MAN HUNT (Fox, 1941) D: Fritz Lang, w/ Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett. Rating: NNN DVD package: NN Rating: NNN
On the eve of World War II, big-game hunter Alan Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon) stalks Adolf Hitler. Things go wrong, and Thorndike becomes the quarry in a secret hunt through wilderness and city. It’s a classic suspense story, up there with The 39 Steps.
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Sadly, its not a classic movie. Fritz Lang banged it out fast under orders from the studio, and it shows. The pace drags during the romantic interlude (with Joan Bennett), the dialogue clangs, and most of the cast make cardboard look good. On the plus side, Lang delivers shadowy noir images, wordless, paranoia-drenched set pieces, good scenes between Thorndike and his nemesis (George Sanders) and a nightmarish climax.
Lang biographer Patrick McGilligan has a more positive view of the film and some good things to say about Bennett, but he spends too much time in his commentary telling us what we’re looking at.
EXTRAS Commentary, making-of doc. Full frame, b&w. English, French, Spanish subtitles.
