++++
Alan Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon), well-known big game hunter, trains his high-powered rifle on Adolf Hitler. But, as he tells Nazi Major Quive-Smith (George Sanders) after his capture, he didn't intend to shoot. It was, he says, a "sporting stalk." The thrill was in proving he could do it. The Major doesn't buy it, but Thorndike talks a good line -- a cultured English gentleman's version of General Zaroff's tune from "The Most Dangerous Game." When Thorndike refuses to sign a confession stating that he not only intended to kill Hitler but did so at the request of the British government, Quive-Smith has him tortured and thrown over the side of a cliff, to die an "accidental" death. He survives, and another hunt is on. All of this takes place "shortly before the war." During the course of the film, Germany invades Poland and World War II is begun. Joan Bennett plays Jerry, a London streetwalker who aids Thorndike and, of course, falls in love with him. It's easy to see why. Part of the charm of this movie is Thorndike himself, who is tough yet refined, rich but not snooty, serious yet carefree and optimistic. Too perfect? Absolutely. But he's still fun to watch. Made before Pearl Harbor, albeit by a man who hated the Nazis (Lang), when America was still isolationist. (According to Wikipedia, we don't see Thorndike's torture because the Hays Office wouldn't allow it, thinking it put the Germans in a bad light.) But this isn't a movie just for history buffs. It's exciting, funny, suspenseful, and refreshingly free of the naiveté of the country and the time that produced it. Based on the novel Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household.
Alan Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon), well-known big game hunter, trains his high-powered rifle on Adolf Hitler. But, as he tells Nazi Major Quive-Smith (George Sanders) after his capture, he didn't intend to shoot. It was, he says, a "sporting stalk." The thrill was in proving he could do it. The Major doesn't buy it, but Thorndike talks a good line -- a cultured English gentleman's version of General Zaroff's tune from "The Most Dangerous Game." When Thorndike refuses to sign a confession stating that he not only intended to kill Hitler but did so at the request of the British government, Quive-Smith has him tortured and thrown over the side of a cliff, to die an "accidental" death. He survives, and another hunt is on. All of this takes place "shortly before the war." During the course of the film, Germany invades Poland and World War II is begun. Joan Bennett plays Jerry, a London streetwalker who aids Thorndike and, of course, falls in love with him. It's easy to see why. Part of the charm of this movie is Thorndike himself, who is tough yet refined, rich but not snooty, serious yet carefree and optimistic. Too perfect? Absolutely. But he's still fun to watch. Made before Pearl Harbor, albeit by a man who hated the Nazis (Lang), when America was still isolationist. (According to Wikipedia, we don't see Thorndike's torture because the Hays Office wouldn't allow it, thinking it put the Germans in a bad light.) But this isn't a movie just for history buffs. It's exciting, funny, suspenseful, and refreshingly free of the naiveté of the country and the time that produced it. Based on the novel Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household.