This should have been a much better film. The director Fritz Lang had a lot of control over this project and it would seem right down his alley. The film is based on a true story. Reinhard Heydrich was an actual high level Nazi who was assassinated by Czechoslovakian resistence fighters during World War II. In response to the assassination the Nazis carried out reprisials on the Czech population which numbered approximately 5000 people.
During the making of this film not much was known about the actual facts of Heydrich's death. Lang and his writers Bertoit Brecht and John Wexley were forced to do a lot of speculation. This story is about search for Heydrich's killers with a very big dose of 1940's war propaganda thrown in. Frankly the cast is really not that appealing, Brian Donlevy, Anna Lee and Walter Brennan just don't seem to fit in as Czech citizens.
The film is further hampered by a very long story that just seems to go on and on. Apparently Lang and Bertoit Brecht did not get along and I think it shows it in the finished film the film just plods along. In fact Lang seems to be more interested in the Nazi detective Inspector Gruber who is not unlike the police inspector, Lohmann in The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
As it is there are a few scenes that are very exciting and the photography from the legendary James Wong Howe is a stand out. Overall though the film is a major disappointment from Fritz Lang. The running time is a long 134 minutes.
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