This film is part of Fritz Lang classics that stand out to the movies in February 2011. It was then that I discovered this work among the first that the great German filmmaker has done after his exile in America. His flight to the land of freedom was motivated by the proposal made to him by Goebbels to direct the film propaganda of the Nazi party. This is in response to this offer devilish, and even before the entry into the war the United States, that runs Lang Man Hunt in 1941, political thriller charged against the Nazis that sounds like an exhortation to the America's commitment in the war. The story, an introductory panel presents as a fable, originally published in newspapers and made a great noise, is that of Captain English Thorndyke (Walter Pidgeon), a famous hunter of wild beasts, who, in 1939, on the eve of the war, Hitler holds his gun after spectacle. The man simply first press the trigger of a gun is not loaded, such as a sports hunter refusing to kill but happy to have won the chase. And finally, during which the thief, Thorndyke load his gun and prepares to fire when a sentinel seizes him. 
The German officer Quiver Smith (George Sanders) who is responsible for interviewing Thorndyke after his men have beaten and who is himself a great hunter, offers his prisoner to free him without restraint if he agrees to sign a document attesting that he has indeed tried to kill Hitler and the assassination attempt was sponsored by the British government. Such an admission would in effect for Germany to blame for England for a declaration of war immediately justified. But Thorndyke, right in his boots though strained, refuses. Lang then seems to afford some good staging daring for its time and for such a topic. During the discussion away that oppose the two fighters and officers, a plan, insisting rather long and surprises the viewer, a plan that seems very composed and juxtaposed Quiver Smith, filmed in the American plan and looked forward to the shadow cast on the ground of his prisoner-overs, and slumped sitting. So it seems pretty clear that the handle of the sword of the German officer, worn on the belt, could easily symbolize an erect penis familiarly the shadow of his opponent's face savaged English. Or when a breath of symbolism takes Hitchcock Film Lang (in a film that was originally to be filmed by John Ford, for the record).
Getting back to the story, refusing stubbornly to cooperate, Thorndyke eventually managed to escape after a steep decline and a breathless chase through the forest. Or when the hunter becomes hunted, pursued by a pack of howling dogs that substitute their owners thanks to the wonders of staging. On board a boat to London, Thorndyke is assisted by a courageous and mischievous child, played by Rody McDowall, Cornelius from Planet of the Apes here 13 years old, yet the character is so endearing and delicious one would expect to see accompany the hero until the end of the feature film.
But it is nothing and Thorndyke that landed in London, generous kid is quickly replaced by another character, Jenny, a beautiful young English woman decked out with a terrible cockney accent and a gifted banter to break everything sung by the lovely Joan Bennett, who would later become a muse of Lang and turn to him in three other films with great La Femme au portrait . Befriending, if not more, with Jenny, eludes his pursuers Thorndyke Nazis who in turn are helped in infested London of German nationals. Moreover, we find the feeling of attending a thriller Hithcock at several chases in the London slums, especially in the underground scene, where John Carradine straight escaped straddle e fantastic continued our hero. This sequence allows Lang to set up a recurring motif of the film, taken from the famous plan on Hitler trapped in the sights of a sniper rifle. On three occasions, when it comes to killing an enemy Nazi idea of the viewfinder will return to better describe the evil that Nazism which concerned that too few Americans of his time and that Lang attack violently, accusing him frontally .
After all a game of chase, Thorndyke believed to be able to forget, but Quiver Smith puts his hand on him and trapped in the cave where he thought he had found refuge. Fritz Lang refuses to do so in the classic happy ending (and those who would discover the film avoid reading what will immediately follow), since the German officer tells his prey that Jenny, the little English is full of life he began to love is dead, killed by his henchmen. Via this cruelty last minute, Lang says, and repeats that he intends to denounce the assassins unscrupulous. At the end of the film and the war that erupted after Smith Quiver killed by an arrow shot in the head with a bow made art on the go with the slats of her bed wren, Thorndyke is parachuted in Berlin his sniper rifle proudly worn on the chest, and with the desire to do battle again with the target of all targets.
Manhunt is therefore certainly a film "minor" by Fritz Lang, but it is nevertheless a damn good movie. The scenario could easily be poor among other hands, but Lang actually a good movie with his hilarious talent director. The final battle scene, between the two hunters that a wall of rock separating becomes memorable as Fritz Lang creates a space with his camera as we will not forget. As for the final plan, I can not imagine the effect it could have in the film, made in 1941 I recall. View hero parachuted into Nazi Germany with his sniper rifle hanging from the neck to confront Hitler and again this time with the firm intention to rid the world had to make a sacred effect on the viewer of the time , taken from the desire to believe in this fable and hope the success of such a liberator. I say "believe in this fable" because this film, far from any low propaganda, is a thriller that boasts a large fictional film before being hired or engaging.
Manhunt Fritz Lang with Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett, George Sanders, John Carradine and Rody McDowall (1941)
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