Decision Before Dawn (1951)

[Dune Panther]

Decision Before Dawn is an American WWII film made in 1951 and was shot entirely in Europe (including on location in Würzburg, Nürnberg, and Mannheim). The film was adapted from the novel Call It Treason which was based on a true story.

 

One of the stars of the film is Oskar Werner, as Luftwaffe Obergefreiter/Medic Karl Maurer. The story follows American Army recruited German POWs Maurer, a Heer comrade (Hans Christian Blech) and an American officer (Richard Basehart) on an espionage mission behind German lines during December, 1944. The film seeks to answer the question of why one would spy on their own countrymen during wartime, and in this case - what became of them.

 

A terrific story, well cast and whomever was responsible for the research did a fantastic job as the uniforms, Maurer's identity document (a Soldbuch) and even the Gestapo arrest lists all look authentic in comparison to originals I have seen elsewhere. In fact, I suspect that the majority of the uniforms (if not all of them) were originals. So if you have some time to spare and want to occupy it with a great WWII film (especially if you have not seen it before), then you are in for a real treat with Decision Before Dawn. 

 

Link: https://archive.org/details/7.2-decision-before-dawn-1951

       

[jmd62]

I absolutely love that movie! Great information and I totally agree, great cast. 

[Dune Panther]

21 hours ago, jmd62 said:

I absolutely love that movie! Great information and I totally agree, great cast. 

 

Agreed! I wanted to watch Decision Before Dawn again and happened to locate the full movie on the Internet Archive website (https://archive.org/). Turns out there are many other classic war & military themed movies there, including The Blue Max (1966), Cross of Iron (1977), The Guns of Navarone (1961), The Hill (1965, with Sean Connery and this one is especially good), and others. Lots of film noir movies there, too (another interest of mine).      

 

[Old Marine]

That is a good movie.