Starring James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, Frank Morgan, Robert Young, Robert Stack, Ward Bond, Dan Daily

(8-Exceptional Film)

Moving. Suspenseful. Intense.

Kindly, revered professor Viktor Roth (Morgan) lives in a small, idyll German town with his loving wife, beautiful daughter, Freya (Sullavan), young son, and two step-sons. On the night he celebrates his birthday and the engagement of his daughter to the passionate, Fritz Marberg (Young), radios announce that Adolph Hitler has taken power. Roth’s two step-sons and Fritz eagerly join the Nazi movement, but family friend, Martin Breitner (Stewart), stands against the party, and secretly pines for Freya. Outstanding drama. The performances are stirring, and the story gripping. Expecting to watch a well-meaning, dated and preachy early Hollywood take on Nazism, I was blown away by how powerful this film remains.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

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