Review of Ministry of Fear (1944) by Allan C — 06 Jan 2013

Fine Ftitz Lang directed adaptation of the Grahame Greene WWII spy novel. It's a far cry from the brilliant "The Third Man," which Greene adapted himself, but "Ministry of Fear" is a solid film noir and a rather nice bridge between German expressionism (for with Lang was a master) and American film noir, which incorporated many elements of German expressionism.

While Lang never achieved the artistic heights he reached in pre-WWII Germany, having directed classics such as "Metropolis" and "M," this film is one of his better American films.

Before he fled Germany, Nazi propaganda minister Josef Goebbels actually offered Lang the job of head of the German Cinema Institute, so it's always interesting to see his anti-Nazi films like this, the same as other German expatriates Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann.

But back to the film at hand, it's an intriguing and well crafted mystery, filled with quite a few nice touches by Lang, but it lacks depth when compared to other Grahame Green adaptations like "The Third Man" or "The Fallen Idol.

".