Fritz Lang's Man Hunt wasn't exactly what I expected at certain points in terms of tone, but as a whole, I loved it. There's a claustrophobic, paranoid air to the movie. Europe is full of Nazis on all sides listening, watching, and waiting to strike. Walter Pidgeon plays dashing Captain Thorndike, a Brit (with an American accent) who goes hunting for Hitler, gets Der Fuhrer in his sights, and is captured.
The Nazis offer Thorndike an out should he sign a letter admitting that the British government sent him to kill Hitler. He opts for torture instead, and eventually escapes. The rest of the movie follows the Nazis hunting him step by step. At one point he runs into a spunky young lass named Jerry (Joan Bennett), whose "Cockney accent" is so laughable it repeatedly ruins moments meant to be tender and earnest. The Nazis are lean and brutal, pitch-perfect.
The Feature Commentary by Lang expert Patrick McGilligan, no offense, sounds like he's reading chapters from the book he wrote about the director. The comparatively brief Rogue Male: The Making of Man Hunt [16:43] is much more worthy of one's time. They cover just the right amount of backstory on the source book and the movie's place in history without getting repetitive. I liked the vintage Advertising, Artwork, and Still Galleries as well.
They did a digital restoration on the movie to erase some dirt and scratches, but there's still some evident little spots here and there toward the second half of the picture. There's a few minutes-long Restoration Comparison featurette that covers this. Before this one goes to Blu-ray, it'll really need another pass to completely digitally scrub the print and make the brightness level more consistent across all scenes. Some shots look amazing, with others a little blown out.
You really have to see this in motion to get the difference. This is the best I could do in a screencap, apologies.
The movie looks as good as I expect it would coming with a price tag between $10-15. A Criterion pass at this would have been great in the picture department, but I don't know what else would have surfaced in the way of extras. We may eventually see a full re-scan and cleanup job, and I fervently hope they don't muck with the grain. Grain is not noise. If they make this look like Patton, that's it, we're done. I'm a grain monk, so sue me.
More than anything, the impending release of Inglourious Basterds makes me think Man Hunt could be ripe for reimagining in a similar vein. There was a TV remake in the 70's, but I'm talking a more loose thriller. Get Hugh Laurie to play Thorndike, Udo Kier & Thomas Kretschmann to play the main Nazis, and...I dunno...Kristen Bell to play a more three-dimensional Jerry whose allegiance you question. The more I think of it, the more keen I am on it. Set it in the near-future if you don't want to be stuck making another "let's kill Hitler" movie. Whether or not my Man-Hunt idea ever comes to fruition, the original is worth looking at whether you're a Lang completist or someone who just likes a good old-fashioned thriller that hasn't played 100 times on Turner Classic Movies.
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