ID

FBW000957      Fiction

Country / Year

USA, 1944

Original Title

ADDRESS UNKNOWN

Directed by

William Cameron Menzies

Produced by

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Los Angeles, CA / New York, NY

Staff

Producer: William Cameron Menzies, Sam Wood; Production assistance: Lonnie D'Orsa; Assistent director: John F. Sherwood; Script: Herbert Dalmas; Based on: Kathrine Kressmann Taylor (Originalgeschichte); Camera: Rudolph Maté; Cameraman: Victor Scheurich; Editing: Al Clark; Sound: Edward Bernds (Sound Editor); Art direction: Lionel Banks, Walter Holscher; Set decoration: Joseph Kish; Costumes: John Hambledon; Wardrobe: Henry West; Music: Ernst Toch, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco; Musical direction: Morris W. Stoloff

Cast

Paul Lukas (Martin Schulz); Carl Esmond (Baron von Friesche); Peter Van Eyck (Heinrich Schulz); Mady Christians (Elsa); Morris Carnovsky (Max Eisenstein); K.T. Stevens (Griselle Eisenstein / Stone); Frank Faylen (Jimmie Blake); Charles Halton (Pip-Squeak); Erwin Kalser (Stage Director); Frank Reicher (Professor Schmidt); Dale Cornell (Carl); Peter Newmeyer (Wilhelm); Emory Parnell (Postman); Mary Young (Mrs. Delaney); Larry Olsen (als: Larry Joe Olsen) (Youngest Schulz Boy); Gary Gray (Hugo); Peter Helmers (German); Fred Essler (Minister); Ilka Grüning; Lutz Altschul (als: Louis V. Arco); Sven-Hugo Borg; Vernon Dent; Carl Ekberg; Fred Farrell; Arno Frey; Curt Furberg; Hans Fuerberg; Fred Giermann; Ernest Golm; Paul Kruger; Ralph Linn; John Merton; Otto Reichow; Hilda Tanzler; Dorothy Vernon

Length

80'

Format

35mm/sw/1:1,37

Dates

- 15 Apr 1944: Premiere, New York, NY (Globe)
- 01 Jun 1944: Copyright LP12703
- 01 Jun 1944: US release date

Abstract

Martin Schulz, an American-German art dealer who moves his family back to Germany to deal directly in European art and is soon swept into the Nazi way of life. Their recognition of him inflates his ego - he is soon turning his back on his Jewish American partner. When that partner's daughter, an aspiring actress engaged to Schulz' son, is revealed as being Jewish she is hunted down and shot on Schulz's doorstep as he bars her entry. Then he starts to receive ominous letters in code from his American partner which the Nazi censoring bureau believe to reveal espionage on Schulz's behalf. His slow degradation and then realization that after all have abandoned him, he is left alone and imprisoned in his own home are harrowingly portrayed. There is a twist surprise ending that is the final nail in the coffin.

Subject Terms

Anti-Nazi films (US)

Bibliography

- Kressmann Taylor, Kathrine: Address Unknown. New York, NY: Simon and Shuster, 1939
- Pryor, Thomas M. (als: T.M.P.): "Address Unknown", in: The New York Times, 17.04.1944
- N.N.: "Address Unknown", in: Variety, 19.04.1944
- Nash, Ray R. / Ross, Stanley R. / Conelly, Robert B. (Ed.): Motion Picture Guide. Chicago, IL: Cinebooks, 1987
- Friedman, Lester: The Jewish Image in American Film. Secaucus, NJ: Citadel, 1987
- Martin, Len D: The Columbia Checklist. The Feature Films, Serials, Cartoons and Short Subjects of Columbia Pictures Corporation, 1922-1988. Jefferson, NC / London: McFarland, 1991