Wordiezett So much average

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Hunter Lanier For a long time, I've always upheld the notion that there's only two kinds of people who like going to work: Willy Wonka and rapists. However, with Fritz Lang's "Man Hunt," I'm reminded that there's a third: the Nazi--or, at least, the film variety--who conduct their nefarious business with such smarm and ardor, that one can only expect them to skip to work in the morning, whistling "I've Got a Golden Ticket.""Man Hunt" stars Walter Pidgeon as Alan Thorndike, an expert hunter- -that makes two of us. He's introduced to the audience in the act of hunting the most dangerous of the dangerous game: Adolf Hitler. In fact, he has Hitler in his cross-hairs, pulls the trigger, but the gun isn't loaded. He nonchalantly puts in a single bullet, rests his finger on the trigger, but is disrupted by a Nazi soldier on watch. He's captured, but eventually escapes, and thus begins the hunt.There's a reason black and white has survived long past its due date. It creates a dreamy, stark atmosphere--especially when combined with London fog--and can aesthetically reflect the tone and themes of the film itself, as it does here. There is one particular scene, where Thorndike and Jerry Stokes (Joan Bennett)--a woman he's fallen in love with--must part ways; they kiss, Stokes pretends to be a hooker, in order to distract a cop away from Thorndike's face, and the two steadily go in opposite directions, until Stokes fades away into the fog. It's a beautifully sad moment.As Fritz Lang, the director, emerges from the silent era--where he was already well known--"Man Hunt" is extremely visual, and home to more than its fair share of memorable frames. Other than the parting of the two lovers, there's a torture sequence, where the only character on frame is the Nazi officer (George Sanders), and everyone else is represented by their shadows; therefore, the often changing light in the room reveals characters' shadows as they become important. It's very cool, for lack of a more professional word. Pidgeon is fantastic as Thorndike--determined at times, and at others, carefree and charming. But above the rest, Bennett sticks out as Stokes, who could have been just another empty love interest meant to broaden the appeal of a dark thriller, but is instead a character worthy of her own film. Her cockney, working-class manner and her simple needs act as a breather to the tense, dense series of events surrounding her; but more than that--from a story point of view--she gives the hero something to lose."Man Hunt" lives up to its name. In an era of "thrillers" where Liam Neeson waddles--I mean runs--from cliché to cliché, without any intellectually compelling reason, "Man Hunt" is a breath of fresh air, offering thrills and chills, but great dialogue, characters and visuals as well. However, living in a post-"Raiders of the Lost Ark" world, if I don't see a Nazi's face melt off, I'm slightly let down. Maybe next time.

evanston_dad TCM host Robert Osborne could sell me a three-dollar bill.What he promised with "Man Hunt" was a superb thriller expertly directed by Fritz Lang. What I got was a perfectly entertaining but not especially remarkable thriller with serviceable if not distinguished direction by Fritz Lang. Walter Pidgeon plays a big-game hunter who's captured by the Nazis and accused of trying to assassinate Hitler and then escapes, only to be hounded by them upon his return to London.George Sanders, playing the German officer in charge of the man hunt, is the reason to see this one. Joan Bennett supplies a lovely face and an atrocious Cockney accent.Based on other Fritz Lang movies I've seen, there's absolutely no reason he himself could not have turned this into a WWII-era classic, but as it was I spent the whole movie thinking how much more stylish and memorable it might have been in the hands of a director like Carol Reed.Grade: B

utgard14 English hunter Walter Pidgeon is caught by Nazis as he aims his rifle at Hitler. He escapes to London but he's not safe for long as Nazis George Sanders and John Carradine are on his trail. Gripping, exciting WW2 thriller expertly directed by Fritz Lang. One of his best American films. Walter Pidgeon is great. Joan Bennett steals the show as the lively and lovely working class girl who helps him. She was a truly underrated talent. Roddy McDowall is also good in a small part as a boy who is instrumental in helping Pidgeon make it to London. Sanders and Carradine make for great villains. Love the ending. Very cool and fitting.

arijit-paul The movie had all the elements which could have made it one of the greatest thriller of all time. Daring assassination attempt which could lead a continent into a war, thrilling escapades, cunning secret service agents following the trails of the wanted. Lang with his natural brilliance in this genre captivates the audience from the very first scene itself. However, unfortunately the taut suspense that the movie builds slacks through the introduction of the romantic angle in the movie. The romantic interludes slows the pace and acts as a dampener. If the screenplay could have pared these excesses of romantic interludes or could have integrated the same in a better way with the main narration of the film, this film could have become, as I said in the beginning, one of the greatest thrillers of all time.