The TCM annual celebration of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is about to begin. This year's 31 Days of Oscar includes None Shall Escape, a searing propaganda drama from Columbia Studios. Alfred Neumann and Joseph Than were nominated in the category of Best Writing, Original Story. The other nominees in the category were Lifeboat, The Sullivans, A Guy Named Joe, and the winner, Going My Way.
Filmed in 1943, the movie takes us to a time in the future when the war has been won and the allies set about bringing war criminals to justice.
The first criminal brought before the international tribunal is an unrepentant Nazi named Wilhelm Grimm played by Alexander Knox. Through testimony and flashbacks, we see the truth in the words of the first witness, Father Warecki played by Henry Travers.
Father Warecki: "The trial of these criminals marks a milestone in human history. It is being argued today that we, having defeated the Nazis, should show tolerance and mercy; that these men are the victims of circumstance and history, and that they enjoyed no freedom to act in accordance with the dictates of their own conscience. I would like to relate an incident which occurred many years ago to prove that the accused acted of his own volition and that he had freedom of choice and will."
A German-born teacher, Wilhelm Grimm, returns to Litzbakk, the small town in Poland where he lived prior to WWI. His job and his sweetheart are waiting for him. Embittered by the loss of a leg, and Germany's loss in the war, Grimm spouts political thoughts that will become all too common in the coming decades. His warped world view turns his fiancee Marja Pacierkowski played by Marsha Hunt away from the idea of marriage to such a man.
The town turns on Grimm when it is discovered that his assault of a teenager led to her suicide. The courts did not convict but he was driven back to Germany where he totally embraced Hitlerism.
The second witness at the tribunal is Grimm's own brother, Karl played by Erik Rolf. Karl is a writer for a socialist paper. He and his wife Alice played by Ruth Nelson have a son and daughter. They take Wilhelm lovingly into the family fold and laugh at his silly political ideas. Wilhelm's rise in the Third Reich involves the incarceration of his brother and the indoctrination of his nephew into the SS.
The third damning witness is Marja Pacierkowski. Widowed in the early days of the war, she and her daughter Janina played by Dorothy Morris have returned Litzbakk. Wilhelm Grimm is the officer in charge and in addition to the maniacal devotion to evil orders, there is the retribution he wants to extract from the townspeople for what he sees as his past mistreatment.
Grimm's rule is one of terror and slaughter. His devotion is to Hitler and to his nephew. When that nephew's eyes are opened to a different and kinder way of life by his feelings for Janina a personal tragedy strikes the Pacierkowski family.
The script for None Shall Escape is a combination of the literate and the lurid. The direction by Andre de Toth forces the audience to be aware of oppression through visuals and the use of sound. It is the sound of the Jewish citizens being rounded up for transport that is as heartwrenching as their doomed uprising.
The interesting premise of a look at the end of the ongoing conflict and the powerful performances from Ms. Hunt and Mr. Knox make None Shall Escape a film of interest and value.
TCM is screening None Shall Escape on February 6 at the end of that programming day, or the beginning of the next depending on your time zone.
Marsha Hunt, Alexander Knox
The town turns on Grimm when it is discovered that his assault of a teenager led to her suicide. The courts did not convict but he was driven back to Germany where he totally embraced Hitlerism.
The second witness at the tribunal is Grimm's own brother, Karl played by Erik Rolf. Karl is a writer for a socialist paper. He and his wife Alice played by Ruth Nelson have a son and daughter. They take Wilhelm lovingly into the family fold and laugh at his silly political ideas. Wilhelm's rise in the Third Reich involves the incarceration of his brother and the indoctrination of his nephew into the SS.
The third damning witness is Marja Pacierkowski. Widowed in the early days of the war, she and her daughter Janina played by Dorothy Morris have returned Litzbakk. Wilhelm Grimm is the officer in charge and in addition to the maniacal devotion to evil orders, there is the retribution he wants to extract from the townspeople for what he sees as his past mistreatment.
Grimm's rule is one of terror and slaughter. His devotion is to Hitler and to his nephew. When that nephew's eyes are opened to a different and kinder way of life by his feelings for Janina a personal tragedy strikes the Pacierkowski family.
The script for None Shall Escape is a combination of the literate and the lurid. The direction by Andre de Toth forces the audience to be aware of oppression through visuals and the use of sound. It is the sound of the Jewish citizens being rounded up for transport that is as heartwrenching as their doomed uprising.
The interesting premise of a look at the end of the ongoing conflict and the powerful performances from Ms. Hunt and Mr. Knox make None Shall Escape a film of interest and value.
TCM is screening None Shall Escape on February 6 at the end of that programming day, or the beginning of the next depending on your time zone.
