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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302682601
Format: Black & White, NTSC
ISBN: 6302682606
Label: MGM (Warner)
Manufacturer: MGM (Warner)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Warner)
Release Date: December 07, 1994
Running Time: 120 minutes
Sales Rank: 3409
Studio: MGM (Warner)
Theatrical Release Date: April 24, 1943
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Lewis Milestone was Hollywood's premier director of war films (starting with his 1930 Academy Award winner All Quiet on the Western Front), and Edge of Darkness is 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. Terrific movie. --Richard T. Jameson
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Forgotten Classic...
1943's "Edge of Darkness" portrays the acute plight of a small Norwegian village trapped under the thumb of brutal Nazi occupation during the Second World War. The presentation by veteran director Lewis Milestone is especially poignant; modern viewers must remember that the liberation of Norway was still an uncertain two years off when the movie was released.
Errol Flynn leads in an understated but solid performance as an ordinary and underachieving fisherman who is forced by circumstances ... Read More
Rating:  - A brave and interesting film!
The heroic resistance of the occupied Norway attracted, for some reason, a fair amount of interest, in "The Commandos Strike At Dawn,"
"The Moon Is Down," and "Edge of Darkness."
Lewis Milestone, who has made the pacifist "All Quiet on the Western Front, is a key figure in crusading films about war..
His "Edge of Darkness" is a brave and interesting film ,and a touching tribute to Norwegian courage during the Nazi occupation...
The characterization is cleverly ... Read More
Rating:  - A cult war movie!
Impressive, absorbing and fundamental film during the Nazi take over in Norway. Lewis Milestone was a great director but when he decided to make a war movie something happened. He was provided by a special spell touch. It's happens the same when John Ford made a Western or Hitchcock a suspense picture. He was possessed by an inner call . There is a Spanish term previously used by Federico García Lorca when he meant that special phenomena. He talked about "to have hobgoblin". And precisely this is the appropriate ... Read More
Rating: - great and moving film
"Edge of Darkness," is a great war film. The message is a good one. It's very patriotic and posative. Errol Flynn plays a Norwegian fisherman who helps fight the Germans and stopping them from taking over Norway. The scenes are really moving and worth seeing. It's very inspiring and one of the best films I've seen.
Rating: - where this story likely came from
All who see this film should read John Steinbeck's play "The Moon is Down".
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Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302682601
Format: Black & White, NTSC
ISBN: 6302682606
Label: MGM (Warner)
Manufacturer: MGM (Warner)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Warner)
Release Date: December 07, 1994
Running Time: 120 minutes
Sales Rank: 3409
Studio: MGM (Warner)
Theatrical Release Date: April 24, 1943