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Decision Before Dawn Movie Review

Decision Before Dawn is a 1951 war film directed by Anatole Litvak and starring Richard Basehart and Oskar Werner. It’s a very forgettable movie.

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“We just closed our eyes and went along

until we found ourselves forced to fight the wrong enemy“

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As the US Army approaches Nazi Germany, they recruit German prisoners of war to spy behind German lines. This film somehow ended up squeaking in the Best Picture race this year, but it most definitely had no business being nominated. It’s such a tiresome, boring picture that is nowadays more respected for the couple of strong elements than genuinely enjoyable.

What distinguishes this one from other war films of the period is its very sympathetic depiction of the regular German people during WWII. I obviously find this approach very modern and only right, but I do find it hypocritical that Hollywood would show this level of sympathy toward Germans whose country committed all those heinous acts very recently, but continue depicting other nations and people in a very stereotypical light or even ignore them altogether.

Oskar Werner was excellent as the best and most memorable character in the story. The others are all much less memorable and I found the movie switching back and forth from one to another character rather frustrating as it negatively impacted character development. The pacing and structure are also quite odd as the film never fully formed into a coherent narrative.

Decision Before Dawn is very well shot, solidly directed by Litvak and particularly well performed by its cast. The casting was obviously authentic with Germans portraying Germans and so on. The entire movie is actually very much grounded in reality and quite ahead of its time in its character depictions, dynamics and themes.

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With that being said, it did not work for me because it simply failed to engage me. This type of spy story should be riveting and intense, but it was in fact quite tedious, slowly paced and lacking in energy or conviction. It was the weakest of the five BP nominees this year and it’s only worth seeing for Oscar completionists.