than Gary Cooper.
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