Hangmen Also Die! (1943)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Hangmen Also Die! (1943) – F. Lang

Absorbing (and unpredictable) tale that examines the aftermath of the assassination of the head of the Nazi occupation ("the Hangman") in Czechoslovakia for both the resistance and the occupiers. Our sympathies lie with Brian Donlevy (the assassin) and the woman he accidentally drags into the fight (Anna Lee), whose father (Walter Brennan, a university professor here) is already under suspicion by the occupation. "Bert" Brecht contributed to the story/screenplay and sued the producers when he didn't get the primary credit -- some traces of his philosophy remain but this is a thriller in the Hollywood mode of the time.