Edge of Darkness

A small fishing town in occupied Norway. The Germans are there and so is the resistance; the townspeople are waiting for weapons to arrive by sea, and while they wait the question of who is collaborating divides every household. The film is not interested in battle. It is interested in the decision to rise: for a long stretch it argues about when people should resist. The doctor, the pastor, the innkeeper and the fisherman each do their own arithmetic. The form makes no secret of the propaganda purpose of wartime Hollywood. The message is plain, the enemy is one-dimensional and the town is an idealised community. Against that, the choreography of the crowd scenes and the cutting of the final battle are expert. Lewis Milestone directed. He had also made All Quiet on the Western Front, one of the most famous anti-war films ever shot; here the same director is calling a population to arms. Putting the two side by side is a short route into cinema's relationship with war. Errol Flynn stands for the resistance, with Ann Sheridan and Walter Huston for the town. Who it is for: viewers who like wartime Hollywood and resistance stories. Who it is not for: anyone expecting shades of grey. The film tells you who is right in the first scene and never wavers.