Decision Before Dawn 1951

Decision Before Dawn

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Decision Before Dawn Photos

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Movie Info

During World War II, an American intelligence unit led by Col. Devlin (Gary Merrill) is recruiting German prisoners of war to infiltrate enemy lines and gather vital information. Lt. Rennick (Richard Basehart) heads a unit of Germans that includes the mistrustful "Tiger" (Hans Christian Blech) and the wide-eyed "Happy" (Oskar Werner). When word arrives that a German general is about to negotiate the surrender of his corps, Devlin sends Rennick and his volunteers on a dangerous mission.

Genre:

war, mystery and thriller, drama
Original Language:

English
Director:

Anatole Litvak
Producer:

Anatole Litvak, Frank McCarthy
Release Date (Streaming):

Feb 10, 2016
Runtime:

1h 59m
Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Bavaria Film

Cast & Crew

Richard Basehart
Lt. Dick Rennick

Gary Merrill
Col. Devlin

Oskar Werner
Cpl. Karl Maurer

Hildegard Knef
Hilde

Dominique Blanchar
Monique

O.E. Hasse
Col. Von Ecker

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for Decision Before Dawn

All Critics (6) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (6)

Movie-making at its best.

August 7, 2019 | Full Review…

Bob Thomas
Associated Press
Werner, who served in the Axis forces during the war, gives a magnetic performance.

January 31, 2012 | Full Review…

J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
An outstanding production in all aspects.

January 31, 2012 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…

TV Guide
It's most noted for being more sympathetic to peace loving German soldiers than are most American war films.

April 14, 2008 | Rating: B- | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
Litvak's intriguing account of U.S. Intelligence operation during the last year of WWII was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, boasting a good performance from the young Oskar Werner as a sensitive and naive German soldier-traitor.

January 24, 2008 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…

Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
The film manages to be suitably hard on the Nazi regime while providing one of the first sympathetic treatments of the German people.

May 2, 2006 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…

Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Goatdog's Movies

View All Critic Reviews (6)

Audience Reviews for Decision Before Dawn

Jul 25, 2013

I would thought that the appetite for these types of films would have waned once the war ended but here we have another mainly propaganda type film that is mildly entertaining if not deep. Perhaps this was to rally the troops to get ready for Korea.

John B Super Reviewer
Feb 05, 2009

WWII drama about a group of German P.O.W.'s who were persuaded to spy for the allied war effort. Part docu-drama, part Hollywood propaganda. Entertaining but less than substantial.

Randy T Super Reviewer
Jul 05, 2008

A World War 2 spy movie that was nominated for Best Picture and forgotten immediately thereafter, and for mostly good reasons. In the name of full disclosure I'll admit that I was mostly distracted by other things when I was watching this. Similar to Rio Grande, I found that this had a very long build up and by the time they got to their actual mission I had sort of lost interest and started screwing around on my laptop while watching it.

MJS M Super Reviewer