Watch on the Rhine (1943)

Directed by Herman Shumlin. Starring Paul Lukas, Bette Davis, George Coulouris, Lucile Watson, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Donald Woods, Beulah Bondi, Donald Buka, Henry Daniell, Kurt Katch, Janis Wilson, Clarence Muse.

Dashiell Hammett tackles Lillian Hellman in this stage play-based tale of a family of anti-fascist German expatriates during the early years of the Second World War. Talky but intelligent, although speeches tend to insist (even preach) upon the audience rather than react to the moment; seeing as how the film was released in the middle of the war, did audiences still need propaganda? A rare instance of Bette Davis getting upstaged onscreen, in this case by her speech-ifying co-star Lukas, whose sincere, impassioned performance netted him an Oscar (beating out one of the most iconic performances in film history: Humphrey Bogart as Rick Dalton in Casablanca). No, he didn’t deserve to triumph over Bogey, but compared to some of the supporting players, especially Donald Buka’s stunningly clueless portrayal of eldest son Joshua, it feels like less of a hindsighted travesty. Director Herman Shumlin, carried over from the theatrical production for one of only two motion pictures he ever helmed, is either disinterested in or incapable of opening up the action or smoothing out the flow of the stuffy affair, which is worth seeing only for some of its acting and ideas.

56/100