Cloak and Dagger [Blu-ray]

Overview

Inspired by actual events, Cloak and Dagger was first major "atomic power" melodrama of the postwar era. Gary Cooper stars as bookish physics professor Alvah Jesper, a character obviously based on A-bomb codeveloper J. Robert Oppenheimer. Pressed into service by the OSS in the last months of WW2, Jasper is sent to Europe in search of Dr. Polda (Vladimir Sokoloff), an atomic scientist held captive by the Nazis. In Switzerland, Jesper quickly runs afoul of enemy spies who murder the only person to know Polda's whereabouts. Moving on to Italy, he links up with the partisans, falling in love with gorgeous resistance fighter Gina (Lilli Palmer). Adopting a disguise, Jesper finally locates Polda and spends the last few reels in a desperate dash to freedom. Screenwriters Albert Maltz and Ring Lardner Jr. had originally intended Cloak and Dagger as a warning to a complacent America. Director Fritz Lang recalled in later years that, as conceived and filmed, the ending was to have occured after Jesper and a group of Allied soldiers stumbled upon the ruins of a secret Nazi A-bomb factory, as well as evidence that the German scientists had fled to parts unknown with their atomic secrets intact. "It's day one of the Atomic Age," Jesper was to have noted ruefully, "And God help us if we think we can keep it a secret much longer." This lengthy coda was removed from the final release print, transforming a thought-provoking drama into a mere romantic thriller.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/30/2013
UPC:	0887090062206
Original Release:	1946
Rating:	NR
Source:	Olive
Presentation:	[B&W]
Language:	English
Time:	1:46:00
Sales rank:	1,987

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Gary Cooper	Prof. Alvah Jesper
Lilli Palmer	Gina
Robert Alda	Pinkie
J. Edward Bromberg	Trenk
Vladimir Sokoloff	Dr. Polda
Marjorie Hoshelle	Ann Dawson
Ludwig Stossel	German
Helene Thimig	Katerin Loder
Dan Seymour	Marsoli
Marc Lawrence	Luigi
James Flavin	Col. Walsh
Patrick O'Moore	Englishman,Englishman
Charles Marsh	Erich
Don Turner	Lingg
Clifton Young	American Commander
Ross Ford	Paratrooper
Robert Coote	Cronin
Hans Schumm	German Agent
Peter Michael	German Agent
Yola D'Avril	Nurse
Claire DuBrey	Nurse
Lotte Stein	Nurse
Lynne Lyons	Woman in Bank, Double
Rory Mallinson	Paul
Eddie Parker	Gestapo
Gil Perkins	Gestapo
Bruce Lester	British Officer
Leon Lenoir	Italian Soldier
Otto Reichow	German Soldier
Arno Frey	German Soldier
Maria Monteil	Nun
Lillian Nicholson	Nun
Bobby Santon	Italian Boy
Elvira Curci	Woman in Street
Hella Crosley	Rachele
Douglas Walton	British Pilot
Vernon Downing	British Sergeant
Holmes Herbert	British Officer
Frank Wilcox	American Officer
Michael Burke	OSS Agent
Eddie Dunn	Radio Operator
Bruce Lister	British Officer
Max Steiner	Composer

Technical Credits

Albert Maltz

Ring Lardner Jr.

Fritz Lang	Director
Milton Sperling	Producer
Harry Barndollar	Special Effects
Edwin DuPar	Special Effects
Albert Maltz	Screenwriter
Ring Lardner Jr.	Screenwriter
Francis Scheid	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

This superior WWII espionage thriller finds Gary Cooper on a secret mission to find details on the German effort to build an atomic bomb. The story is pretty far-fetched, and there is little real chemistry between Cooper and leading lady Lilli Palmer, but it is all presented in a believable enough fashion. Of the supporting cast, Marc Lawrence has a notable role as a vicious pro-Nazi Italian who has an especially brutal fight scene with Cooper, Helene Thimig appears as a German physicist who has escaped to Switzerland, and Dan Seymour gets a rare break from playing henchmen to actually be one of the good guys. The script touches all the important patriotic buttons that one would expect from a film such as this, but fortunately for the audience, it is more concerned with making a good caper. Much of the script's original political content was reportedly diluted, but there is an effective scene where Cooper forcefully tells spymaster Colonel Walsh that if the government spent as much money and effort on finding a cure for tuberculosis or cancer as it does on making a bomb the world would be better off. Fritz Lang's direction, as always, is filled with atmospherics, a preoccupation with secret dealings and dangerous activities, and wonderful little touches that are more important to the plot than they at first appear to be (such as Cooper covering his face when a photographer tries to take his picture when he arrives in Switzerland, spurring all sorts of suspicions and setting the plot into motion). Cloak and Dagger is worth a look just to see Cooper as an atomic scientist, but beyond that novelty, it is the sort of tale of international intrigue that Lang clearly relished making.

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