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THE MORTAL STORM
1940
Director
Frank Borzage
Starring
James Stewart
Margaret Sullivan
Robert Young
Frank Morgan
Runtime
100 minutes
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Released a year before the United States entered WWII, THE MORTAL STORM is the story of Hitler’s rise to power as seen through the microcosm of one German family. What may seem small and personal is instead towering, a bold revelation of the brutality of the Nazi regime that so infuriated propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels that he banned all MGM movies in Germany.
In their fourth and final teaming, Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart play sweethearts, evoking the tender, romantic empathy that always marked their work together. They lead a sterling cast in director Frank Borzage’s sweeping tale of the political and human chaos that rips a family apart, sets child against parent and lover against lover, and leads to savagery, to sacrifice and to heroism. What is this, American 2026?
“With the devastating directness of a Stukas diver, THE MORTAL STORM is a film bomb which is about to explode in American theatres with such force as to dispel public equanimity if, in fact, any exists) towards the vicious operation of Nazism and its fanatical proponents. It is not the first of the anti-Nazi pictures, but it is the most effective film to expose to date on the totalitarian idea, a slugging indictment of the political and social theories advanced by Hitler. Borzage has turned out a film that demands universal screening in American theatres. There will be squawks. Then, again, there will be eyes opened which heretofore have looked listlessly upon what happened there, believing it could never happen here.” - Variety, June 12, 1940
In their fourth and final teaming, Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart play sweethearts, evoking the tender, romantic empathy that always marked their work together. They lead a sterling cast in director Frank Borzage’s sweeping tale of the political and human chaos that rips a family apart, sets child against parent and lover against lover, and leads to savagery, to sacrifice and to heroism. What is this, American 2026?
“With the devastating directness of a Stukas diver, THE MORTAL STORM is a film bomb which is about to explode in American theatres with such force as to dispel public equanimity if, in fact, any exists) towards the vicious operation of Nazism and its fanatical proponents. It is not the first of the anti-Nazi pictures, but it is the most effective film to expose to date on the totalitarian idea, a slugging indictment of the political and social theories advanced by Hitler. Borzage has turned out a film that demands universal screening in American theatres. There will be squawks. Then, again, there will be eyes opened which heretofore have looked listlessly upon what happened there, believing it could never happen here.” - Variety, June 12, 1940