The Mortal Storm

''The Mortal Storm'' is a 1940 American drama film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.''Harrison's Reports'' film review; June 22, 1940, page 98. It was directed by Frank Borzage and stars Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart. The film shows the impact on Germans after Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany and gains unlimited power. The supporting cast features Robert Young, Robert Stack, Frank Morgan, Dan Dailey, Ward Bond and Maria Ouspenskaya.

Plot

In the mountains of Germany near the Austrian border on January 30, 1933, Professor Viktor Roth, a distinguished "non-Aryan" professor who is adored by his students, celebrates his 60th birthday. His family consists of his wife Amelie, his daughter Freya, his young son Rudi and his adult stepsons Erich and Otto von Rohn. His class greets him with applause and a trophy presented by Martin Breitne and Fritz Marberg. The professor is proud of his family's "tolerance and sense of humor."

Suddenly, everything changes. The maid brings wonderful news: Adolf Hitler has become chancellor of Germany. Listening to the radio. Amelie worries about what will happen to free thinkers and non-Aryans. The ecstatic young men leave for a meeting, but Martin demurs.

Martin, Fritz and Freya meet at an inn, where Professor Werner is bullied by a gang for not singing along with a patriotic song. Martin interferes and the bullies allow Werner to leave. Fritz delivers Martin an ultimatum: join the party or be wiped out with other "pacifist vermin," but Martin refuses. Outside, the gang is beating Werner. On the train ride home, Fritz criticizes Freya for behavior unbecoming the daughter of a "non-Aryan."

Professor Roth refuses to teach the doctrine of racial purity, and his classes are boycotted. Students, who are now all in uniform, rally to burn banned books.

When Martin brings Freya home, the waiting gang assaults him. Mrs. Roth intervenes, admonishing her sons, who move out of their home. Weeks later, Freya comes to Martin's mountain farm. She wants him to meet their friends at the inn. He confesses his love to her. Professor Werner appears, begging for help because he is soon to be arrested. That night, Martin takes him on skis through a secret pass to Austria while the women successfully resist police attempts to intimidate them.

Professor Roth is arrested and Freya begs Fritz to learn where the professor has been taken. Fritz reluctantly arranges a brief meeting between Viktor and his wife at the concentration camp where he is imprisoned. Viktor urges her to leave the country with Freya and Rudi.

Otto comes home with news that the professor has died, supposedly from a heart attack, but Freya believes that he was killed.

At the border, Freya is detained for carrying her father's unpublished manuscript. Martin's mother writes to tell her that he is waiting at the farm to take her to Austria. They drink from the bride cup, with Hilda's blessing. Elsewhere, the Nazis beat Elsa until she reveals the pass. A Gestapo officer testing Fritz's loyalty makes him leader of the ski patrol. Fritz orders them to fire. Freya dies in Martin's arms in Austria.

In the Roths' home, Fritz tells Erich and Otto of Freya's death and flees, crying "It was my duty!" Erich is furious that Martin is free. Over celestial music, a man speaks: "I said to a man who stood at a gate, give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown. And he replied, go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light, and safer than a known way."

Cast

* Margaret Sullavan as Freya Roth
* James Stewart as Martin Breitner
* Robert Young as Fritz Marberg
* Frank Morgan as Prof. Viktor Roth
* Robert Stack as Otto von Rohn
* Bonita Granville as Elsa
* Irene Rich as Amelie Roth
* William T. Orr as Erich von Rohn
* Maria Ouspenskaya as Hilda Breitner
* Gene Reynolds as Rudi Roth
* Ward Bond as Franz
* Russell Hicks as Rector of University
* William Edmunds as Lehman, University Doorman
* Esther Dale as Marta, the Roths' Maid
* Dan Dailey as Hal or Holl, Youth Party Leader (billed as Dan Dailey, Jr.)
* Granville Bates as Prof. Berg

Production

The film is based on the 1937 novel '' The Mortal Storm'' by the British writer Phyllis Bottome, who had moved to Austria in 1924 when her husband Alban Ernan Forbes Dennis was posted there. Dennis was a British diplomat and a MI6 station head with responsibility for Austria, Hungary and Yugoslavia. In 1930, she moved to Munich. She witnessed the rise of fascism, the rise to power of the Nazi party and the transformation of Nazi Germany.

The film's script diverged considerably from the story told in the book, but Bottome felt that the film retained the book's essence. However, Bottome wrote: "What it is to be a Nazi has been shown with unequivocal sincerity and life-likeness, but in the scene between the Jewish professor and his son, Rudi, there was a watering down of courage. Those familiar with the father’s definition of a good Jew will miss its full significance in the film because the central idea has been overlaid by insignificant words."

''The Mortal Storm'' was one of the few directly anti-Nazi Hollywood films released before the American entry into World War II in December 1941. The Freya Roth character is the daughter of a Junker mother and a "non-Aryan" father. It is implied that Freya, her father and Rudi are Jews, but the word "Jew" is never actually used, and they are identified as "non-Aryans." Erich and Otto von Rohn are not "non-Aryan", but they must fear guilt by association. The film infuriated the Nazi government; as a result, all MGM films were subsequently banned in Germany.

Mountain snow scenes were filmed in Salt Lake City, Utah and Sun Valley, Idaho

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases