Anti-Nazi Film at Goethe Institute
The Goethe Institute’s “From Babelsberg to Hollywood” series continues today with Frank Borzage’s anti-Nazi “The Mortal Storm” (1940).
It’s far more satisfying than his “Three Comrades,” in which the anti-Nazi theme was relegated to the background; here it is inextricably linked to its love story. What is so chilling about this film is its depiction of how rapidly Nazism could spread--and how quickly freedom of expression evaporated in its wake.
The setting is an Alpine town, the year 1933, just as Hitler is coming to power. When Robert Young reveals he’s a fanatic Hitler supporter his half-Jewish fiancee, Margaret Sullivan, is repelled and drawn to the independent-minded James Stewart. The plot is far from airtight, the casting simply silly (e.g., Stewart as an Alpine peasant) but the film is notably uncompromising for a pre-Pearl Harbor picture. Information: (213) 854-0993.
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