Man Hunt (1941)

Man Hunt is a 1941 American political thriller film, directed by Fritz Lang and starring Walter Pidgeon and Joan Bennett. It is based on the 1939 novel Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household and is set in Europe just prior to the Second World War. Lang had fled Germany into exile in 1933 and this was the first of his four anti-Nazi films, which include Ministry of Fear, Hangmen Also Die!, and Cloak and Dagger. It was Roddy McDowall's first Hollywood film after escaping London following the Blitz. Man Hunt was one of many films released in 1941 that were considered so pro-British that they influenced neutral members of the U.S. public to sympathize with the British side in World War II.

The film portrays Britain's pre-war policy of appeasement with Germany in its willingness to extradite one of its own citizens without any defense, and its depiction of Nazi agents freely walking about London, impersonating police, and terrorizing civilians.

The story was filmed again under its original title, Rogue Male (1976), by the BBC in a version starring Peter O'Toole.

Plot

On July 29, 1939, renowned British big-game hunter Captain Alan Thorndike slips through the forest undetected near the Berghof, Adolf Hitler's Bavarian retreat. With Hitler in his telescopic sight, he pulls the trigger on his unloaded rifle and gives a sardonic wave. He reflects a moment, then loads a live round, but is discovered at the last second by a guard, and the rifle goes off in their struggle.

After being beaten, Thorndike is taken to a high-ranking Nazi official, who is also a devoted hunter and an admirer. Thorndike explains that he was not trying to kill, just doing a "sporting stalk" purely for the thrill of going after the biggest game of all. The official does not believe him and insists that he sign a confession that he was working as an assassin for the British government. When Thorndike refuses, he is tortured, but remains steadfast and warns of "questions being asked in high places" if he is killed, as his brother, Lord Risborough, is a high-ranking British diplomat. The official arranges to have Thorndike pushed off a cliff to make his death look accidental.

Thorndike survives when his knapsack gets caught in a tree, breaking his fall. He eludes his pursuers and reaches a German port. Stealing a rowboat, he is forced to abandon it when a patrol boat comes near, then swims to a nearby ship. A British cabin boy aboard the Danish-registered vessel, Vaner, helps him hide. The Germans find Thorndike's coat and passport aboard the rowboat and search the ship. Though they find nothing, they place an agent, Mr. Jones, aboard the London-bound freighter using Thorndike's passport to impersonate him.

On arrival, the agent is met by German confederates. Thorndike, mistakenly believing he is safe, casually disembarks and is spotted. Trailed, he manages to hide in the apartment of a young woman of the night named Jerry Stokes, who lends him money so that he can reach his brother. She insists on accompanying him.

When Lord Risborough tells his brother that the British government, continuing its pre-war policy of appeasement, would have to extradite him if he were found, Thorndike declares he will flee Britain. Jerry tries to refuse a large reward, leading Lady Risborough to assume that it is payment for other services, but Thorndike insists it isn't, and that she take it. She rebuffs him, instead insisting he buy her a new hatpin to replace the one she lost when they met. She chooses a cheap chromium arrow, and has clearly fallen in love.

The German official arrives in London to join the hunt, masquerading as a British Major Quive-Smith. When Thorndike calls on his solicitor, the Nazis are once again on his trail. Chased into a London Underground station, Thorndike struggles with Jones, who is thrown onto an electrified rail. He is mutilated beyond recognition by a subsequent train, and misidentified by his papers as Thorndike; the real Thorndike is hunted by British police for murder.

Thorndike tells Jerry to have Lord Risborough send him a letter in three weeks care of the Lyme Regis post office. Thorndike hides there in a cave. When he retrievs the letter, he is trailed back to his lair by Quive-Smith.

Quive-Smith seals the only entrance and threatens to leave him trapped inside. He passes Thorndike a confession through an airhole, which Thorndike refuses. He then slides in Jerry's beret, informing Thorndike that she was thrown out a window when she would not betray him. Quive-Smith then boasts that the Nazis have successfully invaded Poland and no one will lift a finger, causing Thorndike to finally admit that he subconsciously intended to kill Hitler. Fabricating a bow and an arrow shaft tipped by Jerry's hatpin, he then agrees to sign the confession. Quive-Smith unblocks the entrance and waits to gun Thorndike down as he crawls out. Thorndike shoots Quive-Smith through the airhole. When Thorndike emerges, Quive-Smith wounds him before dying. By the time Thorndike recovers, the war is well underway.

Thorndike joins the Royal Air Force as a Bomber Command crewman. On a mission over Germany, he goes AWOL, parachuting out with his hunting rifle, intent on assassinating Hitler.

Cast

Walter Pidgeon as Captain Thorndike

Joan Bennett as Jerry Stokes

George Sanders as Quive-Smith

John Carradine as Mr. Jones

Roddy McDowall as Vaner

Ludwig Stössel as the doctor

Heather Thatcher as Lady Risborough

Frederick Worlock as Lord Risborough

Roger Imhof as Captain Jensen

Egon Brecher as the jeweler

Lester Matthews as the major

Holmes Herbert as Saul Farnsworthy

Eily Malyon as the postmistress

Arno Frey as the police lieutenant

Frederick Vogeding as ambassador

Wilhelm von Brincken as the harbor police chief

Production

Man Hunt became the first war film to attract the attention of the Hays Office in the neutral United States. Joseph Breen was alarmed by the script, calling it a "hate film". Breen felt that in the isolationist atmosphere of the 1941 U.S., the film showed all Germans as evil, unlike other films that depicted both good non-Nazi Germans as well as evil Nazis. Breen insisted that the Germans should not be characterised as being so brutal and that the office would pass the film only if it would "indicate" brutality rather than show it. As a result, Thorndike's torture was not shown, but the idea was made apparent to the audience.

Darryl F. Zanuck was also worried about Lang's anti-Nazi enthusiasm and banned him from the editing room. However, Lang and his associate Gene Fowler, Jr. secretly edited the film without Zanuck's approval.

Isolationists and Nazi sympathizers took issue with the film, along with That Hamilton Woman (1941) and others, describing such films as pro-British propaganda to change American public opinion about going to war.

The film features an instrumental version of "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" by Eric Maschwitz, Manning Sherwin and Jack Strachey as a recurring romantic theme. The score's recurring theme for the Nazis was composed by the film's musical director Alfred Newman.

Critical response

Bosley Crowther, writing for The New York Times in June 1941, commented that "Man Hunt rates somewhat above the run of ordinary 'chase' films" projecting "certain subtle psychological overtones", but "it doesn't fulfill its possibilities completely". Dave Kehr reviewing a DVD release in the same publication in 2009, commented "as agitprop the film could not be more effective", but "it also has the timeless quality of a work of pure imagination".

Preservation

The Academy Film Archive preserved Man Hunt in 2000.

Radio adaptation

Man Hunt was presented on Philip Morris Playhouse July 31, 1942, starring Robert Montgomery.

See also

Rogue Male, the 1976 BBC television version of Household's novel

Operation Foxley, a British Special Operations Executive plan to assassinate Hitler in 1944

References

External links

Man Hunt at IMDb

Man Hunt at the TCM Movie Database (archived)

Man Hunt at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films

Man Hunt review at Mystery*File (David L. Vineyard)

Man Hunt DVD review, The New York Times, May 15, 2009 (Dave Kehr)