Man Hunt is a unique movie. I’ve never seen anything else quite like it, which bumps it up in my regard. Also bumping it up is the long dead friend who introduced the younger me to it some 50 years ago. He told me, “If you like Hitchcock, you’ll like Lang.”

Truer words were never spoken.

Man Hunt is an anti-Nazi film noir. Fritz Lang escaped Nazi Germany fearing his Jewish ancestry would be discovered and lead to his demise. Lang had good reason to be anti-Nazi and he made other anti-Nazi films during the war. That was his contribution to the war effort. Thanks, Fritz.

The movie is based on a novel by the English thriller writer, Geoffrey Householder:

This is one case where Hollywood improved the title. Rogue Male doesn’t really fit the main character Captain Alan Thorndike who is played by Walter Pidgeon. He’s the quintessential British gentleman, unsnooty and kindly division. He proves his decency over and over again, not how a rogue male would act.

Pidgeon is on vacation in Germany near Hitler’s Berchtesgaden mansion, the Crow’s Nest. He’s a world class marksman and big game hunter. That’s why he’s trudging through the woods with a rifle. Pidgeon sees Hitler in the distance and gets him in his sights but does not shoot. He’s stumbled on by a German soldier and is arrested.

Pidgeon finds himself in the hands of a monocled Gestapo agent played with villainous gusto by the great George Sanders. It’s among the parts that established Sanders as one of Hollywood’s leading bad guys.

Pidgeon escapes and flees Germany on a merchant ship bound for the UK. He’s helped by Roddy McDowell in his first major American role:

The two would work together that year in another classic, John Ford’s How Green Was My Valley. In that film, Pidgeon tried to help McDowell escape life as a coal miner. It did not work.

Pidgeon is followed to London by Sanders and his minions including John Carradine.

The initial assassination attempt is foiled by a meet cute. Pidgeon is rescued by a beautiful young Cockney woman played by Joan Bennett:

Unlike her character in Scarlet Street, Bennett is not a femme fatale. She’s a hooker with a heart of gold. She eventually falls for the dashing Captain. He resists until late in the movie because he sees her as a niece or kid sister. I told you he was a genuine gentleman.

Sanders eventually catches up with his quarry in the British countryside where Pidgeon is hunkered down in a cave. The final scene between these two fine actors is one of many things that makes Man Hunt such a special film.

That’s all the plot I’m willing to share. I do, however, have a few spoilers: Joan Bennett’s character is the first British casualty of World War II. Pidgeon survives. Sanders does not.

Fritz Lang’s direction is brilliant. He brings his German expressionist lighting to bear on foggy London. He’s ably assisted by cinematographer Arthur Miller, not to be confused with the playwright: no salesman dies in this film.

The script by John Ford’s favorite screenwriter Dudley Nichols is decidedly NOT a dud. The score by Randy Newman’s Uncle Alfred keeps things moving as we cheer on the avuncular Walter Pidgeon and spunky Joan Bennett.

Grading Time: I give Fritz Lang’s Man Hunt 4 stars and an Adrastos grade of A. It’s a stone cold classic.

This is the film that made me a Walter Pidgeon and George Sanders fan boy. I have a thing for voices and they had two of the best. But only one of them got a shout out in this classic Kinks tune: “If you covered him with garbage, George Sanders would still have style.”

Our man hunt continues with a look at the posters. Does that make me a rogue male? Discuss amongst yourselves.

Let’s go side-by-side with the American and Swedish long sheets.

The quad is swell as well, especially the sassy pose by Bennett.

I’m not 100% sure what this image is but I dig it:

I feel likewise about this newspaper ad:

This stupid monocle I stole from George Sanders is uncomfortable. Let’s all go to the lobby and see what they have for my boo boo.

All they had was ice. I did, however, get a gander at the lobby cards.

All that outdoorsy activity has worn me out. I need to rest after hiking and hunkering with Walter Pidgeon. Let’s catch the trailer and ride it.

The last word goes to Eddie Muller: