Director: Herman Shumlin
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Top Billed Actors: Bette Davis, Paul Lukas, Geraldine Fitzgerald
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Actor - Paul Lukas
Nominated for 3 more:
Outstanding Motion Picture - Warner Bros.
Best Supporting Actress - Lucile Watson
Best Screenplay - Dashiell Hammett
Plot: A German Antifa member travels to the United States with his wife and three kids; his mother-in-law has a Romanian house guest who may just be up to something.
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Top Billed Actors: Bette Davis, Paul Lukas, Geraldine Fitzgerald
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Actor - Paul Lukas
Nominated for 3 more:
Outstanding Motion Picture - Warner Bros.
Best Supporting Actress - Lucile Watson
Best Screenplay - Dashiell Hammett
Plot: A German Antifa member travels to the United States with his wife and three kids; his mother-in-law has a Romanian house guest who may just be up to something.
Adapted from a successful 1941 stage play, Watch on the Rhine (1943) was a sure bet for producer Hal B. Wallis to take with wartime audiences feeling extra patriotic and anti-fascist; alas, this was Wallis' second Best Picture nominee of the 16th Awards with Best Picture winner Casablanca (1942) being the other. Many of the stage actors reprise their roles for this film including first time (and only) nominees Paul Lukas and Lucile Watson. Lukas would be the winner of the Best Actor Oscar in addition to being the very first Golden Globe winner for Best Leading Actor. Lukas would be the critically acclaimed lead but it was Bette Davis that the Warner Bros. marketing out on front. Davis herself didn't want top billing but she agreed to take a more supporting role just to be in such an important story. She did clash with first time film director Herman Shumlin, however. He was the director of the play and was brought in to do the film so he had no experience on set. Adding to the difficulties was a limit on celluloid due to the war so Shumlin couldn't shoot a lot of takes as well as Davis not having much of a break after filming Now, Voyager (1942) which put her on edge. Davis and Watson (who play daughter and mother, respectively) also clashed due to their opposite political views. It worked out in the end with the Oscar win, the Best Picture nomination, and even a Best Film award by the New York Film Critics Circle.
While this isn't exactly the Paul Lukas show, he's definitely one of the best elements of the film. Perhaps because he isn't in every scene, the dialogue he speaks and the demeanor he has is even more impactful. In a film with nonsensical accents, his makes sense as his character moved all over Europe for a decade. He's never over the top and his predominately calm presence puts over the anti fascist message throughout the film. And when he gets riled up, he's a force to be reckoned with despite his sickly condition. Another performance that stands out is Watson's. This script needed comic relief and her lavish requests and flamboyant attitude is just the ticket. She gets serious when she needs to be but she always seemed to be good for a laugh.
Although I admire the anti-fascist essence of the story, it doesn't feel quite as bold and foreboding in 1943 as it would have with the original play in 1941. By this time, the United States was in the peak of World War II and Nazis were an agreed upon threat and the universal villains of the world over. If this would have been a film released before the attacks on Pearl Harbor just two years prior, I would admire it even more. I also took issue with some of the performances. Yes, Lukas and Watson are delightful and they deserved their Academy nominations. But Davis is a little overdramatic; it also doesn't help that music plays over much of her heightened dramatic lines. It makes it corny - but not as corny as the youngest kid's dialect. The three kids all have blatantly American accents but, because they are supposed to be German, they speak with unnatural, academic words and without contractions. The youngest kid just annoyed the hell out of me. I think the filmmakers thought he was going to be a cute hit with the crowd but it brings the whole picture down for me whenever he speaks.
Overall, an exceptionally crucial anti-fascist message is strung through this picture from beginning to end. Paul Lukas' calm demeanor and affecting dialogue inspires and Lucile Watson's lively and loving persona moves. Bette Davis and her background music throws the tone off a bit and the way the kids speak is quite irritating.
My Score: 6/10
While this isn't exactly the Paul Lukas show, he's definitely one of the best elements of the film. Perhaps because he isn't in every scene, the dialogue he speaks and the demeanor he has is even more impactful. In a film with nonsensical accents, his makes sense as his character moved all over Europe for a decade. He's never over the top and his predominately calm presence puts over the anti fascist message throughout the film. And when he gets riled up, he's a force to be reckoned with despite his sickly condition. Another performance that stands out is Watson's. This script needed comic relief and her lavish requests and flamboyant attitude is just the ticket. She gets serious when she needs to be but she always seemed to be good for a laugh.
Although I admire the anti-fascist essence of the story, it doesn't feel quite as bold and foreboding in 1943 as it would have with the original play in 1941. By this time, the United States was in the peak of World War II and Nazis were an agreed upon threat and the universal villains of the world over. If this would have been a film released before the attacks on Pearl Harbor just two years prior, I would admire it even more. I also took issue with some of the performances. Yes, Lukas and Watson are delightful and they deserved their Academy nominations. But Davis is a little overdramatic; it also doesn't help that music plays over much of her heightened dramatic lines. It makes it corny - but not as corny as the youngest kid's dialect. The three kids all have blatantly American accents but, because they are supposed to be German, they speak with unnatural, academic words and without contractions. The youngest kid just annoyed the hell out of me. I think the filmmakers thought he was going to be a cute hit with the crowd but it brings the whole picture down for me whenever he speaks.
Overall, an exceptionally crucial anti-fascist message is strung through this picture from beginning to end. Paul Lukas' calm demeanor and affecting dialogue inspires and Lucile Watson's lively and loving persona moves. Bette Davis and her background music throws the tone off a bit and the way the kids speak is quite irritating.
My Score: 6/10