The Moon Is Down (film)

The Moon Is Down is a 1943 American war film starring Cedric Hardwicke and Henry Travers and directed by Irving Pichel. It is based on the 1942 novel of the same name by John Steinbeck. During World War II, German soldiers occupy a small Norwegian town.

The Moon Is Down
Directed byIrving Pichel
Produced byNunnally Johnson
Written byNunnally Johnson
Based onthe novel The Moon Is Down
by John Steinbeck
StarringCedric Hardwicke
Henry Travers
Music byAlfred Newman
CinematographyArthur Miller
Edited byLouis Loeffler
Production
company
Distributed byTwentieth Century-Fox
Release date
  • March 13, 1943 (1943-03-13) (Toronto, Canada)
  • March 26, 1943 (1943-03-26) (New York)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.2 million (US rentals)[1]

Cast

Production

The set of How Green Was My Valley was reused for this film.[2]

Reception

Bosley Crowther, the film reviewer for The New York Times, gave The Moon Is Down a mixed verdict. He lauded screenwriter Nunnally Johnson for creating a "clear and incisive screen version" of the book, resulting in "a picture which is the finest on captured Norway yet and a powerful expression of faith in the enduring qualities of a people whose hearts are strong." He also praised "Irving Pichel's superlative direction and a generally excellent cast". However, Crowther also observed that "the intellectual nature of this picture—its very clear and dispassionate reasoning—drain it of much of the emotion that one expects in such a story at this time."[2]

References
  1. "Top Grossers of the Season", Variety, 5 January 1944 p 54
  2. Bosley Crowther (March 27, 1943). "'The Moon Is Down,' the Film Version of Steinbeck's Novel and Play, Starring Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Opens at Rivoli". The New York Times.


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