1942年に実際に起きた「エンスラポイド作戦」をもとに巨匠Ｆ・ラング監督が作り上げた、反ナチ・レジスタンス映画の傑作。第2次世界大戦中、ナチス・ドイツ占領下にあったチェコのプラハで、死刑執行人の異名を取るナチの非情な高官が暗殺されるという事件が発生。彼を暗殺したレジスタンスの闘士フランツは、逃走中、危ういところをマーシャという女性に救われ、彼女の家にかくまわれることに。一方、ゲシュタポは、暗殺犯を捕らえるまで市民を無差別に殺していくと宣言して、弾圧を強化。マーシャの老父も連行されて、フランツは苦悩を募らせていく。
AIが作品の魅力を深く読み解いています
監督: Fritz Lang
脚本: ベルトルト・ブレヒト / Fritz Lang / John Wexley
音楽: Arnold Pressburger / Hanns Eisler
制作: Fritz Lang / Arnold Pressburger
撮影監督: James Wong Howe
Fritz Lang has assembled a really solid cast for this depiction of the Nazi terror inflicted on the Czech people after they decided to rid themselves of their German overlord Reinhard Heydrich. That historical event happens pretty early on, allowing us to focus on just how brutal the regime was, and on just how courageous those left were by continuing to oppose their oppressors despite some fairly arbitrary methods of retribution. The assassin must find shelter, evade detection and learn whom to trust as he watches those around him suffer - regardless of any guilt. Probably my favourite performance comes via the collaborating "Czaka" (Gene Lockhart) who plays the local beer magnate-cum-stooge really quite well. Walter Brennan is likewise effective as the elderly historian professor "Novotny" as is Alexander Granach as the Gestapo man charged with finding the original culprit. It is a little heavy on the dialogue side at times, but the director takes his time to imbue a real sense of the horror faced by the population as lawful lawlessness gradually robbed them of even the most basic of civil liberties, and the darkly lit photography is particularly evocative too. It's been retold once or twice, but to nowhere near the same standard and though largely a work of fiction, is still potent stuff.
