Ministry of Fear [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Fritz Lang Fritz Lang

Overview

Based on Graham Greene's gripping novel, and set during the German bombing of London, this chilling film noir espionage thriller centers on mentally unstable Stephen Neale, a man who is thrust into a world madder than the one he experienced in the asylum where he spent two years for euthanizing his terminally ill wife, an act he did not perform. The story begins after his release from the asylum. He heads for London and ends up at a carnival, not realizing that it is a Nazi sponsored organization. Those hosting the carnival see Neale and mistake him for one of their spies. He participates in a small contest and wins a nice cake. But there is more than flour and frosting in this pastry as Neale soon finds out. He hires a strange little detective to help him solve the mystery of the microfilm he found in the cake, and soon they realize that Nazi spies are afoot. Their investigations cause the demise of the detective, a crime that is neatly pinned to Neale, who goes to his girl friend for help because he knows the police will not believe him. Things get even worse when his girl, Carla, discovers that her own brother is a part of the sinister Nazi conspiracy. Both Neale and Carla find themselves trapped in a grim shadowy world where everyone they meet seems sinister and untrustworthy. For Neale, having just emerged from the madhouse, he is never quite sure his situation is real or whether he has become truly insane with paranoia. He cannot help but wonder if he is doomed to a life of trouble and ill luck.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/12/2013
UPC:	0715515103411
Original Release:	1944
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:27:00
Sales rank:	10,522

Special Features

New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack New interview with Fritz Lang scholar Joe McElhaney; Trailer; Plus: an essay by critic Glenn Kenny

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Ray Milland	Stephen Neale
Marjorie Reynolds	Carla Hilfe
Carl Esmond	Willi Hilfe
Dan Duryea	Cost/Travers
Hillary Brooke	Mrs. Bellane
Percy Waram	Insp. Prentice
Alan Napier	Dr. Forrester
Erskine Sanford	Mr. Rennit
Thomas Louden	Mr. Newland
Aminta Dyne	1st Mrs. Bellaire
Rita Johnson	2nd Mrs. Bellaire
Eustace Wyatt	Blind Man
Mary Field	Miss Penteel
Byron Foulger	Mr. Newby
Lester Matthews	Dr. Morton
Helena Grant	Mrs. Merrick
Connie Leon	Lady Purchaser of Cake
Evelyn Beresford	Fat Lady
Frank Dawson	Vicar
Eric Wilton	Scotland Yard Man
Boyd Irwin	Scotland Yard Man
Frank Baker	Scotland Yard Man
Colin Kenny	Scotland Yard Man
Wilson Benge	Air Raid Warden
Leonard Carey	Porter
Olaf Hytten	Clerk in Tailor Shop
Cyril Delavanti	Railway Ticket Agent
Matthew Boulton	Government Official
David Clyde	English Bobby
Bruce Carruthers	Police Clerk
Clive Morgan	Man in Tailor's Shop
George Broughton	Man in Tailor's Shop
Grayce Hampton	Lady With Floppy Hat
Ottola Nesmith	Woman at Admission Gate
Jessica Newcombe	Cake Booth Lady
Anne Curson	Lady With Children
Hilda Plowright	Maid
Harry Allen	Delivery Man
Frank Leigh	Man
Francis Sayles	Man
Edmond Russell	Man
Arthur Blake	Officer
Edward Fielding	Executive

Technical Credits

Seton I. Miller

Graham Greene

Fritz Lang	Director
Seton I. Miller	Screenwriter,Producer
Graham Greene	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

This plot-heavy espionage thriller is stuffed with eccentric touches, from its premise -- a recently released mental patient accidentally wins a cake with a roll of secret Nazi microfilm baked into it -- to its bravura showdown conclusion. After stumbling onto the mysterious baked good, Ray Milland's Stephen Neale finds himself up against a sinister spy ring more than willing to play on his mental instability. They even hold a bogus séance designed to provoke his guilt at the death of his wife, the event that sent him into the mental hospital in the first place. If the plot becomes muddled at times, it still retains director Fritz Lang's always-compelling atmosphere of doom, and there's one stunning sequence that makes it all worthwhile. A pitch black room is suddenly pierced with the sound of gunfire, which lets in a single pinpoint of light. Stephen opens the door on a freshly killed corpse. Joel Coen and Ethan Coen paid tribute to this jaw-dropping scene in their neo-noir Blood Simple.

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