Man Hunt (1941)

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

Geoffrey Household (novel)
Dudley Nichols (screenplay)

Release Date:

26 May 1945 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Plot:

British hunter Thorndike vacationing in Bavaria has Hitler in his gunsight. He is captured, beaten, left for dead...

Plot Keywords:

German Agent | Hitler | Cave | Germany | Stowaway

Cast

Walter Pidgeon	...	Captain Thorndike
Joan Bennett	...	Jerry
George Sanders	...	Quive-Smith
John Carradine	...	Mr. Jones
Roddy McDowall	...	Vaner
Ludwig Stössel	...	Doctor (as Ludwig Stossell)
Heather Thatcher	...	Lady Risborough
Frederick Worlock	...	Lord Risborough
Roger Imhof	...	Captain Jensen
Egon Brecher	...	Jeweler
Lester Matthews	...	Major
Holmes Herbert	...	Farnsworthy
Eily Malyon	...	Postmistress
Arno Frey	...	Police Lieutenant
Frederick Vogeding	...	Ambassador (as Fredrik Vogeding)
Lucien Prival	...	Umbrella Man
Herbert Evans	...	Reeves
Keith Hitchcock	...	Bobby
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Charles Bennett	...	Costermonger (uncredited)
Frank Benson	...	Cab Driver (uncredited)
Ted Billings	...	Newsboy (uncredited)
Walter Bonn	...	Harbor Policeman (uncredited)
Sven Hugo Borg	...	Ship's Mate (uncredited)
Cyril Delevanti	...	Cab Driver (uncredited)
Carl Ekberg	...	Adolf Hitler (uncredited)
Richard Fraser	...	Navigator (uncredited)
Douglas Gerrard	...	Policeman (uncredited)
William Haade	...	Sentry (uncredited)
Bobby Hale	...	Costermonger (uncredited)
Adolf Hitler	...	Himself (in montage) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Olaf Hytten	...	Piel, the law clerk (uncredited)
Hans Joby	...	Tracker (uncredited)
Kurt Kreuger	...	German Attaché (uncredited)
Bruce Lester	...	Co-Pilot (uncredited)
Adolf E. Licho	...	(uncredited)
Virginia McDowall	...	Mary, the Postmistress's Daughter (uncredited)
Adolph Milar	...	Pigeon Man (uncredited)
Carl Ottmar	...	Harbor Policeman (uncredited)
Otto Reichow	...	First Sentry (uncredited)
John Rogers	...	Cockney-Henchman (uncredited)
Clifford Severn	...	Cockney Boy (uncredited)
Robert R. Stephenson	...	Sentry (uncredited)

Directed by
Fritz Lang

Writing credits
Geoffrey Household		(novel "Rogue Male")
Dudley Nichols		(screenplay)

Produced by
Kenneth Macgowan	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Alfred Newman

Cinematography by
Arthur C. Miller		(as Arthur Miller)

Film Editing by
Allen McNeil

Art Direction by
Richard Day
Wiard Ihnen		(as Wiard B. Ihnen)

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little

Costume Design by
Travis Banton

Art Department
Don B. Greenwood	....	property master (uncredited)

Sound Department
Eugene Grossman	....	sound
Roger Heman Sr.	....	sound (as Roger Heman)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1941) (USA) (theatrical)
• R&B Video (2005) (USA) (VHS)
• Fox Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2009) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:Approved (certificate #7219) | Canada:G (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

When Thorndike (Pidgeon) is captured, the George Sanders character inspects his belongings including his rifle, which bears the maker's name of "Hammond and Hammond, Bond Street". There was no such gunsmith in the UK and it seems likely they name is borrowed from a very famous gunsmith called Holland and Holland of Bruton Street, which is situated nearby.

Quotes:

Vaner: Have you committed a crime?
Captain Alan Thorndike: No.
Vaner: Was it, um, about a woman?
Captain Alan Thorndike: [smiling] I see you know life.
Vaner: I thought so, sir. They're a dickens of a problem, aren't they?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Rogue Male: The Making of 'Man Hunt' (2009) (V)

Soundtrack:

God Save the King!

Surprisingly bad film from such a pedigreed group

Essentially a undistinguished B-movie that mysteriously is directed by one of the golden era's major talents, Fritz Lang. Even with the stellar names of Lang, Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett and George Sanders, be prepared for a ludicrous storyline, bad acting, patently phony sets and miscasting. For transparency sake, I have to admit I am an ardent non-admirer of Walter Pidgeon, who was lucky to have found a niche at the artificial dream-factory of MGM, and somehow worked in secondary roles, supporting Greer Garson and others. He is wildly miscast, acting in a chipper, '30s-Ray Milland madcap comedy tone, in a role where his life is in danger, and he is in hiding. Joan Bennett's cockney accent is excessive, but her lacquered hair, perfect makeup and classy outfit belies a street-wise Cockney slum-girl. George Sanders is incapable of bad acting, but disappears after the preposterous opening finds Pidgeon somehow pretending to shoot Adolph Hitler. Surprising for Fritz Lang is the unevenness of tone. I found the film wavered uneasily between occasional moments of suspense-thriller surrounded by light-hearted comedic interplay. Hitchcock totally reversed the ratio, using comic relief to occasionally pace the suspense. There is a reason this film is unknown. It didn't serve or propel anybody's career or reputation, and is forgotten because it's a surprisingly bad film from such a pedigreed group.