Fritz Bauer Institut · Cinematography of the Holocaust
ID |
FBW000274 Fiction |
Country / Year |
USA, 1943-1944 |
Original Title |
Ministry of Fear |
Other Title(s) |
Ministerium der Angst (German) |
Directed by |
|
Produced by |
Paramount Pictures, Inc., Los Angeles, CA / New York, NY |
Staff |
Producer: Buddy G. DeSylva (Executive Producer), Seton I. Miller; Assistent director: George Templeton; Script: Seton I. Miller; Based on: Graham Greene (gleichn. Roman); Dialogue coach: Lester Sharpe; Camera: Harry Sharp; Editing: Archie Marshek; Sound: Walter C. Smith, Don Johnson; Art direction: Hans Dreier, Hal Pereira; Set decoration: Bertram Granger; Costumes: Edith Head; Seamstress: Eddie Schmidt; Makeup: Wally Westmore; Music: Victor Young; Musical direction: Victor Young |
Cast |
Ray Milland (Stephen Neale); Marjorie Reynolds (Carla Hilfe); Carl Esmond (Willi Hilfe); Hillary Brooke (Mrs. Bellane #2); Dan Duryea (Cost/Travers); Percy Waram (Inspector Prentice); Alan Napier (Dr. Forrester); Erskine Sanford (Mr. Rennit); Thomas Louden (Mr. Newland); Aminta Dyne (Mrs. Bellane #1); Eustache Wyatt (Blind Man); Mary Field (Miss Penteel); Byron Foulger (Mr. Newby); Lester Matthews (Dr. Morton); Helena Grant (Mrs. Merrick); Grayce Hampton (Lady with Floppy Hat); Ottola Nesmith (Woman at Admission Gate); Connie Leon (Cake Booth Lady); Jessica Newcombe (Cake Booth Lady); Evelyn Beresford (Fat Lady); Frank Dawson (Vicar); Anne Curson (Lady with Children); Harry Allen (Delivery Man); Cyril Delevanti (Railroad Agent); Eric Wilton (Scotland Yard Man); Boyd Irwin; Frank Baker; Bruce Carruthers (Police Clerk); Frank Leigh (Man); Francis Sayles; Arthur Blake (Officer); Edward Fielding (Executive); Matthew Boulton (Government Official); David Clyde (English Bobby); Wilson Benge (Air Raid Warden); Clive Morgan (1st Man in Taylor Shop); George Broughton (2nd Man in Taylor Shop); Olaf Hytten (Clerk in Taylor Shop); Colin Kenny (Scotland Yard Man); Hilda Plowright (Mrs. Ballane #2's Maid); Edmond Russell (Man); Leonard Carey (Porter) |
Length |
88' |
Format |
35mm/sw/1:1,37 |
Dates |
- 00 Jul 1943-30 Aug 1943: Shooting period 46 Tage |
Further Remarks |
- Studioaufnahmen: Paramount, Los Angeles, CA |
Abstract |
Stephen Neale has been an insane asylum inmate for two years for ostensibly murdering his wife. Now he steps into the terrors of wartime England. He follows a crowd to a local carnival sponsored by a Nazi front organization called "Mothers of the Free Nations." He is mistaken for a Nazi agent, and it is arranged for him to win a large cake. As he turns to get on the train, a blind man emerges, who joins Neale in his compartment. Neale offers him a piece of cake. The blind man suddenly grabs the cake, leaves the compartment, and runs across a marsh, where he is blown to pieces by a bomb planted in the cake. Once in London, Neale goes to the "Mothers of the Free Nations" organization, where he is met by Carla Hilfe and Willi Hilfe, brother and sister. Willi Hilfe takes Neale to see Mrs. Bellane, one of the sponsors of the carnival, to see if she can offer some kind of explanation. Mrs. Bellane is about to hold a seance at this time, and Neale is asked to participate. He does but is instantly accused by a so-called spirit voice of killing his wife. Before he can protest, a shot rings out and when the lights go on, another guest, Cost/Travers, is found dead on the floor. Police arrive and accuse Neale of murdering the man. Before he can be arrested, Neale escapes. He briefly employs the private detective, Mr. Rennit, who is more trouble than help, especially when he gets himself killed. Fleeing the seance murder, Neale goes to the only person he knows, Carla Hilfe. She takes him to a small London bookshop, where the owner agrees to hide him. In return, she asks that Neale deliver a suitcase full of books to Dr. Forrester, but the hotel room to which he is directed is empty and the phone is dead. Neale begins to open the suitcase but his instincts suddenly tell him to leap aside. As he does, the suitcase goes off with a terrific explosion. Neale wakes in a hospital. He sees a man: Inspector Prentice, a Scotland Yard inspector, and he tells Neale he's wanted for murder. Neale tells him he doesn't know how the man at the seance was shot, and Prentice tells him he doesn't know what he's talking about, that he's a suspect in the murder of private detective Mr. Rennit. Neale persuades police to go to the marsh where the blind man was blown up, and they accompany him to the site, where Neale finds--in a ruined shed in the marsh--some fragments of the cake and inside this a piece of microfilm. Upon examining this, police realize that it shows part of some important minefield charts. Now Neale and the police realize that they are dealing with enemy agents and they soon trace the Nazis to a haberdashery store. Neale and Inspector Prentice pretend to be fitted for new suits and spot tailor Cost/Travers. Cost/Travers goes to a phone and dials a number with a pair of lethal-looking scissors. Next, knowing he is exposed, Cost/Travers goes into a fitting room and drives the scissors into his stomach. The telephone call is traced, to Willi Hilfe, and Cost/Travers's message becomes clear to police: a suit delivered to Willi Hilfe contains microfilm in its lining. Neale gets to Willi Hilfe before the police and struggles with the Nazi agent, who is about to kill him when Carla Hilfe, who really loves Neale, shoots her brother. But Nazi agents then attack the pair and drive them up onto the roof, where they hide and wait for their own grim ends. Finally some slight movement is heard as the Nazi agents start to approach. There is a blaze of gunfire, then more silence. Suddenly, appearing on the roof are Scotland Yard detectives, not Nazis. Neale and Carla Hilfe are saved. |
Subject Terms |
Anti-Nazi films (US); London; Political agents; Scotland Yard; Espionage |
Bibliography |
- George, Manfred (als: m.g.): "The Ministry of Fear. Paramaount", in: Aufbau (New York, NY), Jg. 11, Nr. 7, 16.02.1945 |