Address Unknown (1944 film)
| Address Unknown | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | William Cameron Menzies |
| Produced by |
Lonnie D'Orsa William Cameron Menzies Sam Wood |
| Written by |
Herbert Dalmas Kressmann Taylor |
| Starring | Paul Lukas |
| Cinematography | Rudolph Maté |
| Edited by | Al Clark |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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75 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Address Unknown is a 1944 American drama film directed by William Cameron Menzies based on Kathrine Taylor's novel Address Unknown (1938). The film tells the story of two families caught up in the rise of Nazism in Germany prior to the start of World War II.
Cinematographer (Rudolph Maté) employed shadows, shapes and camera angles to create the imagery. One notable scene shows Martin Schulz (Paul Lukas) descending a staircase awaiting his arrest by the Gestapo, while behind him the shadow of a web-like criss-cross of window panes shows him being caught in his own web of deceit.
Two close friends, Martin Schulz and Max Eisenstein (Morris Carnovsky), are German expatriate art dealers living in the United States. Martin's son Heinrich (Peter van Eyck) and Max's daughter Griselle (K.T. Stevens) are in love. However, she turns down his proposal of marriage for the time being, as she aspires to become an actress. When Martin and his wife return to Germany for business purposes, Griselle accompanies them to seek acting opportunities there. Max and Heinrich remain in San Francisco to run the art gallery, while Martin sends them paintings to sell. Martin sends a strange painting from an unknown artist to Max as a joke, the "unknown" artist being Pablo Picasso. A determined patron (Mary Young) insists on buying the painting, over Max's well-intended protests.
Martin meets the influential Baron von Friesche (Carl Esmond), a dedicated Nazi, and joins the Nazi party, becoming an important official in the new regime. But Max is Jewish. Martin eventually insists they stop writing to each other, as his new associates would not approve of it. Suspecting that Martin is hiding his true feelings from Nazi censors who examine the mail, Max has an American friend personally deliver a letter to Martin. However, Martin coldly makes it clear that Max is mistaken: his antisemitism is now genuine.
After acting in Vienna for a time, Griselle lands the leading role in a play in Berlin, under the stage name "Griselle Stone". Her lines include the Beatitudes, such as "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God", but during the final rehearsal a censor (Charles Halton) declares that the lines are contrary to Nazi doctrine and must be removed. At the premiere, Griselle ignores the order, inciting the irate censor to demand the play be stopped. Griselle admits that she acted on her own. When the censor demands to know her real name, her obviously Jewish surname rouses the hostile crowd to riot. The play's director hurries a still-defiant Griselle out of the theater for her own safety.
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Wikipedia