Hangmen Also Die

Date of Terry's Review:  09/02/2024

Film Length 2:14

{Originally Released April 15, 1943}

Terry gives it: ++++

VIEW TRAILER

If you choose to watch this recommendation of mine, 

let me be clear:

This is not one of those war movies that requires merely a general like for battleships, fighter planes, and bang 'em up action.  

This is a war propaganda film meant to educate an audience who, at the time of its release, were fairly abreast of the circumstances in Czechoslovakia portrayed here and were quite familiar with the main characters, partisan groups, and ideologies involved. 

In other words, to fully appreciate both the writing of Bertolt Brecht and Fritz Lang's cinematic achievement in conveying that story 75 years after the fact, viewers will need to possess a broad level of knowledge about this historical period.  

Even with such academic understanding under their belt, I'd also suggest viewers  research beforehand how Reinhard Heydrich earned the nickname "Hangman of Europe" and educate themselves about such atrocities as The Murder of Lidice.

Suitably informed then, one will not be surprised to learn that director Fritz Lang had considered beginning the film with Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem "The Murder of Lidice". He decided against it, although the poem will appear in MGM's film about Heydrich, Hitler's Madman (1943).

FILM PLOT:

The film is loosely based on the 1942 assassination of Heydrich, the Nazi Reich Protector of German-occupied Bohemia and Moravia during World War II. The number-two man in the SS, and a chief mastermind of the Holocaust, Heydrich earned the epithet of "The Hangman of Europe." 

The real Heydrich was assassinated by Czechoslovak soldiers parachuted from a British plane in Operation Anthropoid, but this was not known at the time of filming. Instead, in this film (based on the story by Bertolt Brecht) Heydrich's killer is depicted as a member of the Czech resistance with ties to the Communist Party.

In Prague, during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, surgeon Dr. František Svoboda, a member of the Czech resistance, assassinates the brutal Reinhard Heydrich. Before he can escape the scene his getaway car is discovered, forcing his planned safe house to reject him. When a stranger, Mascha, deliberately misdirects nearby German soldiers searching for him, he pursues her to find sanctuary. Her father is Stephen Novotny, a respected history professor whom the Nazis have banned from teaching. He realizes Svododa must be the assassin, but is willing to risk everything to hide him.

The film then reflects what were actual consequences of Heydrich's assassination, the great effort the Nazis undertake to find those responsible.  Because the assassin could not be found, the Nazi leaders take hostages and threaten to execute them, all 400, forty at a time, until the killer turns himself in or is betrayed by his own people.

Emil Czaka, a wealthy local brewer, is part of the resistance and attends its meetings. In reality, he is a German and fifth-columnist (one sympathetic and working for the enemy). When resistance members trick him into revealing he is a collaborator he initially weathers the upheaval. Meanwhile, the executions continue, then at a faster pace.

Determined to exact revenge, the resistance manages to frame Czaka for the murder. Even though the Nazi hierarchy knows he is not guilty, they publicly accept the resolution as if it were true to save face.

INTERESTING TRIVIA

Bertolt Brecht's story and the original working title for the film was "Never Surrender" but when a book with a similar title to "Never Surrender" or "No Surrender" was published while the film was in production, the producers held a contest for the cast and crew to suggest a new title. The contest was won by a production secretary who received the $100 prize.

Regrettable, in my opinion.  Though I am thrilled for the production secretary, I wish the original title had been kept.  Perhaps it is my Czech pride contributing to my feelings on the matter but, Czech or not, clearly this story is about that Ideal response to bullies and their terror - never surrender.

Hangmen was Brecht's only American film credit, although he worked on other scripts during his time in Hollywood, without receiving any. In the post-war years he would feel obligated to leave the United States shortly after testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee. John Wexley received sole credit for writing the screenplay based on Brecht's story, and gave evidence to the Writers Guild that Brecht and Lang "had only worked on the story." However, it is the consensus that "there is more Brecht in the script than is commonly accepted: the academic Gerd Gemünden writes that he spoke to Maurice Rapf, the judge on the case centered around who should be given credit for the screenplay wrote afterward, "it was obvious to the jury that Brecht and not Wexley was the main author, and that Wexley furthermore had a reputation as a credit stealer. It was only because of the fact that only written evidence was admissible, and since only Wexley's name appeared on all drafts, the jury had to rule in his favor." Wexley himself was blacklisted after he was named a communist in HUAC hearings.

Hangmen Also Die had a world premiere in Prague, Oklahoma on March 27, 1943 at an event which featured Adolf Hitler, Hirohito and Mussolini being hanged in effigy on Main Street. The mayors of Washington, Kansas, as well as London and Moscow, Texas attended.  

Wow!  Now those were the days!   Would we get away with hanging Putin in effigy on the main street of Moscow, Texas today?  I wonder...

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