Plot
By late 1944, as the Allies march toward the Rhine, it is obvious that Germany will lose the war. American Colonel Devlin leads a military intelligence unit that enlists German POWs to cross into German territory and spy on their former comrades. The recruits includes "Tiger", a cynical mercenary, and "Happy", a young, idealistic medical student. Monique, a former resistance operative, trains Happy and others in espionage techniques.
Devlin learns that a Wehrmacht general wants to negotiate the surrender of his entire command, and a mission is organized. Devlin selects Lieutenant Rennick to lead it, but Rennick hates turncoats on both sides of the war. Tiger is chosen for the mission. as he knows the area well. Happy is given the task of locating the 11th Panzer corps, which might oppose the mass surrender. The three men parachute into Germany and then separate.
During his search for the 11th Panzer unit, Happy encounters Germans with differing attitudes about the war. On buses and trains, in guest houses and taverns, he meets those who are still defiant, such as SS courier Scholtz and those who are now resigned to defeat, such as Hilde, a war widow turned prostitute. Eventually, Happy locates the 11th Panzer corps, posing as a medic. He is selected to treat its commander, Oberst von Ecker, at his castle headquarters. Happy narrowly escapes capture by the Gestapo. He finds a safe house in the ruins of heavily bombed Mannheim, where Rennick and Tiger hide as well. They have learned that the German commander whom they were to contact has been injured and hospitalized under SS guard. Without him, the other German officers cannot and will not surrender to the Allies.
Happy, Tiger and Rennick reach the banks of the Rhine, where they plan to swim across to American lines. At the last moment, Tiger loses his nerve and flees, forcing Rennick to kill him to preserve the mission. As Rennick and Happy are about to swim for the opposite shore, they are spotted. Facing torture and execution, Happy draws the Germans' attention away from Rennick by surrendering. His sacrifice enables the lieutenant to reach safety. Rennick survives, with his previous ideas about treason now challenged.
Production
The film was adapted from the novel Call It Treason, which was based on the wartime experiences of author George L. Howe, who served with the Office of Strategic Services unit attached to the Seventh Army during World War II. [5]
The citizens of Würzburg, Nuremberg and Mannheim, where some of the picture's battle scenes were shot, were forewarned of the filming by newspaper and radio announcements. Some were under the control by the American military, as Germany was still under military occupation at the time when the film was shot. [6]
Release
Decision Before Dawn premiered at the Odeon Marble Arch in London on August 30, 1951. [1] It opened in select American markets on November 1, 1951. [2]
A press preview of the film was held at the Fox Ritz Theatre in Los Angeles on December 19, 1951, with many Hollywood stars in attendance. The film began its general release in the area two days later. [7]
Reception
In a contemporary review for The New York Times , critic Bosley Crowther called the film "as stirring a drama as any you'll want to see, as well as a fair approximation of a nation's moral collapse" and wrote:
Within the inflexible framework of a straight undercover spy film, which in this case goes by the title of "Decision Before Dawn," Twentieth Century-Fox and Anatole Litvak have packed not only lots of thrills but a clear and cold look at Western Germany in the last year of World War II. They have also worked into this thriller ... a persuasive amount of compassion for . a German soldier who turns traitor on his own. ... True, there's nothing morally elaborate or conclusive about "Decision Before Dawn." But it packs some impulsive excitement and it plants a seed of understanding in the mind." [8]
Critic Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote:
Although it is unconscionably long—two hours—the picture, once it begins to make any kind of sustained narrative sense, tightens its hold steadily on the spectator and adds up at last to tiptop melodrama. The most impressive thing about it is the way Litvak seems to have got what he wanted in divided Germany. He has practically restaged the mass bombings and relighted the ruins. It is as a possible social document that "Decision Before Dawn" falls down. "Why does a spy risk his life—for what possible reason?" the narrator asks portentously at the beginning. He never answers it; Litvak and his actors don't either, except superficially. [3]
Upon viewing the film, General Douglas MacArthur said: "This is the finest picture I have seen this year, and I nominate it for an Academy Award." [9]
At the 24th Academy Awards, Decision Before Dawn was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, with Dorothy Spencer nominated for Best Film Editing.
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