Connection
Hangmen Also Die! is a american film of genre Drama directed by Fritz Lang released in USA on 15 april 1943 with Hans Heinrich von Twardowski
Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
If you like this film, let us know!
- Infos
- Casting
- Technical infos
- Photos
- Videos
- Film quotes
- Characters
- Music
- Awards
Add to a movie listReleased in USA 15 april 1943
Length 2h14
Directed by Fritz Lang
OriginUSA
Themes Political films
Rating73%
Hangmen Also Die! is a 1943 noir war film directed by the Austrian director Fritz Lang and written by John Wexley from a story by Bertolt Brecht (credited as Bert Brecht) and Lang. The film stars Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan, Alexander Granach and Anna Lee, and features Gene Lockhart and Dennis O'Keefe. The music is by Hanns Eisler and James Wong Howe served as cinematographer.
The film is loosely based on the 1942 assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi Reich Protector of German-occupied Prague, number-two man in the SS, and a chief architect of the Holocaust, who was known as "The Hangman of Prague." The real Heydrich was assassinated by Czech resistance fighters parachuted from a British plane in Operation Anthropoid, but in the movie, which was made during World War II before the full story had become public knowledge, Heydrich's killer is depicted as a member of the Czech resistance with ties to the Communist Party.
Hangmen Also Die! was Bertolt Brecht's only script for a Hollywood film: the money he earned from the project enabled him to write The Visions of Simone Machard, Schweik in the Second World War and an adaptation of Webster's The Duchess of Malfi. Hanns Eisler was nominated for an Academy Award for his musical score. The collaboration of three prominent refugees from Nazi Germany–Lang, Brecht and Eisler–is an example of the influence this generation of German exiles had in American culture.
Synopsis
During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, surgeon Dr. Franticek Svoboda (Brian Donlevy), a Czech patriot, assassinates the brutal "Hangman of Europe", Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski), but his getaway car is discovered and therefore his planned safe house must reject him. When a woman he doesn't know, named Mascha (Anna Lee), deliberately misdirects German soldiers close to finding him, he seeks her home as an alternative safe house. This turns out to be the home of her father, history professor Stephen Novotny (Walter Brennan), whom the Nazis have banned from teaching. This plan works. But because the assassin now can't be found, the Nazi leaders in Prague decide to create an incentive for him to turn himself in or for others to do so. They arrange–with the help of fifth-columnist Emil Czaka (Gene Lockhart), a wealthy brewer–for 400 citizens, including Professor Novotny, to be executed, forty at a time, until the assassin is named. Through a complex series of events, however, the resistance manages to frame Czaka himself for the murder, but not before the Nazis have executed many of the hostages.Actors
Hans Heinrich von Twardowski
(Reinhard Heydrich)
Brian Donlevy
(Dr. Franticek Svoboda)
Walter Brennan
(Prof. Stephen Novotny)
Arno Frey
(Camp Lieutenant Itnut)
Anna Lee
(Masha Novotny)
Comments
Leave comment :
Suggestions of similar film to Hangmen Also Die!
There are 195 films with the same actors, 42 films with the same director, 70540 with the same cinematographic genres (including 97 with exactly the same 4 genres than Hangmen Also Die!), 7796 films with the same themes, to have finally 70 suggestions of similar films.If you liked Hangmen Also Die!, you will probably like those similar films :
Cloak and Dagger (1946)
, 1h46Directed by Fritz Lang
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Thriller, Spy, Romance
Themes Spy films, Political films
Actors Gary Cooper, Lilli Palmer, Robert Alda, Vladimir Nikolayevich Sokoloff, J. Edward Bromberg, Marc Lawrence
Rating65%
L'action se déroule pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Un chercheur italien qui a découvert la formule de la bombe atomique est aux mains des Allemands. Un espion américain fait tout pour le délivrer.
Man Hunt (1941)
, 1h38Directed by Fritz Lang
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Thriller, Action
Themes Political films, Children's films
Actors Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett, George Sanders, John Carradine, Roddy McDowall, Frederick Worlock
Rating71%
On July 29, 1939, renowned British big game hunter Captain Alan Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon) slips through the forest undetected near the Berghof, Adolf Hitler's residence near Berchtesgaden. Getting the dictator 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.
Confirm or Deny (1941)
, 1h13Directed by Fritz Lang, Archie Mayo
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War
Themes Transport films, Aviation films, Political films, Children's films
Actors Don Ameche, Joan Bennett, Roddy McDowall, Raymond Walburn, John Loder, Eric Blore
Rating63%
American war correspondent Mitchell is stationed in London in September 1940, working for Consolidated Press of America. Mitch is ambitious to get his news of the coming German invasion over to his editor in America as fast as possible. He starts using Sir Titus Scott's wire from Penzance in Cornwall to save forty minutes, and two carrier pigeons, operated by young Albert Perkins and the elderly Mr. Bindle to get his reports to the wire station.
, 1h45Directed by Fritz Lang, Robert D. Webb
Origin Canada
Genres Drama, War
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Political films, Children's films
Actors Tyrone Power, Micheline Presle, Tom Ewell, Tommy Cook, Jack Elam, Robert Barrat
Rating58%
In April 1942 in the Philippines, an American motor torpedo boat is destroyed by Japanese planes. The survivors, among them Ensign Chuck Palmer (Tyrone Power), make their way ashore on Cebu. Their commander orders them to split up. Chuck pairs up with Jim Mitchell (Tom Ewell) and reaches Colonel Benson on Leyte, only to be told that he has been ordered by General Douglas MacArthur to surrender his forces soon.
Ministry of Fear (1944)
, 1h26Directed by Fritz Lang
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Spy, Noir, Crime
Themes Spy films, Political films
Actors Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, Carl Esmond, Dan Duryea, Hillary Brooke, Alan Napier
Rating70%
In wartime England during the Blitz, Stephen Neale (Ray Milland) is released from Lembridge Asylum. While waiting for a train to London, Neale visits a village fête hosted by the Mothers of Free Nations charity. He guesses the weight of a cake for a shilling, and is urged to go to the palm reader's tent to have his fortune told by Mrs. Bellane (Aminta Dyne), an older woman. He asks her to ignore the past and tell the future, which startles her. She cryptically tells him to take another guess at the weight of the cake at 4 pounds 15½ ounces. Neale does so and wins the prize. Then a young blond man hurries to see Mrs. Bellane. People try to persuade Neale to give the cake to the blond man, but he refuses.
Metropolis (1927)
, 2h33Directed by Fritz Lang
Origin German
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Fantastic, Fantasy
Themes Films about the labor movement, Films set in the future, Political films, Dystopian films, Robot films
Actors Alfred Abel, Brigitte Helm, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Fritz Rasp, Heinrich George
Rating82%
In the future of 2026, wealthy industrialists rule the vast city of Metropolis from high-rise tower complexes, while a lower class of underground-dwelling workers toil constantly to operate the machines that provide its power. Joh Fredersen is the city's master. Joh's son Freder idles away his time in a pleasure garden with other rich children. Freder is interrupted by the arrival of a young woman named Maria, who has brought a group of workers' children to witness the lifestyle led by the rich. Maria and the children are quickly ushered away, but Freder is fascinated by Maria and goes to the workers' portion of the city to find her.
Stand by for Action (1942)
, 1h49Directed by Robert Z. Leonard
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Comedy, Action
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Political films, United States Armed Forces in films
Actors Robert Taylor, Brian Donlevy, Charles Laughton, Walter Brennan, Marilyn Maxwell, Henry O'Neill
Rating64%
During World War II, well-connected, Harvard-educated Lieutenant Gregg Masterman (Robert Taylor) enjoys his cushy posting as junior aide to Rear Admiral Stephen "Old Ironpants" Thomas (Charles Laughton), playing tennis and arranging social events. During a chance encounter, he gives bad advice to up-from-the-ranks Lieutenant Commander Martin J. Roberts (Brian Donlevy) out of spite. As a result, Thomas gives Roberts command of an obsolete, World War I-vintage destroyer, the Warren. To his dismay however, Masterman finds himself assigned by Thomas as Roberts' new executive officer. When Masterman learns that Henry Johnson (Walter Brennan), the ship's civilian caretaker, was a member of the Warren's original crew, he helps him reenlist and serve aboard his beloved ship.
Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942)
, 1h38Directed by John Farrow, Harve Foster
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Historical
Themes Political films
Actors Paul Muni, Anna Lee, Lillian Gish, Cedric Hardwicke, Robert Coote, Ray Collins
Rating64%
Erik Toresen (Paul Muni), a widower and peaceful man, is stirred to violence after the Nazis occupy his quiet Norwegian fishing village. German abuses lead Erik to form a Resistance group. He kills the head of the Nazis occupying his village, and then escapes to Britain, and guides some British Commandos to a raid on a secret airstrip the Germans are building on the Norwegian coast.
Sergeant York (1941)
, 2h14Directed by Don Siegel, Howard Hawks
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Biography, Action, Historical, Romance
Themes Political films
Actors Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie, George Tobias, Stanley Ridges, Margaret Wycherly
Rating76%
Alvin York (Gary Cooper), a poor young Tennessee hillbilly, is an exceptional marksman, but a ne'er-do-well prone to drinking and fighting, which does not make things any easier for his patient mother (Margaret Wycherly). He changes when he meets Gracie Williams (Joan Leslie), and works night and day to buy a good farm so she'll marry him. When he's cheated out of it at the last minute, he returns to his dissolute ways.
Northwest Passage (1940)
, 2h5Directed by Jack Conway, Norman Foster, W. S. Van Dyke, King Vidor
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Adventure, Historical, Romance, Western
Themes Political films
Actors Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, Walter Brennan, Ruth Hussey, Nat Pendleton, Robert Barrat
Rating69%
The film opens in the year 1759 with the arrival of Langdon Towne (Robert Young) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The son of a cordage (rope)- maker and ship rigger, he returns from Harvard University after being expelled for complaining about college food and drawing an unflattering picture of the President of Harvard College. Though disappointed, Langdon's family greets him with love, as does Elizabeth Browne (Ruth Hussey), the daughter of a noted clergyman. Elizabeth's father (Louis Hector) is less welcoming, however, and denigrates Langdon's aspirations to becoming a painter. That evening, while drinking in the local tavern with friend Sam Livermore (Lester Matthews), Langdon makes indiscreet remarks disparaging Wiseman Clagett (Montagu Love), the king's attorney, and the Indian agent, Sir William Johnson, unaware that Clagett is sitting in the next room with another official. Facing arrest for his comments, Langdon fights the two men with the help of "Hunk" Marriner (Walter Brennan), a local woodsman and friend, before they both escape into the woods.