utgard14 Kurt and Sara Muller (Paul Lukas, Bette Davis) and their three children flee Nazi Germany to live with Sara's family in Washington, D.C. Little do they know Sara's family already has two guests, Rumanian count Teck de Brancovis and his American wife Marthe (George Coulouris, Geraldine Fitzgerald). Teck is a slimy weasel who is trying to curry favor with the Nazi's. There's also a subplot about Marthe falling in love with Sara's brother David (Donald Woods).This is a touching, thoughtful, drama with a little added suspense. It has some fine acting (Lukas won an Oscar) and a good script written by Dashiell Hammett based on the play by Lillian Hellman. One of the main complaints among the reviews I've read is that the children act and talk like adults, not like real children. This is addressed in the film as Sara's mother even asks them if they are "children or dressed-up midgets." The kids were supposed to be intelligent and mature, both because of how they had been raised as well as the environment they had grown up in, with politics and causes taking the place of a normal childhood. So I really don't see why this is a point of complaint for so many. They weren't trying to pass the kids off as your average children. Anyway, it's a good movie with WW2 themes and strong performances from all. Lukas and Davis are especially good.

mark.waltz Once again, Lillian Hellman takes on the fight against Fascism as she did with the analytical "The Little Foxes". Here, it is modern day Washington D.C. and German born Nazi hater Paul Lukas comes to the capitol on a mission while visiting his American wife's family. He is recognized by a traitorous Nazi sympathizer, calling into question his own values and bringing on a sacrifice that was necessary during the second world war. Bette Davis takes second fiddle to Lukas's showier lead, realizing how important this would be not only to her career but to the war as well. Propaganda, certainly, but well-written, definitely.The villain of the story is George Coulouris, playing both sides against the middle as European Count with only one goal in mind: cash. He's the type of sleaze who would sell out his own mother in order to grab on to the green, and also the type that the Nazis would kill as soon as they got all of the information he possessed. He's there as a guest, married to Geraldind Fitzgerald who obviously loves Davis's brother. Lucille Watson, as Davis's regal mother, takes her lovable character through many different levels: demanding, bossy, opinionated, slightly meddlesome, cheery, worried, shocked and finally contrite. But never is she any less than practically perfect, in performance and character. In a smaller role, Beaulah Bondi is Watson's wise housekeeper who is amused by Davis's feisty younger son who declares to Watson's surprise, "Yes, I am not handsome."War is never just on the battlefield, in the skies or on water. It is in the cities where all seems peaceful, in the country where hate grows like corn, and especially in the heart where it expands like a tumor. All it takes is one person like Coulouris to start the thread of intolerance and fascism spreads like plague. That's where Lukas must battle his own moral structure, coming to terms with the difference between being a pacifist and ridding the world of evil, whether it be one man or millions. The script leaves the story open, as was appropriate, as the theme states that the plot line of the world will never be completed as long as evil is allowed to roam the earth.

zetes Based on a Lillian Hellman play (adapted by Dashiell Hammett), this film concerns Paul Lukas and wife Bette Davis coming to live with Davis' mother (Lucile Watson) in Washington, D.C. after running away from the trouble in Europe (the film is set in 1940). Watson is fond of houseguests, and one of them, George Coulouris, is a Romanian with Nazi sympathies. Coulouris soon discovers Lukas' true identity as a fighter with the resistance, which makes trouble. This movie is okay. It builds a bit too slowly and goes on a bit too long. When it gets to the good stuff, though, it is quite good. Davis in particular is in fine form. Lukas won an Oscar. Probably undeserved, as he beat out Bogie in Casablanca, but he's got a few great scenes. Hated Watson, who was also nominated. She's annoying. Also despised Lukas' little robo-children. Two boys and a girl - the girl doesn't say a single word in the film, I do believe, but the two boys rattle on and on and are God awful actors, particularly the younger one, Eric Roberts (not...THAT Eric Roberts! I don't think...). The character's name is Bodo, and if that isn't enough to make you want to punch him in the face, wait until he speaks!

MiloMindbender All the dialog in this movie is written as if it were a sermon. Not only is the movie too preachy, but the acting is either too stiff (the children) or too hysterical (Bette Davis, in one of her weaker performances). Another weakness of the movie is that all the dialog revolves around generalities rather than specifics. Fascism and Nazis are bad! Maybe in 1943 this was groundbreaking, but today the simplemindedness of the writing makes this a story of caricatures, rather than a story of real people. The plot of the movie could have survived if this had been filmed as a film noir with unknowns in the leads instead of a melodrama for actors pining to win an Oscar.