Steve D
Important but not really good. Stewart is wasted.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/13/24
Full Review
Audience Member
This movie is incredible, the acting, the story, the heart, all great. This is movie ages incredibly well and I down to earth think everybody should watch this movie, it teaches a great lesson of how innocent people can get corrupted over dictatorship and just corrupted leaders in general. Even if you're not a fan of old movies you should watch it, because one of these days we might have another Hitler (or at least something like him).
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/04/23
Full Review
William L
There are plenty of times where The Mortal Storm shows its age - in technical proficiency (some skiing scenes were very much not on location) and in filmmaking conventions, for instance (among this supposedly all-German character sheet, there are a confusing mix of accents, from heavily Teutonic to good ol' American Boy Scout). But the film compensates in its political stance, as an unabashedly anti-Nazi film released well before the United States became firmly involved in World War II, when the US was still ambiguous in its geopolitical leaning and, just a year before, the German American Bund had hung swastikas alongside portraits of George Washington before an audience of 20,000 at Madison Square Garden, promoting their fascism as "pro-Americanism". West's screenplay (ably adapted from Bottome's novel), focuses on the disintegration of a family based around the tenants of a rabid political mania, as young men eager to 'restore Germany to glory' quickly adopt party dogma as their own, enforcing unquestioning obedience, anti-intellectualism, and racial discrimination ("non-Aryan" is namedropped a few times, though it's not an overt focus) even to the extent of imparting mortal consequences upon those they once loved. There are depictions or implications of social control, book burnings, the removal of "offensive material" (regardless of its factuality), ethnic purity, the focus on a political 'other' as the root cause of all problems, and many other trends that have reemerged among far-right movements in the United States and abroad, only sharpening viewings of this film today. Performances are solid, but none are really standouts, though Sullavan in her primary focus (and as the result of multiple tragedies) feels empathetic. Shocking in 1940 for its willingness to depict ugliness in ideologies that some thought acceptable, and sadly relevant today for the same reason. (4/5)
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/16/21
Full Review
david l
With arresting cinematography, an epic, very cinematic third act and a terrific, deceptively happy beginning that fools you into thinking that this is going to be a joyous movie, The Mortal Storm quickly pulls the rug beneath you and becomes a frustrating, difficult and eventually heartbreaking story of the atrocious movement that was happening in Germany just as this film was being filmed, and thus it becomes a very powerful, tragic time capsule. Margaret Sullavan is excellent in such a great role whereas James Stewart is expectedly terrific as a heroic moral center. As a result, although rarely thought of as such by many, The Mortal Storm is in my opinion one of the greatest WWII films of all time.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
The Roth family leads a quiet life in a small village in the German Alps during the early 1930s. When the Nazis come to power, the family is divided and Martin Brietner, a family friend is caught up in the turmoil.
This movie is an absolutley wonderful...dramatic and very intense storyline, played out beautifully by Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan. The plot and especially the ending is so captivating and real. I mean, you stop noticing that these are actors and you begin to live out the story. It's just a well-done and deeply moving film.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/14/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A 1940 anti-fascist movie adaptation of the Phyllis Bottome book, publishing in early 1938. A very happy family in Munich, 1933 becomes very unhappy as Hitler takes over. As Nazi-ism overtakes public and private spaces, conflict ensues. Great ski chase scenes will remind you of James Bond. Ian Fleming was a student of Phyllis Bottome.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/31/23
Full Review
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