Anna Seghers wrote her deeply personal statement 'Das Siebte Kreuz' whilst in exile. Having left Germany in 1933, actual life under the Nazis could only be of her imagining but she undoubtedly learnt of the horrors second-hand from more recent exiles. Her novel is very much one of nostalgia for better days but for filmic purposes director Fred Zinnemann and his adaptor Helen Deutsch have concentrated on the man hunt element.
Despite being early in his illustrious career, Zinnemann's gift with actors is already evident although by all accounts he and his star Spencer Tracy did not get on. Having said that Tracy's journey as George Heisler from bitterness to renewed faith in human nature is most effective and is further testament to this actor's skills whereas the brief romance with the maid of Signe Hasso is less so, especially when compared to the way Renoir treats the touching relationship between escapee Jean Gabin and farm girl Dita Parlo in his masterpiece 'La Grande Illusuion'. The communist leanings of Heisler which reflect those of the author have understandably been glossed over whilst one could have done without Ray Collin's voice-over from the grave which for this viewer at any rate is a needless distraction.
Standout performances come from husband and wife Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, two highly respected artistes who came full circle some forty years later in 'Cocoon'. Agnes Moorehead makes her presence felt in a brief appearance and the film boasts a supporting cast of emigrés from Nazism whose accents and sincerity add verisimilitude to the proceedings. As a piece of well-intentioned propoganda the film does what it says on the tin.
The inspired cinematography of Karl Freund transcends the studio-bound production and in his first feature of interest Zinnemann's direction although still 'work in progress', gives note of what is to come.
As a tragic footnote, Freund's wife had already perished in a concentration camp whilst Zinnemann did not learn until after the war that both his parents had suffered the same fate.
Despite being early in his illustrious career, Zinnemann's gift with actors is already evident although by all accounts he and his star Spencer Tracy did not get on. Having said that Tracy's journey as George Heisler from bitterness to renewed faith in human nature is most effective and is further testament to this actor's skills whereas the brief romance with the maid of Signe Hasso is less so, especially when compared to the way Renoir treats the touching relationship between escapee Jean Gabin and farm girl Dita Parlo in his masterpiece 'La Grande Illusuion'. The communist leanings of Heisler which reflect those of the author have understandably been glossed over whilst one could have done without Ray Collin's voice-over from the grave which for this viewer at any rate is a needless distraction.
Standout performances come from husband and wife Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, two highly respected artistes who came full circle some forty years later in 'Cocoon'. Agnes Moorehead makes her presence felt in a brief appearance and the film boasts a supporting cast of emigrés from Nazism whose accents and sincerity add verisimilitude to the proceedings. As a piece of well-intentioned propoganda the film does what it says on the tin.
The inspired cinematography of Karl Freund transcends the studio-bound production and in his first feature of interest Zinnemann's direction although still 'work in progress', gives note of what is to come.
As a tragic footnote, Freund's wife had already perished in a concentration camp whilst Zinnemann did not learn until after the war that both his parents had suffered the same fate.