The Mortal Storm

Frank Borzage's The Mortal Storm begins innocuously enough. The family and students of professor Viktor Roth (Frank Morgan) celebrate his birthday. During a small gathering that evening, his student Fritz Marberg (Robert Young) announces his engagement to Viktor's daughter Freya (Magaret Sullavan). And Adolf Hitler is sworn in as chancellor of Germany.

Like a switch, the tone of The Mortal Storm gets darker. The respect for Professor Roth turns into contempt as his peers and students fully embrace Germany's new rule. Freya breaks off her engagement to Fritz, preferring the company of family friend Martin Breitner (James Stewart). And the small town they reside in begins to strain amid political tensions.

To no surprise, The Mortal Storm resulted in MGM's entire library being banned in Germany despite the studio making it vague about where the film is actually set. That being said, it was certainly daring to tackle the political atmosphere of the time. You certainly don't see anyone do something that daring nowadays.

In contrast to his earlier film Three Comrades, Borzage keeps the political message of the source novel in The Mortal Storm. Again, to make this during that time period was brazen to say the least. As Casablanca would do three years later, it effectively showed that Nazis were (and frustratingly still are) nothing more than fearmongering bullies.

The Mortal Storm is unnerving to watch eighty years later knowing that such attitudes still exist in some people. To judge someone on aspects they have no say in (i.e., race, gender, heritage) is far from the best way for society to run. What would future generations think of such backward thinking?

My Rating: ****

Three Comrades

In the opening moments of Frank Borzage's Three Comrades, soldiers Erich Lohkamp (Robert Taylor), Otto Koster (Franchot Tone) and Gottfried Lenz (Robert Young) celebrate the end of the war over drinks and musings. They wonder what their futures hold for them, hoping that their fates have a shining light rather than a fading one.

A few years pass. The war is still felt in the three men, but they go on with their lives. Enter Patricia Hollmann (Magaret Sullavan), a society girl. Erich takes a shine to her and after some time, they get married. But their happy union is a doomed one.

The film is based on a novel by Erich Maria Remarque (apparently the same one that provided loose basis for The Deer Hunter as well) and its script was co-written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. For some reason, the script completely ditched the political message of the novel and focused more on the love story. Maybe MGM just wanted a nice romance film.

In a similar vein to the word "Mafia" in The Godfather thirty-four years later, the word "Nazi" or the country where the film is set (Germany) is never uttered at any point in Three Comrades. This was released only a year before Germany invaded Poland, but maybe MGM did this to ensure they weren't sympathizers of Germany. Who knows?

That doesn't make Three Comrades a bad film. Not in the least bit. The actors, Taylor and Sullavan especially, are very good. And I now desire to see more of Borzage's work.

My Rating: ****1/2