KnotStronger
This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Brenda
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Winifred
The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.
Alex da Silva
Nazi soldier Jeffrey Lynn (Kurt) returns home on the night that his brother Philip Dorn (Eric) is due to make an illegal Resistance radio broadcast. The brothers are at odds in their beliefs but Lynn is unaware of how his brother feels and his role with the Resistance. One of Dorn's allies is Kaaren Verne (Sylvia) who plays violin at a club. She becomes the focus of Lynn's romantic interests but he remains unaware of her involvement in the Resistance. Will the Nazi brother suss out what is going on? And will he inform on his brother and the woman he loves to Gestapo chief Martin Kosleck (Heller)? This film is better than expected and there are several tense scenes, eg, when Verne is sent to collect some radio equipment and must change her routine in the last seconds as Gestapo officers wait to arrest her. There is also a good scene between Gestapo secretary Mona Maris (Gessner) and Lynn as she points out a few home truths to him. I liked Philip Dorn and felt that it was his film and he should have been given the headline credit. He has a powerful scene when he goes to confront his Nazi brother about what course of action with regards the reporting of Verne that he will take. Dorn cannot afford the wrong decision to be taken and is prepared for what he may have to do. Another good scene involves Dorn and fellow Underground member Peter Whitney (Alex) as they confront Resistance traitor Wolfgang Zilzer (Hoffman). The only poor acting comes from a couple of Resistance figures as they try to leave a club un-noticed. They stand out a mile in terms of suspicious behaviour. I'm afraid they get what they deserve for being so crap. Otherwise, the acting is very good all round. It's a pity that they bring some complicated poem into the proceedings - no way would anyone remember that clunky thing.Overall, a good film. The Gestapo team reminded me of the French Resistance UK comedy of the 1980s "Allo Allo". Kosleck and Maris have that similar fetishized imagery working for them as was exploited by Gestapo officer "Herr Otto Flick" and his secretary "Helga". There is definitely some kind of repressed kinkiness going on. The scene with the boots and the whip and Kaaren Verne draped over a seat. Definitely. The only detail missing is revealing that Kosleck is wearing ladies lingerie throughout the whole film.
hasosch
Should declared as well as intended B-movies be taken for serious or not? Of course, only the affirmation of this question legitimates any possible criticism.Vincent Sherman was one of the classical B-movie directors. If the reason why he directed "Underground" (1941) was of political nature or simply because he needed money - or irresponsibility toward the subject of the movie -, we don't know. However, everybody can find out very easily that the "good guys" in the film - most of all the characters of Kurt and Eric (correctly: Erich) Franken are played by non-Germans (an American and a Dutchman), and that the main "bad guy"-character Colonel Heller was played by the German Martin Kosleck. Besides the only exception of Fräulein Gessner, who was played by the American Mona Maris, one realizes soon that, although all characters are German, the real actors who play the good guys are almost exclusively Americans and the real actors who play the bad guys are almost exclusively Germans.By chance? Let me tell you that no European director would come to the insane idea to let the role of an American character be played by a Non-American. However, especially German characters in American movies are regularly played by American actors imitating American accents as Marlon Brando did in "Morituri". How convincing is a movie in which a French actors plays an American character, revealing after two words his actual origin? However, in "Underground", the things are dramatically different: Issued in 1941 and although a B-movie, this movie was obviously intended to call for Americans to enter World War II and to legitimate beforehand an American meddling in Germany (which still continues by the American presence in nowadays Germany, as every child knows). So, the good characters in this movie are recognizable by the audience via correct American speech of the American actors, while the bad characters are also easily recognizable by the German accents of the German actors.Concluding, let me admit that for once, I have been inconsistent: I enjoyed seeing actors like Kosleck, Ilka Grüning or Ludwig Stössel and I therefore rated this movie with 6 points. However, had I been honest, I would have given a 1, because this movie is nothing else than intellectual filth, a war-chaser and propaganda movie on the lowest possible level.
blanche-2
"Underground" is a good propaganda movie that came out of Warner Brothers in 1941. It's lacking major stars, but the story is certainly A list. Philip Dorn and Jeffrey Lynn star as German brothers on opposite sides. Dorn is a member of the underground, which uses a traveling illegal radio to broadcast to the people, while Lynn is a returning soldier who has lost his arm. He becomes interested in an attractive violinist, Sylvia (Kaaren Verne) who performs in a tavern, unaware that his brother knows her from the underground and that they are both members. This leads to problems as the Nazis close in.Vincent Sherman does an excellent job of directing. The rest of the cast includes Martin Kosleck a a nasty Nazi, and Mona Maris as his assistant, also an underground member. The Dutch Dorn gives a very good performance, as does Lynn. The ending of the film is quite touching.As someone on this site pointed out, the Germans let the Nazis come into power and didn't do much in the way of resistance. There was a strong French resistance, as well as the Yugoslav Partisans, the Polish Home Army, the Soviet partisans, the Italian CLN, the Norwegian Resistance, the Greek Resistance and the Dutch Resistance. One doesn't hear much about German resistance. Warner Brothers probably just assumed it was active.A good movie.
ny1mwd26
Quite honestly, I never had heard of this film before. And, having just watched it, much to my regret. It was made before U. S. entry into World War II. Yet, Hollywood was quite aware of the evils being perpetrated by the Third Reich. Coincidentally, the case is dominated by actors born in Europe. The story is not that new. Two brothers are on different sides of the spectrum in Berlin: one is a leader of the resistance movement, the other is a wounded German who maintains strong loyalty to the Reich. The film centers on how their worlds and visions collide, with a backdrop of the Nazis' trying to find and silence the resistance's radio broadcasts. The acting is first-rate all around. I suspect this would have been a 'bigger' film if Warner Brothers had used the 'A' team. All in all, a very good little movie.
