"Ministry of Fear" Review

 

by Daniel White

Set in wartime England, Fritz Lang's Ministry Oo Fear (1944) is a pretty good espionage thriller that the talented director nimbly keeps humming along. But the biggest surprise in this mystery flick - and it contains several - is Dan Duryea turning up as an English tailor! Miscast but still memorable, that most American of actors, Duryea, makes an indelible impression in his few moments on screen. Who cares if he is about as British as a cheeseburger with fries? The great Dan Duryea is always worth watching. Based on a Graham Greene novel, which Hollywood has bowdlerized and rendered less compelling, Ray Milland plays Stephen Neale.

The film opens with Neale being discharged from a sanitarium, where he has been a patient for two years. The doctor who releases him alludes to a crime Neale committed. Determined to get to London where he hopes to find some excitement, he purchases his train ticket, then impulsively decides to check out a local country fair. Neale quickly finds himself knee-deep in trouble after a visit to a quack clairvoyant's booth who mistakes him for someone else. Instructed to guess the correct weight of a cake which is being raffled off, he wins both the cake and the wrath of a cabal of Nazi spies.

This is Hitchcock territory, but Lang is equal to the master of suspense at this sort of thing. Hitch may have been more meticulous, tightening up the shaky screenplay and making sure the film was not so poorly edited. However, both men may have been powerless to correct one regrettable shortcoming: replacing Ray Milland with Cary Grant. Milland is a capable actor and handles himself adequately, but what magic Grant could have bestowed upon the part! Throw in a luminous Madeline Carroll for the lackluster Marjorie Reynolds as the love interest and Ministry of Fear would be hailed as a near-classic. Instead it's an entertaining romp that satisfies but never truly soars.

The movie is the last in a trio of Nazi flicks that Lang made while WWll was still raging (a fourth, Cloak and Dagger, was released after the war). Along with Man Hunt and Hangmen Must Die!, these movies are essential viewing for anyone interested in the remarkable man's career. A Paramount production, with Victor Young in charge of the music and the shadowy cinematography by Henry Sharp, Ministry of Fear is currently streaming on Tubi.