Commandos Strike at Dawn

Starring:Paul Muni, Anna Lee, Lillian Gish, Cedric Hardwicke, Ray Collins, Robert Coote, Rosemary DeCamp, Alexander Knox, Elisabeth Fraser, Richard Derr, Erville Alderson, Barbara Everest, Rod Cameron, Louis Jean Heydt, George Macready, Arthur Margetson, V.S. Godfrey, C.M. Cree, R.A. Fraser, C.T. Beard
Director: John Farrow
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Description

Paul Muni stars as Eric Toresen, an apolitical Norwegian fisherman who is galvanized into action when his village is occupied by the Nazis.

Customer Reviews:

A good kind of war propaganda--lessons kids should know.......2005-12-27

As a dad, I found this film, though dated and quaint, both a stirring old war movie that boys will like as well as a good opportunity to teach some strategic realities. There are bad people in the world, they make promises and break them and they strive to enslave good people; for the sake of civilization good people often need to do otherwise bad things like fight and even kill. Rough stuff, but this is the fallen nature of this world.

Commandos Strike at Dawn.......2005-05-30

Hollywood's first reaction to the United States' entry into World War II usually took one of two forms. In the Pacific Theater the movie typically chronicled a valiant, but doomed, defense. Wake Island and Bataan were popular movies of early defeat. When Hollywood turned its attention to the European Theater its early movies celebrated indigenous resistance against Nazism by the intrepid citizens of nations like Czechoslovakia, or, in the case of COMMANDOS STRIKE AT DAWN, Norway.
Paul Muni stars as Eric Toresen, a soft-spoken, pacifistic civil servant whose initial response to the German occupation of the small town he lives in is rather detached. "We civilians," he explains, haven't a right to interfere and oppose the military occupation. "This is not exactly our line." Of course, the occupiers are busy rounding up suspected subversives, imposing their doctrine in the local schools, and confiscating personal property for use in the Fatherland. Before long Toresen realizes that `we must learn from them to become gangsters and thugs.' When Toresen discovers a military airfield being built nearby, he plans to sail to England and organize a commando force to destroy it before it becomes operational.
Muni gives a typically good, understated performance as a gentle man caught in vicious times. Although it contains a quisling or two, COMMANDOS STRIKE AT DAWN fulfills its purpose - explaining to Americans why we fight and generally ennobling the heroic freedom fighters in Nazi occupied Europe. A strong recommendation for this early entry in World War II movies.

this movie was made in 1942 off Vancouver Island.......2004-03-19

This movie was made in 1942, and made use of the HMCS Prince David which was on leave from thrashing around in the Aleutians looking for the Japanese. My father was an officer on that ship at the time, and thoroughly enjoyed the cast, especially Sir Cecil Hardwicke. I've watched the movie, and of course it is propaganda, it was made in 1942. That is part of its charm. Remember that at the time, no one knew who would win the war. Vancouver Island makes a good stand in for Norway, and Paul Muni is some brave! It is superior propaganda and a fun experience.

Muni, WWII & Tommy-Guns; what more could you want!.......2001-12-20

This WWII film does have a certain aspect of propaganda to it, but the tense storyline is riveting and will keep you glued to your chair until the last scene (which isn't exactly what you'll be expecting). Muni puts in a fine performance, as always. Overall, an enjoyable war drama.

limp war drama.......2001-03-28

Poorly, poorly directed WWII drama involving the invasion of Norway by Germans and how it affected a small Norwegian town whose sort-of burgermeister is played sympathetically enough by Paul Muni. He escapes to England by boat to marshall commando forces to liberate his town and destroy a planned airfield. A Hollywood Norwegian is something to hear and see, women in embroidered bonnets and shawls and men with bleach blonde hair talking about the miracle of spawning salmon. The action scene, the destruction of the airfield, had enough pyrotechnics to be exciting, but the director chose to sit way back and watch it, making the whole enterprise impossibly dull.

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