Released in 1944, Ministry of Fear would had been both a spy thriller and a propaganda film. It is based on a Graham Greene story.
Stephen Neale (Ray Milland) has been released from an asylum. He became a cause celebre for assisting his wife's suicide when she was terminally ill.
On his way to London, he attends a local fundraising fete for the Mothers of Free Nations charity. A fortune teller gives Neale the precise weight to win a cake at another stall.
Neale wins the cake but he was not the man supposed to win it. The fortune teller made an error. The cake had some instructions inside it.
Neale finds himself in a Nazi conspiracy. The Mothers of the Free Nations is being used as a front for Nazi spies. Only two Austrian refugees who are brother and sister help Neale especially after he has been accused of murder.
Wherever Neale turns he seems to meet strange people and ends up in deeper trouble.
This has all the hallmarks of being a Hitchcock type wartime spy thriller made in Hollywood. Director Fritz Lang is let down by a mundane and muddled script.
The psychology of Neale's state of mind is not always pursued. Is he just deluded or hysterical given his personal history? The Austrian siblings hardly seem to be suspects at all given where they originate from.
Stephen Neale (Ray Milland) has been released from an asylum. He became a cause celebre for assisting his wife's suicide when she was terminally ill.
On his way to London, he attends a local fundraising fete for the Mothers of Free Nations charity. A fortune teller gives Neale the precise weight to win a cake at another stall.
Neale wins the cake but he was not the man supposed to win it. The fortune teller made an error. The cake had some instructions inside it.
Neale finds himself in a Nazi conspiracy. The Mothers of the Free Nations is being used as a front for Nazi spies. Only two Austrian refugees who are brother and sister help Neale especially after he has been accused of murder.
Wherever Neale turns he seems to meet strange people and ends up in deeper trouble.
This has all the hallmarks of being a Hitchcock type wartime spy thriller made in Hollywood. Director Fritz Lang is let down by a mundane and muddled script.
The psychology of Neale's state of mind is not always pursued. Is he just deluded or hysterical given his personal history? The Austrian siblings hardly seem to be suspects at all given where they originate from.