Man Hunt

1941

Action / Crime / Drama / Romance / Thriller / War

7
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 93% · 14 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 75% · 500 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.2/10 10 6391 6.4K

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Plot summary

Shortly before the start of WW2, renown British big-game hunter Thorndike vacationing in Bavaria has Hitler in his gun sight. He is captured, beaten, left for dead, and escapes back to London where he is hounded by Nazi agents and aided by a young woman.


Uploaded by: OTTO
December 24, 2014 at 01:54 PM

Director

Top cast

Roddy McDowall as Vaner
Walter Pidgeon as Captain Alan Thorndike
George Sanders as Major Quive-Smith
John Carradine as Mr. Jones
1080p.BLU
1.64 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 45 min
Seeds 3

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by rmax304823 6 / 10

Tense Wartime Thriller

Fritz Lang brought with him from Germany the ability to use light and shadow effectively and it certainly shows in this taut drama. When Joan Bennett enters her apartment for the last time, she flicks on the light and sees three strange men in the corner, waiting for her. The two men on the sides act as bookends for the boss in the middle, George Sanders, who stands in silhouette except for the glint of his monocle. It's a shocking moment.

The story has Walter Pidgeon as an aristocratic big game hunter visiting Germany just before the war. He makes what he calls "a sporting stalk" and zeroes in with his high-powered rifle and scope on Adolf Hitler, resting on a balcony 500 yards away. He pulls the trigger on an empty chamber. The sporting stalk is now complete. But as he prepares to leave, Pidgeon has second thoughts, repositions himself, and inexplicably inserts a round into the chamber.

He's captured by German guards before he can fire the rifle and is beaten before managing to escape. Roddy MacDowell, as a cabin boy, stows him on a Danish ship that brings him to England.

Thereafter it gets a little complicated. The Germans still have Pidgeon's passport and identification and they slip a spy into England disguised as Pidgeon. At least I think the fellow is a spy. It was never clear to me why he was sent in. Nor was it clear to me why it was so necessary for this cabal of German miscreants in England to murder Walter Pidgeon.

Joan Bennett is conventionally pretty. Her features are even. And she does her best at a working-class London accent but fails. (George Sanders' German is perfectly acceptable.) But she has a function in the plot. She gets swept up in Pidgeon's predicament and gets him out of some tight spots, paying for it later. And she teaches the upper-class Pidgeon how to eat fish and chips with his fingers. Too bad they weren't at the Edinburgh Castle on Geary in San Francisco. Their fish and chips are better than any I've had in England.

The story is confusing at times but still chilling with its urban paranoia and its setting of dark alleys and empty underground stations.

The ending has Pidgeon parachuting into Germany armed with a new precision rifle and fully aware of his intention now to kill the Fuhrer. In 1941, that was wish fulfillment on a large scale.

Reviewed by MartinHafer 6 / 10

It's worth seeing, but is hampered by a silly premise

The film begins with Walter Pidgeon sneaking up on Hitler's mountain retreat and putting the Nazi in his gun sight. Then, when he pulls the trigger, nothing happens--as the gun has not been loaded! It seems that Pidgeon is a world famous hunter and just wanted to see if he COULD have killed Hitler to prove to himself what a great and supreme hunter he was. While this all sounds very stupid and contrived, I must point out that...hey, wait...that IS stupid and contrived!! This plot point makes no sense at all and is just beyond ridiculous (though cool to watch).

However, despite this silly beginning, the film is rather exciting as the Nazis chase Pidgeon across Germany and back to Britain--where they continue relentlessly pursuing him. There are some wonderful surprises, such as how well George Sanders spoke German. His portrayal of a crazed Nazi officer was a major plus in the film. Also, the way that several Nazis died in the film were surprisingly and amazingly creative.

The bottom line is that this is an exciting film but one that doesn't make much sense. If you can just turn off your brain and accept it as a wartime propaganda, then it is a very good time-passer, as the acting was good as well as some of the action.

Reviewed by bkoganbing 5 / 10

A Sporting Stalk

While on holiday in Bavaria, British big game hunter Walter Pidgeon gets a once in a lifetime chance when he spots Adolph Hitler whom as we well know through history had his retreat at Berchtesgarden there in the Alps. Pidgeon gets Der Fuehrer in his sights and then, curses, he forgot to load. No matter to the Nazis who catch Pidgeon in the act, they beat him up and leave him.

Sad to say this is what makes Man Hunt a silly story because the plain truth is they would have just put one behind his ear and told the British government their citizen met with a hunting accident. They might not have even made up the story since war was on the horizon in any event.

But when they realize Pidgeon's reputation they determine to get some propaganda mileage out of this incident that Pidgeon described as a 'sporting stalk'. They even hound Pidgeon right to Great Britain after he escaped stowing away on a Danish freighter. Trained assassin John Carradine goes after him and later a high ranking Gestapo man in George Sanders does the same.

Not to say that Man Hunt does not have some good parts. Pidgeon's battle with Carradine on the London subway tracks is thrilling and he and Sanders play quite a battle of wits at the climax. Some of how Pidgeon was able to deal with Sanders comes from his experience as a hunter and look toward The Most Dangerous Game for the solution. Joan Bennett is also in this with a nice cockney accent that she must have studied real hard to get right for the film.

Still the basic premise as other reviewers have pointed out weakens the overall film. Man Hunt is one of Fritz Lang's lesser films as a result.

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