Edge of Darkness (1943)
Directed by Lewis Milestone

Film Review

There's more than a touch of irony in the fact that the man who brought us one of cinema's most potent anti-war films, All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), later went on to direct a flagrant pro-war propaganda piece which almost glorifies armed combat.  Lewis Milestone's love of humanity and skill at directing full-on battle scenes certainly help to prevent Edge of Darkness from being merely another tedious lecture to justify America's involvement in the war against fascism but this apparent moral discrepancy is an interesting one, a classic case of having your cake and eating it.  Inspired by real events in Nazi-occupied Norway at the start of WWII, Edge of Darkness is adapted from William Woods' novel of the same title by screenwriter Robert Rossen and is one of Milestone's mostly bleakly realistic films.

As was (sadly) typical of propaganda films made in Hollywood around this time, the Nazis are portrayed mostly as one-dimensional villains, soulless and/or deluded monsters with few, if any, redeeming features.  Likewise, the heroes are just as simplistically sketched, their outbursts of violence vindicated as a just onslaught against a tyrannous regime.  Walter Huston is fortunate in that his character (the linchpin in the drama) at least has some scope for moral uncertainty; the other actors have to work much harder to make their characters interesting and some - notably the film's star Errol Flynn (a last minute replacement for Humphrey Bogart) - can't even be bothered.  Recurrent health problems put paid to Flynn's aspirations of serving in the American armed forces, but he made up for this with heroic portrayals in several war films including Dive Bomber (1941), Desperate Journey (1942) and Objective, Burma! (1945).

Although the pace is sluggish in the first half of the film there are some inspired touches, such as the covert resistance meeting in a chuch. Things pick up with a vengeance in the final reel as an armed conflagration suddenly decimates the strained peace of a Norwegian village.  Edge of Darkness has some moments of exquisite poignancy and horror but its crude attempts at Nazi demonisation, whilst acceptable for a propaganda piece, weaken its effectiveness as a piece of drama.

Film Synopsis

In 1942, Trollness, a Norwegian fishing village, is under Nazi occupation.  Most of the local population are involved in resistance activities of one kind or another, although some are willing allies of the Nazis, seeing cooperation as the best way to maintain their cosy way of life.  The town's doctor, Martin Stensgard, is a reluctant convert to the resistance movement, persuaded by his daughter Karen that neutrality is not an option.  Stensgard's loyalties are further divided when his son Johann returns, having served abroad as a Nazi officer.  The only person to welcome Johann's return is his uncle, the owner of a large canning factory and a willing Nazi collaborator.  As Captain Koenig, the most senior Nazi stationed at a nearby garrison, makes his move to crush an uprising, resistance leader Gunnar Brogge leads a fierce offensive that will become an example to the free world...