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Video Directory Rare Films: Address Unknown (1944)

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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Address Unknown (1944)


Writers: Herbert Dalmas (screenplay), Kressmann Taylor (screenplay), and 1 more credit »

Genres: Drama

Address Unknown (1944) is a drama film directed by William Cameron Menzies based on Kathrine Taylor's novel Address Unknown (1938). The film tells the story of two families caught up in the rise of Nazism in Germany prior to the start of World War II.
Shot in a film noir style, the film contains many elements of suspense and irony reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock.[citation needed] Cinematographer (Rudolph Maté) employed shadows, shapes and camera angles to create the imagery. One notable scene shows Martin Schulz (Paul Lucas) descending a staircase awaiting his arrest by the Gestapo, while behind him the shadow of a web-like criss-cross of window panes shows him being caught in his own web of deceit.





IMDb
IMDb Plot Keywords: Germany | Nazism | Parable

This little film received Academy Award nominations for art direction and score, and that i need to surprise how it escaped a nomination for cinematography still, as a result of this story doesn't have a good deal of action in it. Instead, a lot of is claimed through the vivid score and therefore the masterful cinematography that renders the shadows that the Nazis forged typically a lot of menacing that the Nazis themselves.

Not commercially offered as way as i do know, this can be a movie that deserves rediscovery. The story opens on a celebration between 2 friends and partners in San Francisco. Martin Schulz (Paul Lukas) is returning to his home country of Germany at the side of his wife and 4 of his 5 sons. His partner, Max Eisenstein (Morris Carnovsky), can meanwhile keep their art gallery moving into San Francisco at the side of Martin's son, Heinrich. Max's daughter, Griselle, is additionally planning to Germany to hunt out a career as an actress. Heinrich and Griselle are in love, however have determined to delay wedding so Griselle will pursue her career.

Once in Germany, Martin gets swept up into the building Nazi movement when he's befriended and flattered by the silver-tongued Baron von Friesche, who eventually convinces him that he ought to stop all communication along with his ex Max as a result of he's Jewish. When the Nazis come back when Max's daughter Griselle after they learn she is Jewish, Martin stands by and will nothing to assist her, permitting his previous friend's daughter to perish at their hands and on his doorstep. However, a society like the Nazi's that's designed on purity of opinion and constant suspicion will typically be cleverly manipulated to be an instrument of revenge. Thus, by means that of a really straightforward arrange executed by somebody within the U.S., Martin soon finds himself isolated and underneath suspicion of espionage - a prisoner in his own residence still of his own imagination of what's going to come back next.

I highly suggest this film because it remains relevant nowadays, particularly from a psychological standpoint of how totalitarian movements begin out by preying on the desperation of the numerous and therefore the self-importance of a number of.

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