The Mortal Storm
Director: Frank Borzage
Year Released: 1940
Rating: 2.0
Borzage has the rep of being a fantastic filmmaker and some of his visual talent is only display here, but the story - about a group of Germans who oppose Hitler's rise (and are met with violence from the S.S.) - is too righteous and over baked to work properly, the audience aligned with the 'good' (James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan) and pitted against the close-minded and 'bad' (Robert Stack and company). The Nazis all deliver wooden speeches right out of their Fascism manuals; the poem read over the last scene is a tad gratuitous.
