Wonderful character development!

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Please don't spend money on this.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Can we say that Fritz Lange was a genius of the noir. You bet! Ray Milland is a man accused of murder, mayhem, and plotting against the government. Just out of a sanatorium for the mercy killing of his wife, he becomes embroiled in a Nazi plot. A piece of cake from a bazaar is the real character of this film. He wins it and the next thing he knows a blind man knocks him out and steals the cake. Running into the darkened night he chases the man when a bomb explodes and everything including the man and the cake disappear into the fog. Now he must find out what is going on and runs into Mothers of the Free Nation headed by a beautiful woman and her brother. One thing after the next, he is desperate to clear himself. Can he, before the clock runs out? Ray Milland is great as the weary man on the run. So good looking, so suave and yet so vulnerable. The film is to me, an earlier version of North By Northwest, where Cary Grant is in the same predicament. Hitchcock would have called the cake, the McGuffin. Dan Duryea is especially sinister as the tailor with giant scissors. You may have to watch the film several times so you don't miss all the twists and turns.

On the eve of World War II Ministry of Fear appeared as a great crime picture concentrating on a very hot topic at the time, namely the devious Nazi schemes and plots build up all around Europe. Its decent and somehow dizzying storyline places this movie in the great film noir category right on spot. Its gloomy aura and very climatic ambiance can be felt throughout the whole time. It starts with a great scene to set the tone. The clock is hanging on the wall. It is ticking inexorably. We see a man coming into a dark room and then a shot of Ray Milland sitting in a chair. It's 12 o'clock and he is finally free, after being stuck for two horrible years in one very peculiar place.Ray Milland gives a fine performance as a man named Stephen Neale, who just got released from an insane asylum and dreams about going to London to lead a peaceful and quiet life. Nothing further from the truth. After a visit to a very strange town fare he stumbles across a horrifying plan, which can have tragic consequences for his country. He needs to tell that to somebody. However, because of his unclear past he is unable to convince others that he is onto something very eerie. What's more, in the process someone wants to frame him for a crime he didn't commit. The main quality of this picture comes from the side of its fantastic cinematography. Every scene is shot perfectly, with the classic low-key white-and-black visual style. Some of the images are simply astounding: a gripping scene on the train with a seemingly blind man, explosive suitcase, bombing near the railroad tracks, etc. But the most stunning one for me was that of a group mind-reading session. Through its play on colors, light and visual sensations it brings a sort of nightmare-ish mood to the movie.Add a very fine and climatic music and all you get is a noir experience of the highest level. Apart from being an agitating thriller Ministry of Fear is also a proper take on the situation in Europe during the War. Nazi scams were omnipresent and every person could have been involved, no matter what nationality he or she was. That's definitely the point that makes it feel more realistic and dramatic at once.

Ministry of Fear (1944) *** (out of 4)Tense thriller adapted from the Graham Greene novel about Stephen Neale (Ray Milland), a man released from an asylum after serving two years. On his way to London he visits a small village where a festival is going on and he's given a tip to win a cake. This simple cake turns out to be carrying some secret Nazi files and soon Neale is rapped up in murder. Over the past few years the work of Fritz Lang appears to be gaining more and more attention and many new fans are starting to say he was better than Hitchcock. I'm not at that level but at the same time there's no question that Lang could take something simple and do wonders with it, which is the case for this film. The first fifty-minutes are downright thrilling, although I will admit that the final half-hour gets a tad bit far-fetched and there's a little bit too much propaganda for my liking. The first portion of the film has a brilliant sequence where Milland visits the festival, sees a fortune teller and then we follow him onto a train with the cake where a bombing happens but this isn't the only twist at this point. This is a long sequence but it backs some terrific atmosphere and the tension level is quite high. Another great sequence follows as Milland begins his investigation and winds up at a séance where one of the suspects are. There were countless horror films released around this era but none of them contained as much atmosphere as this scene and it's extremely effective. I think the film starts to lose some of its punch in the second half as more and more characters are introduced and things begin to get a bit too far-fetched. Outside of that everything else is pretty top-notch and that includes the wonderful performances with Milland leading the way with another strong character. Milland was certainly believable in the part and you can't help but want to see him get out of the trouble he's in. Marjorie Reynolds is very good in her part as a suspect/love interest and we get nice support from Carl Esmond, Percy Waram and Hillary Brooke. The film contains some extremely tense moments and the terrific cinematography by Henry Sharp uses the shadows perfectly to build up the atmosphere. Lang's direction certainly brings the material to life and the performances just make it even better.

Suspicion lurks around every corner in London during the Blitz, where a helpless Ray Milland is pursued by Nazi spies intent on retrieving, by any means, the roll of microfilm hidden in a cake he innocently won while attending a small town charity fête. The scenario is strictly second-hand Hitchcock, and not worth recalling in detail afterward, but as with other Fritz Lang features the real star of the film is its persuasive mood. Rarely have the merits of black and white photography been used to such advantage, and the atmosphere of impending menace in this brooding wartime thriller (adapted from a novel by Graham Greene) goes a long way toward camouflaging the often pedestrian dialogue.