Man Hunt (1941 film)
| Man Hunt | |
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| Directed by | Fritz Lang |
| Produced by | Kenneth Macgowan |
| Written by |
Dudley Nichols Lamar Trotti |
| Based on |
Rogue Male 1939 novel by Geoffrey Household |
| Starring |
Walter Pidgeon Joan Bennett |
| Music by | Alfred Newman |
| Cinematography | Arthur C. Miller |
| Edited by | Allen McNeil |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation |
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Release date
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Running time
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105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English German |
Man Hunt is a 1941 American thriller film directed by Fritz Lang and starring Walter Pidgeon and Joan Bennett. It is based on the 1939 novel Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household and is set just prior to the Second World War. Lang had fled Germany into exile in the mid-1930s and this was the first of his four anti-Nazi movies. It was Roddy McDowall's first Hollywood film. He had been evacuated from London following the Blitz.
On July 29, 1939, renowned British big game hunter Captain Alan Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon) slips through the forest undetected near the Berghof, Adolf Hitler's residence near Berchtesgaden. Getting the dictator in his telescopic sight, he pulls the trigger on his unloaded rifle and gives a wave. He ponders a moment, then loads a live round, but is discovered at the last second by a guard, and the shot goes wild.
After being beaten, Thorndike is taken to Major Quive-Smith (George Sanders). Quive-Smith is also a devoted hunter and an admirer of Thorndike. Thorndike explains that it was a "sporting stalk", not to kill, but just for the thrill of going after the biggest game of all. The Nazi half-believes him, but insists he sign a confession that he was in fact working for His Majesty's government. When Thorndike refuses, he is tortured, but remains steadfast and warns of "questions being asked in high places" if he is killed, as his brother, Lord Risborough (Frederick Worlock), is a very important diplomat. The phrase gives Quive-Smith the idea to have Thorndike thrown off a cliff to make his death look like an accident.
Thorndike survives when his knapsack gets caught in a tree, breaking his fall. He eludes his German pursuers and reaches a port. He steals a rowboat, but is forced to abandon it hastily when a patrol boat comes near. He swims to a Danish ship about to sail for London. Vaner (Roddy McDowall), the British cabin boy, helps Thorndike hide. The Germans find Thorndike's coat and passport aboard the rowboat and search the nearby ship. Though they find nothing, they place agent Mr. Jones (John Carradine) on board using Thorndike's passport to continue looking even after the ship leaves the harbour.
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