Edge of Darkness [VHS]
Lewis Milestone was Hollywood's premier director of war films (starting with his 1930 Academy Award winnerAll Quiet on the Western Front), andEdge of Darknessis among his finest. Warner Bros.' biggest star Errol Flynn gets top billing, but his performance--remarkable for its unaccustomed sobriety--is only one admirable part of a strong ensemble. This underscores the theme of a remote Norwegian fishing village of 800 united selflessly in resistance to the 150 German troops garrisoned in their midst during World War II. Robert Rossen's screenplay is essentially a variation on the sturdy proletarian fables he'd been writing for Warners (the only outright unsympathetic Norwegian is the owner of the cannery!); every character in the large cast is sharply defined, taking his or her place in a nuanced allegory of the myriad ethical, political, and emotional tensions of occupation and resistance.But what blows you away--besides the dramatic subject matter, the unorthodox Norway setting, and the eruptions of stark violence and atrocity--is Milestone's powerful direction and ultra-kinetic visuals. A town meeting conducted in the guise of an evening church service, with townsfolk arguing and interacting while continuing to face forward in their pews, is a brilliant set-piece; and throughout the film there are startling uses of a zoom lens (virtually unheard-of at the time), especially in the explosive action climax. To cite only the most stellar performers, Walter Huston and Ruth Gordon play the town doctor and his wife, Judith Anderson is Flynn's sister (hating herself for loving "good German" Tonio Selwart), Ann Sheridan plays Flynn's love interest and fellow resistance leader, and Helmut Dantine rattles the rafters as the German commandant, bitter at being stranded in a backwater of the war.Terrificmovie.--Richard T. Jameson