Man Hunt
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Movie Reviews of Man Hunt
Movie Review: Walter Pidgeon, Action Star
Summary: 4 Stars
A taut, fascinating adaptation of Geoffrey Household's prewar thriller "Rogue Male," Pidgeon stars as a big-game hunter with the chance to take out Hitler on the eve of World War II. He is thwarted, but now is the subject of a man-hunt which takes him back to London, and danger around every corner. Low-budget and dark, Fritz Lang made the film quickly to raise his standing in the Hollywood community, and it succeeded. Lang went on to bigger projects in the US, and this film did quite well, released during 1941. Pidgeon is quite good as the hunter, and his scenes with Roddy McDowell, his son in "How Green Was My Valley," resonate. Joan Bennett is lovely in what was her first major role, and George Sanders is the perfect Nazi villain. Well worth the time, and the documentary which accompanies the film sets it beautifully in its time period, and shows how important this film was to Lang and Lang's career.Movie Review: interesting propaganda
Summary: 4 Stars
In my title, I use the word "propaganda"; however, it is not intended to be a negative description of the film or its content. Instead, what I am trying to convey, is that this film, like so many others, which were released during the Second World War, were intended to rally the allies in their fight against the onslaught of facism in Nazi Germany.
From a dramatic point of view, the film succeeds on every level. It is quickly paced and has a touch of the romantic thrown in without being overly maudlin or heavily sentimental. In short, this picture is highly recommended by me.
Movie Review: Rediscover Fritz Lang
Summary: 4 Stars
Recently I had seen 2 old classics, Man Hunt was one of them. The other was Seven Days to Noon by John Boulting.
Both were released the latter part of 2009.
I must say that Seven Days to Noon seemed dated and slow as a thriller but Man Hunt remained taut and masterfully
directed by Fritz Lang.
Fritz Lang, a true master of film noir.
Movie Review: Walter Pidgeon kills it
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm a fan of Fritz Lang, particularly his American noirs, and I read Rogue Male, the novel upion which this film is based, over 40 years ago. But somehow I was not aware of this film until its recent DVD release and was anxious to see it. While the movie was quite good, and Lang's direction was excellent, my enjoyment of the film was greatly reduced by Walter Pidgeon as the lead. His performance is just stiff and unconvincing. Worse, like Tyrone Power and Kevin Costner, he makes no attempt at an English, or even mid-Atlantic, accent, which made it impossible to accept him as a British aristocrat. (For similar reasons, I also hate Pidgeon's performance in How Green Was My Valley, though his part was small enough there not to ruin this classic.). I also disliked his character's condescending attitude to the Joan Bennett character; it would be interesting to know whether that choice was Lang's or Pidgeon's. The rest of the main cast, Sanders, Carradine, Bennett, and McDowall, were fine.Movie Review: Painfully sluggish adaptation
Summary: 3 Stars
Having just read the book on which this movie is based - Rogue Male, still in print - I was quite disappointed by the movie's painfully slow pace. The book is a marvel of breathless storytelling - a first-person account of a man on the run, pursued from the Continent to London to the English countryside, with only his wits to rely on as Nazi agents relentlessly zero in. It's a real "man hunt." But the movie, alas, over-emphasizes the book's minimal love story and downplays the countryside scenes - perhaps necessary, given the genre and times. Still, despite a few too many yawns, the movie is clearly Lang's. There are some wonderful night scenes, dramatically lit, and the scene in the London tube station is gripping. Bottom line: This is worth checking out as a rarely seen Lang film, but my advice is don't expect too much. Best is to run, don't walk, to read the book. It is, John le Carre has stated, a major source and inspiration for the thriller genre as a whole.