Resisting Enemy Interrogation
About Resisting Enemy Interrogation
Major von Behn's staff at a German camp questions a shot-down American aircrew, trying to learn the target of the next raid. A nurse, a man posing as a Red Cross worker, a mock execution, and a friendly talk with Lieutenant Frank L. Williams Jr. and Captain James Spencer pull small facts out of them. Sergeant Alfred Mason and Sergeant Cooper add more, out of pride or fear. The Germans name the target, let it stand, and shoot down 21 of the film's B-99s, 105 men. Lloyd Nolan, as the debriefing officer, tells the survivors not to talk.
Cast & crew
More about Resisting Enemy Interrogation
A United States Army Air Forces training film, released in July 1944 and distributed by the Army Air Forces. Wikipedia credits direction to Robert B. Sinclair. IMDb and the catalog credit Bernard Vorhaus. Harold Medford and Owen Crump wrote it. Ronald Reagan produced it. Principal photography was at Hal Roach Studios. Owen Crump said the Bavarian chateau is a process shot taken from a picture postcard.
Themes
Music
David Rose composed the score. The film uses English and German.
Preservation
Prints are held by the Library of Congress and the National Archives.
Notes
- An edited version runs 66 minutes.
- Arthur Kennedy plays Sergeant Alfred Mason. Don Porter is Lieutenant Frank L. Williams Jr. James Seay is Captain Spencer. Carl Esmond is Major von Behn. Peter van Eyck is Captain Granach. Kent Smith is Captain Reining, an American working for the Germans. Mel Tormé plays Ralph Cole. Poldi Dur is the nurse. Steven Geray is Dr. Victor Münz. The actor who plays Sergeant Cooper is not identified.
- Bomber shots use stock footage of Douglas A-20s, Lockheed Hudsons, Martin B-26s, and North American B-25s. The German fighters mix stock shots with models of Messerschmitt Bf 109s.
- Two of the American fliers in the story recognize the postcard chateau, laugh, and confuse the interrogators.
- The AMC documentary Hollywood Commandos says repatriated airmen later reported that the film had matched German interrogation methods.
Scenes
- The Germans stage a mock execution to loosen one of the crew.
- Twenty-one bombers go down after the camp has pieced the target together.
- Lloyd Nolan turns to the camera and tells airmen not to talk to captors.
Also available
- Internet Archive (ResistingEnemyInterrogation1944)
- Wikimedia Commons (Resisting Enemy Interrogation (1944).webm)
- Library of Congress
- National Archives
Quotes
Yes, one word can give you a place of prominence in the gallery of friends of the Reich.
