''Everything Is Thunder'' is a 1936 British

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by

Milton Rosmer Milton Rosmer (4 November 1881 – 7 December 1971) was a British actor, film director and screenwriter. He made his screen debut in '' The Mystery of a Hansom Cab'' (1915) and continued to act in theatre, film and television until 1956. I ...

and starring

Constance Bennett Constance Campbell Bennett (October 22, 1904 – July 24, 1965) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid ...

Douglass Montgomery Robert Douglass Montgomery (also credited as Kent Douglass; October 29, 1909 – July 23, 1966) was an American film actor. Early years The son of Chester Montgomery, a jeweler, Montgomery graduated from Los Angeles High School. Career ...

and

Oskar Homolka Oskar Homolka (August 12, 1898 – January 27, 1978) was an Austrian film and theatre actor, who went on to work in Germany, Britain and America. Both his voice and his appearance fitted him for roles as communist spies or Soviet officials, for w ...

. Its plot concerns a British officer who attempts to escape from a German

Prisoner of War A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

camp during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Production

The film was based on a novel by Jocelyn Lee Hardy. It was made at Lime Grove Studios in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The film's art direction was by Alfred Junge.

Cast

as Anna von Stucknadel *

as Hugh McGrath *

as Detective Schenck Götz *

Roy Emerton Roy Emerton (9 October 1892 – 30 November 1944) was a British film actor. Earlier in his life, he was a sailor, stoker, docker, railway worker, and miner and served in the First World War. He played in a great number of popular London stage p ...

as Kostner * Frederick Lloyd as Muller *

Peggy Simpson Peggy Simpson (4 July 1913 in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire – 1 January 1994 in London) was a British actress. She appeared twice for director Alfred Hitchcock in '' The 39 Steps'' (1935) and ''Young and Innocent'' (1937). Partial filmograp ...

as Mitzi * George Merritt as Webber * Robert Atkins as Adjutant * Terence Downing as Spicer * Clifford Bartlett as Glendhill * Albert Chevalier as McKenzie *

H. F. Maltby Henry Francis Maltby (25 November 1880 – 25 October 1963) was a prolific writer for the London stage and British cinema from after the First World War, until the 1950s. He also appeared in many films. Life and career Born in Ceres, Cape Co ...

as Burgomaster *

Norman Pierce Norman Pierce (5 September 1900 – 22 March 1968) was a British actor. He was born in Southport, Lancashire. He died in Helions Bumpstead, Essex, England on 22 March 1968 at the age of 67. He played pub landlords and barmen in a number of ...

as Hans *

Frederick Piper Frederick Piper (23 September 1902 – 22 September 1979) was an English actor of stage and screen who appeared in over 80 films and many television productions in a career spanning over 40 years. Piper studied drama under Elsie Fogerty at th ...

as Policeman Denker * Virginia Isham as War Widow

Reception

Writing for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' in 1936,

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

gave the film a generally good review, describing it as "good entertainment, very ably directed and admirably acted by two of its three international stars". Greene deigns to praise the starring acting of Constance Bennett, however he attributes the lack of acting to the complexities involved in avoiding the

British Board of Film Censors The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organization, non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national clas ...

. Comparing the novel upon which the film is based and the film itself, Greene notes the superiority of the novel over the film which lacked a psychological element, and concludes that "the book was not sentimental: the film is". (reprinted in: )

References

External links

* 1936 films Films directed by Milton Rosmer British black-and-white films Films set in Germany Films set in the 1910s World War I prisoner of war films Films shot at Lime Grove Studios Gainsborough Pictures films Films based on British novels Films scored by Jack Beaver 1930s English-language films 1930s British films {{1930s-thriller-film-stub