Man Hunt (1941 film)

On July 29, 1939, renowned British big-game hunter Captain Alan Thorndike slips through the forest undetected near the Berghof, Adolf Hitler's residence near Berchtesgaden. With Hitler in his telescopic sight, he pulls the trigger on his unloaded rifle and gives a wave. He ponders a moment, then loads a live round, but is discovered at the last second by a guard, and the shot goes wild.

After being beaten, Thorndike is taken to Major Quive-Smith, who is also a devoted hunter and an admirer of Thorndike. Thorndike explains that he was not trying to kill, but did it just for the thrill of going after the biggest game of all. The major is unsure whether to believe him and insists that he sign a confession that he was working for the British government. When Thorndike refuses, he is tortured, but remains steadfast and warns of "questions being asked in high places" if he is killed, as his brother Lord Risborough is a very important diplomat. Quive-Smith plots to have Thorndike thrown off a cliff to make his death look like an accident.

Thorndike survives when his knapsack gets caught in a tree, breaking his fall. He eludes his pursuers and reaches a port. He steals a rowboat, but is forced to abandon it when a patrol boat comes near and swims to a Danish ship about to sail for London. British cabin boy Vaner helps Thorndike hide. The Germans find Thorndike's coat and passport aboard the rowboat and search the nearby ship. Though they find nothing, they place agent Mr. Jones on board using Thorndike's passport to continue searching after the ship departs.

Jones is met by German agents in London. Thorndike, mistakenly believing he is safe, casually debarks and is spotted. He manages to hide in the apartment of a young woman called Jerry Stokes who lends him money so that he can reach his brother.

When Lord Risborough tells his brother that the British government, continuing its pre-war policy of appeasement, would have to extradite him if he were found, Thorndike decides to hide in Africa. Jerry tries to refuse a large reward, leading Lady Risborough to assume that it is payment for other services, but Thorndike insists. He also buys her a new hatpin, as she had lost hers when they first met. She chooses a cheap chromium arrow and insists that Thorndike present it to her. Thorndike likens it to her, saying both are "straight and shiny." By this point, Jerry is in love.

Quive-Smith arrives in London to join the hunt. When Thorndike calls on his solicitor, Saul Farnsworthy, the Nazis are once again on his trail. Chased into a London Underground station, Thorndike struggles with Jones, who is killed when he is thrown onto an electrified rail.

Thorndike tells Jerry to have Lord Risborough send him a letter in three weeks to the care of the Lyme Regis post office. Thorndike hides in a cave but then tries to pick up the letter, alarming the postmistress. Thorndike grabs the letter and retreats back to his cave, where he finds that the letter is from Quive-Smith, who has followed him to his lair.

Quive-Smith seals the only entrance and passes Thorndike the confession and a pen through an airhole, threatening to leave him trapped inside. Quive-Smith slides in Jerry's beret with the arrow pin, informing Thorndike that she was thrown out a window to her death when she would not betray him and that the Germans had found him by using the address that Thorndike had written for Jerry. Badgered by Quive-Smith, Thorndike finally admits that he subconsciously intended to assassinate Hitler. He then agrees to sign the confession. Quive-Smith unblocks the entrance, but waits to shoot Thorndike as he crawls out. However, Thorndike uses his belt, a slat from his bed and a stick to fabricate a bow, using Jerry's pin as the tip of a makeshift arrow, and shoots Quive-Smith through the airhole. When Thorndike emerges, Quive-Smith wounds him before dying. By the time Thorndike recovers, the war has started.

Thorndike joins the R.A.F. as a Bomber Command crewman. On a mission over Germany, he parachutes out with his hunting rifle.

• Walter Pidgeon as Captain Thorndike
• Joan Bennett as Jerry
• George Sanders as Quive-Smith
• John Carradine as Mr. Jones
• Roddy McDowall as Vaner
• Ludwig Stössel as Doctor
• Heather Thatcher as Lady Risborough
• Frederick Worlock as Lord Risborough
• Roger Imhof as Captain Jensen
• Egon Brecher as Jeweler
• Lester Matthews as Major
• Holmes Herbert as Farnsworthy
• Eily Malyon as Postmistress
• Arno Frey as Police Lieutenant
• Frederick Vogeding as Ambassador
• Wilhelm von Brincken as Harbor Police Chief
• Cyril Delevanti as Cab Driver (uncredited)
• Olaf Hytten as Piel - Saul's Law Clerk (uncredited)

Man Hunt became the first war film to attract the attention of the Hays Office in the neutral United States. Joseph Breen was alarmed by the script, calling it a "hate film."[5] Breen felt that in the isolationist atmosphere of the 1941 U.S., the film showed all Germans as evil, unlike other films that depicted both good non-Nazi Germans as well as evil Nazis. Breen insisted that the Germans should not be characterised as being so brutal and that the office would pass the film only if it would "indicate" brutality rather than show it. As a result, Thorndike's torture was not shown, but the idea was made apparent to the audience.[5]

Darryl F. Zanuck was also worried about Lang's anti-Nazi enthusiasm and banned him from the editing room. However, Lang and his associate Gene Fowler, Jr. secretly edited the film without Zanuck's approval.[6]

Isolationists and Nazi sympathizers took issue with the film, along with That Hamilton Woman (1941) and others, describing such movies as "pro-English propaganda" meant to change American public opinion about going to war against Germany.[7]

The film features an instrumental version of "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" by Eric Maschwitz, Manning Sherwin and Jack Strachey as a recurring romantic theme. The score's recurring theme for the Nazis was composed by the film's musical director Alfred Newman.

The Academy Film Archive preserved Man Hunt in 2000.[8]

Man Hunt was presented on Philip Morris Playhouse July 31, 1942 and starred Robert Montgomery.[9]

• Rogue Male, the 1976 BBC television version of Household's novel
• Operation Foxley, a British Special Operations Executive plan to assassinate Hitler in 1944

• Man Hunt at IMDb
• Man Hunt at AllMovie
• Man Hunt at the TCM Movie Database
• Man Hunt at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Man Hunt review at Mystery*File (David L. Vineyard)
• Man Hunt DVD review, The New York Times, May 15, 2009 (Dave Kehr)