The Moon Is Down (film)
The Moon Is Down is a 1943 American war film starring Cedric Hardwicke and Henry Travers and directed by Irving Pichel. It is based on the 1942 novel of the same name by John Steinbeck. During World War II, German soldiers occupy a small Norwegian town. Production. The set of "How Green Was My Valley" was reused for this film. Reception. Bosley Crowther, the film reviewer for "The New York Times", gave "The Moon Is Down" a mixed verdict. He lauded screenwriter Nunnally Johnson for creating a "clear and incisive screen version" of the book , resulting in "a picture which is the finest on captured Norway yet and a powerful expression of faith in the enduring qualities of a people whose hearts are strong." He also praised "Irving Pichel's superlative direction and a generally excellent cast". However, Crowther also observed that "the intellectual nature of this picture—its very clear and dispassionate reasoning—drain it of much of the emotion that one expects in such a story at this time."