Tweet
Released by: Fox Cinema Archives
Released on: June 20, 2012.
Director: Edward Ludwig
Cast: George Sanders, Anna Sten, Poldi Dur, Ward Bond
Year: 1943
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
Directed by Edward Ludwig, 1943's They Came To Blow Up America (obviously quite an ominous title by modern standards) tells the story of Carl Steelman (George Sanders), an American secret agent who is of German descent. Because of his heritage, he's assigned Chief Craig (Ward Bond), the man in charge, to infiltrate a Nazi Bund in hopes of ascertaining just what exactly it is that they're up to before they can do any harm.
When Steelman does his job, federal agents raid a Bund meeting where Steelman then takes on the identity of one of the Bund members who was, until he was captured, about to fly to Germany for further training. When Steelman arrives in Berlin, he meets a strikingly beautiful woman named Helga Lorenz (Poldi Dur). As she takes him into the German underground resistance, they fall for one another but soon, so that he doesn't blow his cover, he has no choice but to turn her over to the Gestapo. Guilt ridden, he eventually rescues her and helps her escape to England. Things head sour quickly for Steelman when Frau Reiter (Anna Sten), the wife of the man Steelman is impersonating, finds out who he really is, while back on home turf Steelman's father (Ludwig Stossel) is convinced that his son is actually a Nazi and is understandably upset. Steelman, on the other hand, successfully infiltrates the Nazi saboteurs who have launched their plan to blow up America!
While this whole film is played completely straight and was obviously meant to be a serious take on the pro-Nazi German Bund's that existed in the United States and New York City in particular leading up to America's involvement in the Second World War, by modern standards the film comes across as high camp. With that said, it's as entertaining as you could hope for, even if sometimes we're laughing at the film and not with it (not that we were supposed to laugh with it in the first place). Moments of nonsensical dialogue that probably made sense in 1943 when Michael Jacoby and Aubrey Wisberg wrote the film no come across as head scratchingly antiquated and you have to wonder if there actually was time when people talked the way they do in this film - in a conversation with his father, Steelman says not to tell his mother about his job because "The last person in the world to tell a secret to is a woman." Be on the lookout for one Nazi who is so committed to his Fuhrer that he keeps a picture of Winston Churchill on his dartboard and quite a bit of stock footage that is edited in and which rarely matches the rest of the movie.
Occasionally ridiculous in its flag waving patriotism, They Came To Blow Up America does feature some fun performances. Pretty much anyone playing a Nazi in the movie hams it up to a fairly wacky degree while Sanders does a respectable job in the lead. Ward Bond is also pretty decent here, both men ever so noble in their pursuit of truth, justice and the American way while both Anna Sten and Poldi Dur add some welcome eye candy to the film even if they're not given all that much to do in terms of contributing to the dramatic side of the film. Flawed? Yes, genuinely so, but a fun B-movie regardless. The movie is very loosely based on true events that took place on the coast of Long Island in 1942 when a group of German saboteurs actually arrived via U-Boat with the intentions of blowing things up.
Video/Audio/Extras:
They Came To Blow Up America looks pretty good on this DVD in 1.33.1 fullframe, obviously its original intended aspect ratio. The black and white image is clean without looking overly scrubbed and detail isn't bad at all for a standard definition presentation of an older film. Contrast looks right, black levels are solid and there are no issues with compression artifacts.
The English language Dolby Digital Mono sound mix on the DVD is fine. The levels are properly balanced, the dialogue is crisp and easy to follow and there are no noticeable issues with hiss or distortion to report. The film's score sounds nice and clean and adds some welcome dramatic flair to a few key scenes. There are no alternate language options or subtitles of any kind provided.
Extras? None, not even a trailer, just a static menu and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
Historical accuracy be damned, They Came To Blow Up America is pretty entertaining stuff - even that's occasionally for the wrong reasons. A little hard to take too seriously, the movie is filled with some great dialogue, interesting (albeit often stereotyped) characters and moves at a good pace. While it's certainly very much a product of its time, it's certainly worth tracking down and Fox's MOD/DVD-R release looks pretty good.
