Posts from ethanedwards in thread „Decision Before Dawn (1951)“

Carl,
Still waiting for your response about this movie.
You mentioned it again, just a few minutes ago!!!

Hi Carl,
Hope you're OK, my friend?
I posted this one for you,
and I'd sure appreciate your input on the thread!

Decision Before Dawn is a 1951 American war film directed by Anatole Litvak,
starring Richard Basehart, Oskar Werner, and Hans Christian Blech.
It tells the story of the American Army using potentially unreliable German prisoners of war
to gather intelligence in the closing days of World War II.
The film was adapted by Jack Rollens (uncredited) and Peter Viertel
from the novel Call It Treason by George Howe.

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Film Editing and Best Picture.

User Review

Quote

What memories this must have dredged up
9 December 2004 | by Mike (fmadams) (Hutto, TX)
Having served in the US Army-Europe in Germany it was easy to see that this work was an accurate depiction of the world as Germans saw it in those years. Going to the IMDb database confirmed that it was filmed in Wurzberg, a city I visited many times. One can not help but wonder what memories and nightmares came back to life for the German people in this movie, or the ones who viewed it, or even witnessed the movie being made. The film is so very realistic in script, acting, and setting that some must have almost thought WWII was alive again. For those that lived through WWII in that country it must have seemed as if those days were repeating themselves. Every detail of this movie is accurate as far as I could tell. It does not employ overused stereotypes, no action heroes, no earth shaking grand and glorious finale, it simply depicts a period of time in all its' tragedy and irony in a most realistic manner. This work deserves more praise and exposure than it has received. A must see for every WWII researcher and historian.

Information From IMDb

Plot Summary
WWII is entering its last phase: Germany is in ruins, but does not yield. The US army lacks crucial knowledge about the German units operating on the opposite side of the Rhine, and decides to send two German prisoners to gather information. The scheme is risky: the Gestapo retains a terribly efficient network to identify and capture spies and deserters. Moreover, it is not clear that "Tiger", who does not mind any dirty work as long as the price is right, and war-weary "Happy", who might be easily betrayed by his feelings, are dependable agents. After Tiger and another American agent are successfully infiltrated, Happy is parachuted in Bavaria. His duty: find out the whereabouts of a powerful German armored unit moving towards the western front.
Written by Eduardo Casais

Cast
Richard Basehart ... Lt. Dick Rennick
Gary Merrill ... Col. Devlin
Oskar Werner ... Cpl. Karl Maurer aka Happy
Hildegard Knef ... Hilde (as Hildegarde Neff)
Dominique Blanchar ... Monique
O.E. Hasse ... Col. Von Ecker
Wilfried Seyferth ... Heinz Scholtz - SS Man (as Wilfried Seyfert)
Hans Christian Blech ... Sgt. Rudolf Barth aka Tiger
Helen Thimig ... Fräulein Paula Schneider (as Helene Thimig)
Robert Freitag ... Sgt. Paul Richter (as Robert Freytag)
George Tyne ... Sgt. Griffin
C.A. Amos ... U.S. Army Air Force First Lieutenant
Harold Benedict ... U.S. Army Air Force staff-sergeant
H.W. Briggs ... U.S. Army sergeant
D.G. Devine ... U.S. Army Air Force corporal
L.E. Dixon ... U.S. Army major
B.L. Hendrickson ... U.S. Army top sergeant
D. Kogel ... U.S. Army private
S.I. Rice ... U.S. Army Pfc.
F. Slaman ... U.S. Army Pfc.
J.E. Stratton ... U.S. Army sergeant
Eva Marie Andres ... Flak girl (uncredited)
Arno Assmann ... Ernst Brandenbacher (uncredited)
Almut Bachmann ... Streetcar conductor (uncredited)
Kemp Batchelor ... Martin (uncredited)
Heinrich Berg ... Bit part (uncredited)
Ulla Best ... Wehrmacht girl (uncredited)
Bert Brandt ... German NCO (uncredited)
Ruth Brandt ... Woman driver (uncredited)
Don Devine ... GI driver (uncredited)
Jochen Diestelmann ... Bit part (uncredited)
Erich Ebert ... Freddy (uncredited)
Ulrich Folkmar ... Prisoner (uncredited)
Otto Friebel ... Clerk (uncredited)
Gert Fröbe ... German corporal - Nuremberg control point (uncredited)
Werner Fuetterer ... von Bülow (uncredited)
Rainer Geldern ... Panzer NCO (uncredited)
Elfe Gerhart ... Barmaid (uncredited)
Auguste Hansen-Kleinmichel ... Newspaper woman (uncredited)
Rudolf Heimann ... Leschke - truck driver (uncredited)
Max Herbst ... German NCO (uncredited)
Loni Heuser ... Fritzi Kollwitz (uncredited)
Ernst Höchstätter ... Office receptionist (uncredited)
Alex Hohenlohe ... German NCO (uncredited)
Eva Maria Hoppe ... Wehrmacht girl (uncredited)
Walter Janssen ... Fiedl (uncredited)
Erik Jelde ... German NCO (uncredited)
Katja Jobs ... Wehrmacht girl (uncredited)
Klaus Kinski ... Whining soldier (uncredited)
Liselotte Kirschbaum ... Flak girl (uncredited)
Gerhard Kittler ... German lieutenant (uncredited)
Til Kiwe ... Adjutant (uncredited)
Sonja Kosta ... Wehrmacht girl (uncredited)
Klaus W. Krause ... German NCO (uncredited)
Wolfgang Kuhnemann ... Clerk in Schleissheim (uncredited)
Luitpold Kummer ... Bit part (uncredited)
Walter Ladengast ... German deserter (uncredited)
Maria Landrock ... Wehrmacht girl (uncredited)
Egon Lippert ... German lieutenant (uncredited)
Adi Lödel ... Kurt (uncredited)
Peter Lühr ... von Schirmeck (uncredited)
Ingeborg Luther ... Woman (uncredited)
Kurt Marquardt ... Prisoner (uncredited)
Elisabeth Millberg ... Wehrmacht girl (uncredited)
Charles Régnier ... German prisoner (uncredited)
Von Schmidel ... Man (uncredited)
Arnulf Schröder ... Old Prisoner of War (uncredited)
Paul Schwed ... Man on wehrmacht bus (uncredited)
Henriette Speidel ... Woman (uncredited)
Gerhard Steinberg ... Sgt. Klinger (uncredited)
Liselotte Steinweg ... Wehrmacht girl (uncredited)
Ruth Trumpp ... Woman attendant (uncredited)
Peter Martin Urtel ... German Soldier (uncredited)
Hans von Morhart ... Prisoner (uncredited)
Jaspar von Oertzen ... Prisoner (uncredited)
Meta Weber ... Woman (uncredited)
Clemens Wilmenrod ... German NCO (uncredited)
Dieter Wilsing ... Bit part (uncredited)
Maria Wimmer ... Woman in the street (uncredited)
Harald Wolff ... Hartmann (uncredited)

Writing credits
(in alphabetical order)
George Howe novel "Call It Treason"
Jack Rollens uncredited
Peter Viertel writer

Produced by
Anatole Litvak .... producer
Frank McCarthy .... producer

Trivia
* The producers and director Litvak chose to film the movie in post war Germany because of perfect background settings - destroyed buildings - and the availability of great numbers of German original WW2 equipment such as tanks and costumes, weapons etc.

Goofs
* Miscellaneous: Before Karl (AKA Happy) parachutes back into Germany, the US crewman in the aircraft says that he is glad "every time that a string of hundred pounders leave that bomb rack". The aircraft that they are in is a C47, a cargo plane, and did not have bomb racks.

* Factual errors: Karl is mistakenly called a corporal. The Luftwaffe uniform that he wears both in the US POW cage and while back in Germany has the rank insignia of an "Obergefreiter", specifically three winged emblems on the collar patches, plain shoulder straps and two chevrons on his left sleeve. Also when the list is checked for his name at the bridge the rank is written down as 'Gfr' (gefreiter) The ranks of Gefreiter, Obergefreiter and Stabsgefreiter (all which were partially identified by chevrons on the sleeve) were not NCOs and had no command authority over other soldiers. They were simply grades of seniority and would be more equivalent to Private First Class (PFC) in the US military. The German rank that is the closest equivalent to Corporal is Unteroffizer. Also, Karl is wearing the medical badge on his right sleeve; Luftwaffe enlisted medical personnel wore the badge on the left sleeve, while Wehrmacht (army) wore it on the right.

* Continuity: Early in the movie, Lt. Rennick and his driver, Sgt. Griffin, are driving in an open jeep to Rennick's new headquarters at the convent. It is clearly winter with snow on the ground and leafless trees. Yet, when they drive up to their headquarters gate, it now looks like early summer, with trees with full leaves and no snow on the ground. Then, it's back to winter again with heavy snow when Happy parachutes back into Germany.

Filming Locations
Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Bavaria, Germany
Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany