Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

adrian-43767 This film is pathetic, beginning with a cake supposedly made out of real eggs won at a fair while the Nazis are carpet-bombing London, continuing with a Dan Duryea who appears and disappears from the movie in less than the blink of your eye, without one ever knowing why he was in it in the first place, to a truly laughable ending. Why is an American in a London home for mental patients at the height of WWII? Despite the wife's mercy-killing line, that is never properly explained and the rot begins right there.Ray Milland never impressed me as an actor (LOST WEEKEND and BIG CLOCK are the exceptions) and he never seems to know what he is doing, apart from always retrieving a gun that can only leave him in trouble with the police.I haven't read Graham Greene's novel, but this is certainly the worst film I ever saw from director Fritz Lang.

l_rawjalaurence In stylistic terms, Fritz Lang's MINISTRY OF FEAR looks like a follow-up to Paramount's THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1942), their adaptation of Graham Greene's fast-moving novel that catapulted Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake to stardom. This time the stars are Ray Milland and Marjorie Reynolds, but the visual imagery is much the same; much of the action takes place in the dingy back-streets of Hollywood wartime London, or in darkened rooms where no one can trust anyone else.MINISTRY OF FEAR contains some memorable set pieces - for example, a séance involving Mrs. Bellane (Hillary Brooke) and the sinister-looking Dr. Forrester (Alan Napier), where a single bright light focuses on Stephen Neale's (Milland's) face as he understands how the voice from the dead is actually talking to him. The screen cuts to black, a shot rings out, and Cost (Dan Duryea) lies dead next to the big table where all the séance participants have gathered.The final sequence is equally memorable, as Stephen and Carla Hilfe (Reynolds) take refuge on the roof of a London building, and Stephen has to fire into the dark to try and kill off those people pursuing him. No one - not least the audiences - knows whether he has been successful or not, until a light goes on and Inspector Prentice (Percy Waram) becomes visible.In this environment, no one quite knows who anyone is. Cost reappears later on as a rather incongruous-looking tailor Mr. Travers, while Mrs. Bellane appears to have a double appearing earlier on in the film. Such uncertainties seem characteristic of a wartime where everyone is out for themselves, and London is swarming with double agents.The plot positively zips by, with Milland trying his best to cope with situations fraught with danger. The final sequence is a bit of a cop-out that has little to do with the plot, but apart from this, MINISTRY OF FEAR is well worth a look.

utgard14 Excellent film noir thriller directed by Fritz Lang. Probably the closest Lang got to doing a Hitchcock movie. Ray Milland, in one of his best roles, plays a man just released from an asylum after two years. He wanders into a charity bazaar where a fortune teller and a cake (yes, a cake) put him smack dab in the middle of a plot involving a Nazi spy ring. It's a gripping movie stylishly directed by Lang with a good script and interesting characters. Some touches of brilliance throughout, such as the scene on the train with the blind man and the aftermath.As I said before, Ray Milland has one of his best roles here as a man trying to unravel the mystery and remain sane while dealing with the insane situation he's thrust into. Lovely Marjorie Reynolds plays the female lead and has terrific chemistry with Milland. The rest of the cast includes Alan Napier, Dan Duryea, Hillary Brooke, Carl Esmond, and Erskine Sanford. It's really a good cast overall. Some spectacular movies came out during the WW2 years and, in my opinion, the really great espionage thrillers like this have stood the test of time the best.

Michael_Elliott Ministry of Fear (1944) *** (out of 4)Tense thriller adapted from the Graham Greene novel about Stephen Neale (Ray Milland), a man released from an asylum after serving two years. On his way to London he visits a small village where a festival is going on and he's given a tip to win a cake. This simple cake turns out to be carrying some secret Nazi files and soon Neale is rapped up in murder. Over the past few years the work of Fritz Lang appears to be gaining more and more attention and many new fans are starting to say he was better than Hitchcock. I'm not at that level but at the same time there's no question that Lang could take something simple and do wonders with it, which is the case for this film. The first fifty-minutes are downright thrilling, although I will admit that the final half-hour gets a tad bit far-fetched and there's a little bit too much propaganda for my liking. The first portion of the film has a brilliant sequence where Milland visits the festival, sees a fortune teller and then we follow him onto a train with the cake where a bombing happens but this isn't the only twist at this point. This is a long sequence but it backs some terrific atmosphere and the tension level is quite high. Another great sequence follows as Milland begins his investigation and winds up at a séance where one of the suspects are. There were countless horror films released around this era but none of them contained as much atmosphere as this scene and it's extremely effective. I think the film starts to lose some of its punch in the second half as more and more characters are introduced and things begin to get a bit too far-fetched. Outside of that everything else is pretty top-notch and that includes the wonderful performances with Milland leading the way with another strong character. Milland was certainly believable in the part and you can't help but want to see him get out of the trouble he's in. Marjorie Reynolds is very good in her part as a suspect/love interest and we get nice support from Carl Esmond, Percy Waram and Hillary Brooke. The film contains some extremely tense moments and the terrific cinematography by Henry Sharp uses the shadows perfectly to build up the atmosphere. Lang's direction certainly brings the material to life and the performances just make it even better.