Edge of Darkness (1943)

I have always wondered how it must have felt to make a 'wartime' movie about a war you're currently living in, and lately I stumbled upon a quintet of films made during the Second World War with Errol Flynn, of all people, battling the Nazis. Because of it both being by Turner Classic Movies AND had one film directed by Lewis Milestone (with one of the finest anti-war statements ever made, 'All Quiet on the Western Front', under his belt) and the others by none other than Raoul Walsh, I was, pardon the pun, 'in like Flynn'. But as Flynn had been one of my favourite actors of the period simply on the basis of 'The Adventures of Robin Hood', I honestly would have gone for it anyway. Yeah, you could say I love older movies! =)

My best friend Earl remarked, 'By the end of WWII, they used up all of the good film titles,' and he probably has a point there, at least with this one, still getting quality usage THREE generations later, and with Mel Gibson to boot. But this was weird for a war film (looking at the resistance put up by a village of 800 Norwegians) bizarrely cast (with Ann Sheridan, Walter Huston, Judith Anderson and Ruth Gordon--all as the GOOD guys!), and had taped speeches by BOTH Churchill and Roosevelt. I read notorious British film critic Leslie Halliwell's review that everything was decent about the film except that it starred Flynn. He couldn't have been more wrong.

I'm greatly looking forward to examining the other four films of the set, all directed by one of the most underrated American directors of all time--Raoul Walsh.

This has to be one of my favourite wartime dramas. Certainly it's a bit of a propaganda piece, but this depiction of a peaceful Norwegian fishing village suddenly put under the jackboot of their Nazi oppressors is remarkably potent - even now. Errol Flynn ("Gunnar") takes top billing, but that's really only nominal - it's all about an effective ensemble cast with the likes of Ann Sheridan ("Karen"), Walter Huston ("Stensgard") and the poignant scenes from Morris Carnovsky's educated - and therefore immensely threatening "Andresen" whose treatment by Helmut Dantine's suitably menacing and ruthless "Koenig" are easily the most potent amongst the scenarios in this otherwise rather savage indictment of the bullying and torment suffered by the townsfolk - some even asked to dig their own mass grave. It doesn't shy away from the "Quisling" issue - every town had one, and shows us something of the difficulties faced by his friends and family as it appears that he is playing both sides. There is plenty of stoic resistance - both in the pulpit from pastor "Aalesen" (Richard Fraser) and from this community at large - acts ranging from petty defiance to more effective and lethal responses. These all culminates in a conclusion that is suitably fitting with violence being deservedly visited on them so familiar with it. It's about faith, trust, loyalty and determination and as films of this genre go, I think it takes quite some beating.