HANGMEN ALSO DIE

For some reason (probably the title) I'd always assumed that this 1943 film by Fritz Lang was a film noir.  In fact, it's a bit of an oddity, being set in occupied Czechoslovakia in 1942, and centred on a real event - the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, a senior Nazi known as "The Hangman of Europe".

The film is based on a story by Lang and Bertold Brecht, which departs from the truth in having the assassination be by a Czech surgeon, Svoboda, somewhat implausibly played by Brian Donlevy.

Svoboda takes refuge with a family headed by Professor Novotny, played by Walter Brennan, whose daughter Mascha (Anna Lee) emerges as the main character in the ensuing tale.

The Nazis take several hundred citizens, including the Professor, as hostages, and start executing handfuls of them at regular intervals to put pressure on the locals to betray Svobòda. 

How this situation is resolved is told by way of a quite complicated plot which involves numerous characters, both members of the Gestapo and of the Resistance, as well as ordinary citizens, and crucially a wealthy Czech brewer who is secretly collaborating with the Nazis.

The tone of the film is interesting in that the Gestapo are portrayed as being almost buffoons at times, to the point that I was reminded of the 1942 classic, 'To Be or Not To Be', directed by Ernst Lubitsch, another German filmmaker who moved to America.

Heydrich appears briefly at the beginning, portrayed in such a camp way I expected him to start singing 'Springtime for Hitler' at any moment.

So despite the grim subject matter, the film has a lightness to it. 

Which is not to say that it doesn't have some powerful dramatic or uplifting moments, which makes it an effective tribute to the Czech spirit under oppression.

RATING: ✓ If You've Nothing Better To Do