This Land Is Mine (1943)

8/10

rupie16 December 2009

I can vaguely remember seeing this movie on television years ago, and recalled it as a movie with an anti-Nazi message. Seeing it again recently, and with a lifetime of reading behind me, I realize it has further depths of meaning.

Despite the pretense of being set "somewhere in Europe," it is beyond doubt that Renoir had France very specifically in mind. He was a French émigré, and it's clear that he has a message for his countrymen about the great number of them that chose to collaborate with the Germans. But the film is not a sledgehammer, in that the Germans are not portrayed as the stereotypical jackbooted thugs. Their official voice in the film, the officer played by Walter Slezak, has a silky sort of charm and shows how easy it can be to cooperate in the name of so many things - peace, order, stability, etc. etc. Laughton's final courtroom speech has so many specific references to the situation in France that it cannot be interpreted as other than such. And the final finishing touch is Laughton's last lesson to his students before being taken away - he reads from the "Declaration of the Rights of Man" from the French Revolution.

Aside from that it is an excellent story very well told, and the production values are extremely high - the print I saw looked excellent even after 60-some years. The cast, of course, is superb, with Laughton, Slezak, and Maureen O'Hara. Particularly good is George Sanders, in a role very different from his stereotype as the suave and debonair cynic. The whole "mama's boy" aspect of Laughton's character is a bit heavy-handed, but it's still to watch Una O'Connor as his mother (you just can't help recalling her tavern woman's part in "The Invisible Man").

Thsi is not just an excellent movie, but an interesting historical artifact as well.

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9/10

A great story of human dignity.

bkoganbing16 April 2005

Jean Renoir managed to flee France because of the Nazi invasion and spent World War II turning out some pretty good films in America. Maybe the best is this heartfelt tribute to his beloved and occupied France.

He got the best possible actor for his protagonist. Charles Laughton could play tortured and flawed human beings like no other actor ever could in the English speaking world. Here he is a French schoolteacher, middle-aged, shy, and mother dominated by Una O'Connor. And he's afraid of his own shadow.

He also loves neighbor and fellow schoolteacher Maureen O'Hara and she's got a fiancé who's a collaborator and a brother in the resistance played by George Sanders and Kent Smith.

It's all these people's story and even the local gauleiter Walter Slezak is not a simple brute as Nazis are so often portrayed.

The story involves Laughton's growth as a human being, seeing what is happening to his town, the people around him, and most of all to the school to both the children and the teachers. The last twenty minutes of the film are almost exclusively his. In both a courtroom and a classroom, he has some brilliantly delivered speeches explaining to the town why they must resist the evil upon them.

For me the best scene is in the courtroom where Laughton is accused of murder and throws away a carefully prepared script that Slezak has offered him. He tells the town what they need to hear and then declares his love for O'Hara and the reasons for him doing what he's doing.

During that part of Laughton's speech the camera focuses totally on Maureen O'Hara and her reactions to Laughton's words. It's a beautiful crafted scene by a great director.

A film classic for the ages.

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9/10

Remarkable film, still relevant

son_of_cheese_messiah28 December 2012

Although I consider myself a film buff, I confess I had never of this film until I saw being broadcast last night at 1.30 in the morning. I was expecting some pedestrian war time propaganda but the presence of Charles Laughton convinced me to watch it. I am astonished that such a powerful film is so little known and broadcasting only rarely.

One could argue (as had been done in the comments here) that Laughton's transformation from mouse to man is rather too swift. I myself found it totally convincing but it is in the nature of Hollywood to exaggerate these things to make a good movie.

The comparison to "inherit the wind" and "To Kill a mockingbird" is well made here, but the question remains, why is this film so little known? The answer, I think, is that those films make the middle classes feel good about themselves. Everyone fancies themselves to be an Atticus Finch who can recognise the ignorance of 'common people'. But TLIM points the accusing finger at the Atticus Finch's of the world, the men of learning and intelligence who are quite prepared to justify working with evil and persuading themselves that it is not so bad. As such it is as relevant (sadly) as it ever was.

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One of the very best stories of courage ever made.

tomomary15 October 2004

Here is a film that everyone should see. It is real and sublime and

each character in the picture has a growth arc that is fascinating to

watch. Charles Laughton is the master in this as we see him as

the town coward a man afraid of everything. An older man who has

learned little of life and less about expressing his love for his

school teaching colleague played by O'Hara.

Laughton learns hard lessons as the film progresses. Walter Slezak's portrayal of a Nazi officer in

charge of the French town is marvelous. He captures the nature of

the will of Fascism and it's unrelenting and sinister application of

pure power using the minds of men. George Sanders, is the

businessman who makes sure things work for the Germans, who

doesn't strain over the matter of occupation by the Nazis until he is

forced to reveal his best friend is the saboteur fighting the

occupation. There is so much more in this film that deals with

oppression and the only way to fight it.

I love this film.

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10/10

An outstanding film, very analytical about Nazism

big_O_Other27 October 2011

I found this gem of a movie on television. Charles Laughton was outstanding. He conveyed perfectly the thesis of the film: that Nazism and the New World Order depended on corrupting those they occupied, tempting them with rewards for betraying their fellow countrymen more than even the brutal intimidation we are all familiar with.

I was also quite interested to see the collaboration between the big industrialists and the Nazis, who corrupted them by catering to their anti-unionism. The fact that being against unions was a pillar of Nazi ideology has not been well known, but Renoir's film made it crystal clear.

All the performances were well above par; Sanders played the self-seeking weasel who has a change of conscience very well, in a very legible, nuanced way. Maureen O'Hara was also excellent, as always.

But it was Charles Laughton, standing before the collaborators, Nazis and his own mother as he comes to realize how crucial the Rights of Man are to living decently and honorably, who wins the day.

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8/10

More wartime occupation drama from RKO and Jean Renoir

AlsExGal1 May 2020

In an unnamed European town (it's a symbolic stand-in for France, but the characters are all British), the German army moves in and sets up occupation. Local school teacher Albert (Charles Laughton) is more concerned with his romantic feelings for co-worker Louise (Maureen O'Hara) and escaping from the clutches of his over-protective mother (Una O'Connor). However, when a resistance movement begins against the occupation, Albert may find himself drawn into it.

Director Renoir manages to inject some originality into well-trod territory. Laughton is very good as the weak-willed Albert, and he's ably matched by the strong and beautiful O'Hara. George Sanders seems a bit wasted in his role as a collaborator, but he gets one really good scene. The biggest surprise was Kent Smith, an actor who I usually regard as a waste of space. Here, playing a daring resistance fighter operating right under the Germans' noses, he's charismatic and exciting. The movie won an Oscar for Best Sound.

One last bit of comparative trivia: This Land Is Mine was a big hit, with a record-breaking opening weekend. This was because it opened on a then-unheard-of 72 screens. Today, the big superhero movies open on thousands of screens.

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7/10

Anti-Nazi film about a timid teacher becomes involved into the actions of the resistance and charged with murder

ma-cortes19 June 2013

One of greatest anti-war films with memorable acting from Charles Laughton , Maureen O'Hara and George Sanders . It's a moving reflexion about war , sacrifice and death . A mild-mannered schoolteacher (Charles Laughton) in a Nazi occupied town during WWII finds himself being torn between collaboration and resistance . He is quite friendly with his fellow teacher , Louise Martin (Maureen O'Hara) and her brother Paul (Kent Smith ) . Meanwhile , at school and street many prohibited books, considered "un-German," were broken or burned in the book-burning pile . Albert is charged with murder but the local Nazi commander, Major Erich Von Keller (Walter Slezak) , offers him a deal . At the end the teacher begins reading to his students "The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen" (French: Déclaration Des Droits l'Homme Et Du Citoyen), a fundamental document of the French Revolution.

This is an excellent classic anti-war movie and deals about sacrifice , collaboration , comradeship , human relations and in which a shy man is drawn into the actions of the resistance . A heart-breaker and elegiac movie in the way it shows war undercutting and qualities of a timid but good teacher . This is a well-paced , deliberate and magnetic drama set in WWII . It is a riveting film dealing with thought-provoking issues , wonderful acting and anti-Nazi denounce . Anyway, the film is very interesting , thematically intriguing and brooding . Time has not diminished its qualities nor its charming to the emotions . Interesting performances enhance an eloquent screenplay by Dudley Nichols . Impressive defense final speech , though propaganda , which is arousing the citizens in court . The film opened simultaneously at 72 theaters in 50 key cities on 7 May 1943, setting a box office record for gross receipts on an opening day. Excellent acting by the great Charles Laughton , giving a remarkable , self-effecting performance as a coward , mild-mannered teacher who is drawn into the actions of the resistance . Very good support cast includes extraordinary actors as George Sanders as George Lambert , Walter Slezak as Major Erich Von Keller , Kent Smith as Paul Martin and special mention to Una O'Connor as mother at a sympathetic though exaggerated interpretation .

The film is excellently screen-written and directed by Jean Renoir who approach the intensity and feel of his best works. Son of painter impressionist Auguste Renoir , was perhaps the best of French directors . At its initial French period he directed classics as ¨Boudu saved drowning, Rules of the game, Marseillaise, Day in the country¨ and of course ¨Grand Illusion¨ in which his optimism remains relentless . Renoir was in Hollywood for seven years, where he made ¨Swamp water, Southerner, Diary of chambermaid, This land is mine,and Woman on the beach¨. He returned France where directed other classic films as ¨Carrozza dóro, Testament Dr Cordelier, Picnic on the grass, Vanishing corporal¨ and several others. His films have influenced on Francois Truffaut, Luchino Visconti, Satyajit Ray , among them. Rating : above average, an extraordinary and sensational film.

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9/10

Not to be missed

redhairedlad19 January 2012

Warning: Spoilers

I am sure that there are many reasons why the brave and exceptional men and women of the "greatest generation" where able to leave their lives behind and put themselves in harms way to defeat the Axis Powers. One reason however must have been films like this one produced by Jean Renoir and directed by Nichols.

I usually cringe at blatant propaganda, but I was quite moved by this one, and I'm sure it is due to the expert direction and also due to the fine performances turned in by Laughton, O'Hara, Slezak, Sands and O'Connor. It is basically a retelling of "The Scarlett Pimpernel", but not so directly as to be called a remake by anyone.

If Maureen O'Hara (at that point in her career)would walk in and give me such a kiss, I would happily go to my death. French Resistance films may just have become my newly favorite genre (along with race-track movies, boxing movies, Irish movies and submarine movies.)

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7/10

Steady performance by Laughton

vincentlynch-moonoi6 June 2013

Warning: Spoilers

Of all the actors who ever worked in Hollywood, Charles Laughton is the one, perhaps more than any other, that I wouldn't want to meet. He's creepy.

But that doesn't mean that I can't see good acting, and his performance here as an initially cowardly teacher/mama's boy is uncanny.

The secret love of his life is Maureen O'Hara, a fellow teacher. The role does not provide here with as strong a vehicle as Laughton, but she is very good. George Sanders is a coward of a different sort, who eventually commits suicide in the film (ironically, since that's how he died in real life) Walter Slezak was almost always a gem...and is here...as a Nazi leader, The one disappointment is the performance of Una O'Connor. O'Connor had a reputation for playing off the way mother-type characters...and she certainly does here. But, what was needed was a far lighter hand in the role. It's not a comedy, but she seemed to think it was.

I was delighted to see this out on DVD-R, and immediately purchased it for my DVD collection, because it is one of the best propaganda films of World War II. Una O'Connor as Mrs. Emma Lory

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9/10

Character Study of a Teacher-Turned-Reluctant-Hero

herbqedi19 July 2002

Laughton is magnificent as the apolitical teacher who finds he must take a stand in Nazi-occupied France. The supporting cast is also terrific and the direction is outstanding. This is a movie that works on many levels. Laughton finds that not resisting in Nazi-occupied France is a worse faith than death.

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7/10

Little Una O'Connor steals the show

HotToastyRag21 August 2020

This Land Is Mine is a different type of war movie. Similar to Edge of Darkness, it takes place in a small, European village that holds virtually no hope against the Nazi invasion. There were several movies that featured that setting, all made within a few years, and this is one of the better ones. Not only does it star Charles Laughton, who instantly adds class and talent to any picture, but the story has a strong moral to teach frightened audiences at home (in 1943).

Charles stars as a meek schoolteacher who obeys all the rules. He doesn't attend radical meetings, doesn't teach his students anything controversial about the imposing soldiers stationed in town, and never disobeys his mother. He has a huge crush on another teacher, Maureen O'Hara, but he doesn't have the courage to tell her. He's not a very courageous fellow, as is shows by many scenes in the beginning. During an air raid, he flees the shelter, insisting his mother is too afraid to be alone. Once he finds her and brings her underground, he clings to her and cries. He was too frightened to be alone, and only his mother's comforting arm could make him feel safe. Since Charles Laughton is a wonderful actor, he makes it impossible for you to label him as a coward or a Mama's boy; you see his reasons for his behavior and you understand.

It's very sweet to see Charles and Maureen reunited in a third movie! They have an endearing chemistry, and it doesn't hurt to know he discovered her and gave her her career. Maureen, as you might guess, is a bit rebellious in this movie, alongside her brother Kent Smith.

Believe it or not, there's someone who can and does steal the show away from Charles and Maureen. Little Una O'Connor, known for playing bit parts mostly as innkeepers or grandmothers, plays Charles's devoted mother. When Charles is arrested for merely keeping a flyer for a prohibited meeting in his book, she lets no one stand in her way in her attempt to rescue him. She tears the town apart and uses every connection she has, even threatening the tall, imposing George Sanders with her cane. Congratulations Una on earning a Rag nomination!

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10/10

Brilliant film that feels more relevant today

koofasa30 April 2021

This film is set during the nazi occupation during WWII. It shows the fear and intimidation that people lived under during the military occupation of towns all over Europe. People of courage stood up and gave their lives for the cause of liberty and the inalienable rights all men are born with. Without people willing to stand up and speak truth tyranny would have prevailed. Here in 2021 while the world is facing another fascistic movement, this 80-year old movie reminds us that standing up without fear is the only way to save the future of humanity.

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6/10

Promising film descends into melodrama

timothy-j-schere30 August 2005

I'm no film expert - I'll admit at once that this is the only Renoir movie I've seen. I have a few comments to add to zetes' review, which is a good overview.

1) Laughton is excellent, as always. His performance is at times a bit broad (see below) but conveys the character beautifully. The character's development is the plot of the movie, so I won't give it away, but in other hands it might be laughable.

2) Sanders is very good in a restrained role, and O'Hara is...the same as always, very solid.

3) Walter Slezak is good in a very interesting role as the Nazi major in charge of the occupation of the nameless town. Renoir and the writer give him a history and a motivation, more than most war movies provide for the bad guys. This was very interesting to me, as a student of politics, to see this characterization of Nazism and the attractions of the National Socialist movement (which are debunked, of course, this is an anti-Nazi movie!).

4) The lovable Una O'Connor (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0640547/) plays Laughton's mother, and is a major problem for the film. Perhaps my view of her is anachronistic, but everything the woman did is funny. She has better bug-eyes than Gene Wilder, and was a terrific comic actress. She has a critical role in this film, and I find her totally unconvincing...but fun to watch anyway. When she has to express what should be moving emotions, I was laughing out loud. Such a strange casting choice in such a deadly serious movie! The movie sets up very well, with the four interesting characters (O'Connor and Kent Smith playing smaller but important roles) put into play and the themes laid out. The middle section to the critical turning point is still strong, with the above-noted exceptions. But what follows is so focused on the anti-Nazi message, and so hell-bent on stirring the US wartime audience to action, it gets much too heavy handed and (I think) implausible to enjoy purely as entertainment. As zetes mentions, the direction is lackluster, very straight-forward...at least it doesn't get in the way.

So, this is by no means a great film.

However, Laughton is great, the speech zetes refers to is great, and the movie is a very interesting historical document, in my opinion. And the weird, fun work of Una O'Connor is, as noted, fun to watch even if it is out of place in this film....even when she's sobbing on O'Hara's shoulder, she's funny.

I hope that's helpful!

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5/10

Conventional story heavy with wartime propaganda...disappointing to say the least...

Doylenf16 April 2005

With such a fine cast under direction by Jean Renoir, one would expect this patriotic piece of flag-waving propaganda to be much deeper than it is. Instead, we have a conventional story of a French schoolteacher during the Nazi occupation--as timid as Uriah Heep--who suddenly finds the courage to transform his character to become a noble speechmaker filling the courtroom and schoolroom with his lengthy lectures full of idealism and democracy and contempt for those who have taken over his land.

It's all as subtle as a sledgehammer--and there is no excuse for letting the last half-hour become a series of preachy statements that show just how dated the technique of telling this kind of story was in the '40s, when the world was facing all the evils of World War II. The attempt is a noble one, but it's a failure.

Not even CHARLES LAUGHTON can overcome the trite script which has him reciting heavy speeches to a classroom of young boys just before the Nazi soldiers take him away. MAUREEN O'HARA is given some generous close-ups that reveal her beauty, but her face is like an impassive mask with only the hint of tears to show emotion. Her character is so ill defined that it is not entirely her fault that she can do little but look concerned from the sidelines.

Impressive as the supporting cast is, they all have conventional character roles that they play with their usual skill--Kent Smith, Walter Slezak, George Sanders and Una O'Connor. O'Connor has some over- the-top scenes of maternal stress and she goes just a little too far in expressing the love she has for her son (Laughton). In fact, she overplays virtually all of her scenes with Laughton. Sanders is impressive in a part that calls for vulnerability rather than his usual sarcasm.

The trouble lies chiefly in the script by Dudley Nichols which relies too heavily on speech after speech instead of a dramatic series of events. Propaganda here is laid on with much too heavy a hand.

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A courtroom speech to die for !

Baron-193 August 1999

Charles Laughton delivers one of the finest courtroom speeches that you are ever likely to see (it certainly ranks with Spencer Tracy in "Inherit the Wind", or Gregory Peck in "To Kill a Mockingbird" ). Here, though, Laughton is not pleading the case for the defense or the prosecution, he is pleading for his own life in a Nazi "show-trial".

Rather than saving his own life by following the instructions of the German authorities, Laughton chooses to use the opportunity presented by his conducting his own defense to launch a masterful indictment of the Nazi regime. His speech to the jurors and the packed, public galleries is delivered with the sincerity and authority which only an actor with Laughton's many talents, could hope to muster. Inspired by Laughton's speech, the jurors find the courage to acquit him and Laughton dashes from the court to the school where he is a teacher.

Having made such a speech, Laughton knows that he has signed his own death warrant. There is just time, before the German soldiers come to take him away, for one final speech to his beloved class of school-children. Once again, Laughton produces the goods in this very touching scene as he reads to the children articles from the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

Most of this film is typical, low-budget, World War Two propaganda but Laughton raises it above the mediocre. Maureen O'Hara is gorgeous as the fellow teacher with whom Laughton is in love. Also worth watching, as ever, is Una O'Connor as Laughton's mother.

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8/10

Rather good WWII drama

zetes22 January 2002

This isn't a perfect film, but it is well worth a watch or two. Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion is one of my very favorite films, and in comparison This Land Is Mine is weak. Even in comparison to Rules of the Game which, while often considered the second best film ever made, I find rather flawed, it has weak direction. In its own right, This Land is Mine is quite a good film. Just don't expect another Renoir masterpiece. The direction is pretty basic. Anyone could have directed it, and I was hoping that Renoir would have brought a more personal passion to the project. Hollywood does generally have a tendency for neutering great European directors (though I know Renoir made a couple of films in America that are considered to be great). The script is decent, but nothing too special. The story involves a French town occupied by Nazis, espionage by the French Resistance, and a man who sticks up for freedom. It's pretty obvious, but 1943 wasn't a time for subtlety. What makes this film above average are its performances. That Charles Laughton was one of the greatest actors who ever lived is well known. His performance here is amazing. His courtroom speech, and I don't like those much generally, is very good. Maureen O'Hara is very good, too, but I wish her part was bigger. She has a couple of great scenes, but her character is not well developed. George Sanders gives a great performance, too. I've only seen him in one other film, the fabulous All About Eve, in which he played the venomous fishwife Addison DeWitt. I think his performance here is even better. So check This Land Is Mine out if you ever get the chance. 8/10.

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8/10

A fine positive propaganda film...

planktonrules11 December 2009

This film was set in an unnamed nation that was just conquered by the Nazis. Given the statue of the WWI soldier at the beginning of the movie, it probably was intended as either Belgium or France (given the style uniform on the statue). However, in an odd Hollywood decision, the cast was made up of a wide variety of actors and accents--such as the very American Kent Smith, the Irish Maureen O'Hara, Englishman Charles Laughton and the very cultured George Sanders (who hailed from Russia from English parents). It was also confusing because the country was just conquered and yet by this point the Americans were apparently in the war (meaning it most likely occurred in 1942 or 43)--and no nation fit this pattern. All were fine actors, however, and the excellent writing made me forget about all this.

The story of this fictional nation is all about collaboration versus resistance. Some are obviously evil and seem to like the Germans--or at least look to get rich off the suffering of their own people. Some appear to be collaborators but are actually brave resistance fighters. And Laughton is a nice case--a very wimpy 'everyman' who eventually finds his strength of character through the course of the film.

While some might find this all a bit hokey, the film was an excellent piece of positive propaganda. It must have been incredibly rousing when it debuted and according to IMDb it set box office records. Good acting and a nice script make this one of the better films of its type--well worth watching and memorable--especially for Laughton's fine characterization as well as his impressive speech near the end.

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7/10

"The hungrier we get, the more we need our heroes"

ackstasis4 December 2008

WWII propaganda reached its glorious peak in 1943. You can find anything from gripping war-time thrillers like Wilder's 'Five Graves to Cairo' to preachy, predictable full-blown propaganda pieces like Dmytryk's 'Hitler's Children.' Jean Renoir did his duty, as well. When Germany invaded and occupied France in 1940, the French director fled to the United States, where he found it difficult to find film projects that suited his unique skills and interests. 'This Land is Mine (1943)' was obviously very close to Renoir's heart, for his own homeland was now under Nazi control; indeed, despite an opening title card that vaguely specifies a city "somewhere in Europe," he obviously has a French locale in mind. The film works, aside from Renoir's skills as a director, because of the level of respect shown towards the audience. It doesn't speak down to them from a podium, but rather addresses them as comrades, all men and women being equal. It's a call for action; a plea for courage. If the Germans are to be defeated, we must be willing to place everything on the line.

It's also beneficial that Renoir had a stellar cast with which to work. Maureen O'Hara is pretty and independent as a patriotic school-teacher who doesn't bother to hide her disdain towards the Germans. Her boyfriend, played by the ever-charming George Sanders, is a smarmy businessman who would rather cooperate with his enemies than feel the sear of their bullets. Walter Slezak, the captured Nazi captain in Hitchock's 'Lifeboat (1944),' plays the German commander who manipulates the oppressed French with sickly appeals to their sense of righteousness. But the film belongs to Charles Laughton. Though he himself only helmed the production of one film (a little thriller called 'The Night of the Hunter (1955)'), directors easily related to him because, unlike most of Hollywood's leading men, he was not a generically handsome and romantic lover, but a generously-proportioned man with substantially more personality than looks. Furthermore, he could play it mean, which pleased directors like Hitchcock and Wilder, or he could play it sympathetic, which more closely suited Dieterle and Renoir.

In his excellent book "The Hitchock Murders," critic Peter Conrad proposes that Charles Laughton's characters in two Alfred Hitchcock movies, 'Jamaica Inn (1939)' and 'The Paradine Case (1949),' served to symbolise the director's own unspoken thoughts and desires; Laughton, in effect, played the role that Hitchcock himself would have played had he been comfortable with any more than a brief appearance in each of his films. I can see Jean Renoir utilising Laughton in the same manner, employing him as a doppelganger of sorts. Renoir was quite used to playing important roles in his own films, but obviously his leading man in a Hollywood production had to be somebody more recognisable. Not only did he choose an actor with whom he shared a reasonable physical likeness, but his character is reminiscent in many ways of Renoir's role in 'The Rules of the Game (1939). Like Octave, Albert Lory is humble, softly-spoken and utterly lonely in love, but clearly forms the emotional backbone of the picture, for it is he with whom the audience most closely sympathises.

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8/10

excellent propaganda film

blanche-215 December 2009

Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara, George Sanders, Walter Slezak, Kent Smith, and Una O'Connor star in "This Land is Mine," a 1943 film directed by Jean Renoir.

The story takes place in a nameless small town in Europe where the Nazis have taken over - somewhere in France, perhaps. In this town, you can find a microcosm of all citizens living under oppression: there are collaborators, secret collaborators, and resistance workers. The majority of the people simply go along with what is happening, live by the rules, and hope to survive. Albert Lory (Charles Laughton) is one of the latter, a wimpy schoolmaster with a pushy mother and an out of control classroom. He's secretly in love with the beautiful Louise Martin (O'Hara), who is engaged to George Lambert (Sanders). Lambert is secretly collaborating with the Nazis, while Louise's brother Paul (Kent Smith) acts for all the world like a collaborator but is secretly a resistance worker. When an act of sabotage occurs, the Nazis take hostages until the perpetrator is found. Albert is one of them. This sets off a series of events that will lead to Albert becoming a changed man.

"This Land is Mine" is a beautiful, stirring film and a great piece of propaganda that, in its day, set box office records when it opened. Charles Laughton is magnificent as a coward who finds his voice, and uses it to convey his message in several monologues, delivered with simplicity and honesty. Acting as good as you will find anywhere, at any time. Great acting never goes out of style. Walter Slezak is excellent as a Nazi leader, having nailed down this type of role for himself after playing the superman German in "Lifeboat." All of the performances are very good.

I do agree with one reviewer here that they could have cast someone else as Albert's mother besides Una O'Connor. She's a little too cartoonish. I'm thinking of someone truly menacing like Margaret Wycherly from "White Heat." At the time of this film, she would have been 62; Laughton was 44. She would have been fantastic.

Highly recommended - this film probably meant a lot to movie audiences during World War II.

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6/10

Underrated propaganda drama of the French resistance!

mark.waltz31 March 2010

Warning: Spoilers

From what I knew about this film, I wasn't expecting all that much since the critical reception I've read wasn't all that good. However, it is actually a rather good story about the Nazi's invasion of France. A milquetoast teacher (Charles Laughton), dominated by his harridan mother (Una O'Connor), finds he must fight for his principals and beliefs when the Nazis take over his town. He is in love with a fellow school teacher (the beautiful Maureen O'Hara---who wouldn't be?) whose brother (Kent Smith) is doing his best to sabotage the Nazis and ends up being betrayed by O'Hara's fiancée (George Sanders), who secretly supports the Nazis. Laughton is accused of his murder and put on trial. He decides to face his fate with dignity and departs his classroom after making a riveting speech to his students that is pure propaganda but magnificent drama! O'Connor may grate on the nerves at times, but everything she does for the obsessive love for her son is believable. O'Hara as always is a combination of graceful beauty and indestructible feistiness. Sanders makes the most scary civilized villain-the worst kind. He makes a good pair with Nazi Walter Slezak (later the Nazi villain in Hitchcock's "Lifeboat"); To see one clean hand (Sanders) washing the other one (Slezak's) and becoming equally filthy (metaphorically speaking) is very interesting, and makes Sanders' downfall most gratifying.

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8/10

"My only defense is the truth."

classicsoncall8 September 2018

Warning: Spoilers

I usually cringe when the term 'propaganda' is used to describe a film, like so many reviewers do here for "This Land is Mine". When used in a negative connotation, the word implies information delivered in a biased or misleading way. I didn't find anything misleading in the way the story came around to defend an individual and community's right to stand up for themselves against bigotry and oppression. If anything, the propaganda would have been supplied by Nazi Major von Keller (Walter Slezak), insinuating that things would be hunky-dory under German rule if the citizens of the occupied town would go along to get along. Eventually, even collaborator George Lambert (George Sanders) couldn't reconcile himself to the German message, committing suicide after stating that "If there's anything I can't stand it's hypocrisy". If one's being hypocritical and trying to be honest at the same time, something has to give.

As usual, Charles Laughton is a wonder to behold in this film. His impassioned court speech is delivered with just the right nuance and emotion guaranteeing a non-guilty verdict for the murder of Lambert, but I didn't find it so convincing that the jury wouldn't even break for deliberation before delivering that message. What was up with that? That's about the time the prosecuting attorney should have really stood up to object. Even the judge looked stunned by the verdict, though you could see he was moved during Albert Lory's (Laughton) finely delivered speech.

The only thing I might have changed if I was directing this picture was the character of Mrs. Lory (Una O'Connor). My God, she was an absolute lunatic. I doubled over during that scene when son Albert grabbed her by the hand to run across the rail yard and she moved like a sprinter doing a hundred yard dash. Laughton's character looked pretty nimble footed too, which doubtless suggests both were replaced by stunt persons for that scene. Upon completion of that bit of exercise, Mrs. Lory was back to using her cane to stand up. For director Jean Renoir, that was undoubtedly an unforced error.

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6/10

This land is you land this land is my land

sol121827 October 2011

Warning: Spoilers

***SPOILERS*** Overly talkative with almost no action WWII era film about the Nazis attempt to brainwash a local population in an unnamed French town in the glories of the Aryan race and eternal wisdom of their leader Adolph Hitler. Of course the people in town know that's all BS but have no choice but to go along with it in order to keep from being sent to the nearest Nazi concentration camp or gestapo firing squad.

It when acts of sabotage is committed against the occupying German troops that the man in charge German Army Major Eric Von Keller, Walter Slezak, takes the gloves off and threatens to takes hostages and have them shot if the sabotage continues.The person who''s behind all this is hot headed Paul Martin, Kent Smith, who despite his out front love of the German occupiers, he's alway seen partying and drinking with them, secretly hates their guts and does everything to make their stay in town as uncomfortable as possible. Including dropping a bomb on a German army military car and killing two of its occupants.

As things turn out Maj. Von Keller has a bunch of Frenchmen taken hostage and threatened to have them shot at sunrise if the killer of the two German solders doesn't give himself up.Two of those held hostage by the Germans are school teacher Albert Lory, Charles Laughton, and history and philosophy professor Sorol, Philip Merivale, who later met his end before a German firing squad. It's then that things get real interesting in that the wanted man's-Paul Martin-sexy sister Louise, Maureen O'Hera, works together with Albert as a French History teacher whom Albert is madly in love with.

As things turn out it's Albert's mom Mrs. Emma Lory, Una O'Connor, who fingers Paul as the bomber by telling Louise's fiancée train superintendent George Lambert,George Sanders, that it was Paul who snuck into the Lory home with a wounded hand after he escaped from the German Army dragnet after doing in the two German solders. Lambert the butt kissing and gutless wonder that he is in order to save his behind puts the finger on Paul,by reporting him to major Von Keller, and at the same time hoping that no one in town, especially Louise, would ever find that out!

It's when Paul is finally killed in a shootout with the Germans that Albert is released from prison which has Louise suspect that he fingered her brother in order to gain his freedom. The fact that Albert had nothing to do with Paul's death,in fact it was his concerned mom Mrs. Emma Lory who was responsible for it, made his go down to the train depot to confront George Lambert who he in fact knew was the person,after Mrs.Lory revealed that Paul was the mysterious saboteur, who fingered Louise's now dead brother Paul. As things turned out George, when forced by Major Von Keller to turn over his girlfriend Louise to the gestapo for aiding and abetting her brother Paul's escape, blew his brains out moments before and enraged Albert got to his office.

***SPOILES*** Arrested for George's murder Albert decides to for once in his cowardly life to take a stand and not only takes responsibility for George's murder,in killing him in his mind not in real life, and let the chips fall where they may; Which is a volley of bullets from a German firing squad. The movie gets a bit ridicules with Albert getting all the time he needed to make a fool of not only the Germans but their French collaborators as well with the German soldiers and authorities at his trial doing nothing to stop him acting as if their brain dead or suffering from the advanced stages of Alzheimer's Disease. With Albert going on endlessly on the stand with how the townspeople should stand up for their rights and that George did the right thing in blowing his brains out was so surreal and unbelievable, in that not one of the Germans attending his trial bothered to stop him from talking, that it just destroyed every point he tried to make in his long winded speech. One of those points was that he was not allowed freedom of speech that he claimed the German authorities took away from him and his fellow Frenchmen and women.

****MAJOR SPOILER***The ending was a bit bizarre in that Albert was found innocent of murdering George yet is arrested and possibly shot, off camera, for moments later reading to his students the Bill or Right and US Constitution! And even more bizarre after Albert is taken away Louise picks up where he left off, reading to her student class, within earshot of the German soldiers and gestapo the very same thing without being arrested and put before a firing squad!

P.S Both Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara were united in "This Land is Mine" some four years after they starred together in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" where they played very similar parts. The homely non attractive and deformed hunchback guy-Charles Laughton-in love with the beautiful hot blooded and sexy gypsy girl-Maureen O'Hara.

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9/10

Laughton at his best

drjgardner21 July 2019

Charles Laughton (1899-1962) was among the finest actors of the 20th century and his abilities are nowhere better on display than in this film in which he plays against character. Of course for a man like Laughton, there are so many fine performances (Hunchback of Notre Dame, Henry VIII, Mutiny on the Bounty, Witness for the Prosecution,m Les Miserables) but what distinguishes this one is his character is a timid school teacher living with his mommy. Laughton is ably assisted by Maureen O'Hara and Una O'Conner.

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6/10

Good performances undermined

Igenlode Wordsmith11 December 2009

There are a number of very good performances in this picture -- Laughton, for one (an actor who was never afraid to present himself, when necessary, as both ludicrous and repulsive, but who manages to conjure up hidden depths in the same character), but also George Sanders, who supplies a sensitive portrayal of a man who just wants everything to run smoothly... until he discovers that one cannot stop at only one betrayal. Walter Slezak channels Francis L. Sullivan ("Pimpernel Smith") in the role of a corpulent, intelligent Nazi, Philip Merivale makes a convincingly idealistic headmaster, and, unexpectedly, Una O'Conner is surprisingly effective as the hero's fierce old mother. The performance slips occasionally into more familiar grotesquerie, but the vital element of fanaticism is well conveyed: this is a mother who will do anything for what she sees as her helpless lamb, even if her ideas of what is in his best interest do not always concur with his own.

Maureen O'Hara -- so memorable as Esmeralda to Laughton's 1939 Quasimodo -- I found to be less convincing here. I'm not sure if that's the fault of the actress or the character; her delivery of lines when she discovers the truth about her brother is particularly cringe-making, alas. Kent Smith, meanwhile, is played more or less as a bland all-American hero: his best lines (and acting moments) come in the confrontation scene with George Sanders, although for most of the film it's hard to realise that the two men, so different in seniority (Sanders is a high-ranking official in charge of the whole goods yard, possibly the whole station: Smith is only a duty signalman under him, and appears at least ten years younger, although the two actors were almost the same age) and in character, are supposed to be close friends. The chase sequences involving Smith's character are successfully gripping.

But my major problem with the film is that it's just too blatantly preaching to the audience. The broad colloquial Americanisms, though they jolt in such a Continental setting, are understandable in a US-produced film aimed at the home market: but the all too obvious Hollywood-type propaganda elements damage the film by seriously wounding its plausibility. Characters make speeches that are clearly aimed at convincing the audience back home rather than at influencing their fellow-characters: the doctrine of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" is preached. The moral is punched home with a sledge-hammer.

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3/10

Much less than the sum of its parts

richard-178717 February 2016

Warning: Spoilers

It seems strange to give a 3 to a movie with such fine talent in it: Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak, George Sanders, Jean Renoir. But this just isn't a good movie. Worse, it's a confusing and very disappointing movie, given the talent at hand.

The biggest problem, for me, was Laughton's initial character. He is portrayed as a cringing coward, a "man" completely unable to control his fear of violence and loud noise. He cowers like the most spineless of worms during an air raid, and clings to his mother, though he is a middle aged man. This makes him extremely unsympathetic.

Then, at the end, we are supposed to believe that the sight of ten men being shot by a Nazi firing squad is able to transform him into the most heroic of men. Everything, including his cringing demeanor, changes 180 degrees.

He could well have been played as Pierre Average, not getting involved in the Resistance attacks on the occupier until he was moved by the shootings. But the transformation from abject coward to mighty hero is simply too great, and too unprepared, to be moving.

There are also historical inaccuracies, but nothing really glaring.

The argument of this movie is very noble, very well-meaning: to show that, despite the Armistice, there are indeed Frenchmen who are still fighting the Germans, so the U.S. should indeed come to their rescue. But this argument is not made convincingly, so it doesn't have the effect it was trying for. Even movies like *Reunion in France* do a better job of this.

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