The Seventh Cross (1944)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Fred Zinnemann

Writers:

Anna Seghers (novel)
Helen Deutsch (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 July 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sport | War

Tagline:

Daringly Real . . . Startlingly Frank! The revealing novel of a hunted man's search for love!

Plot:

In Nazi Germany in 1936 seven men escape from a concentration camp. The camp commander puts up seven crosses and...

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Concentration Camp | Gestapo | Nazi | Torture

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Spencer Tracy	...	George Heisler
Signe Hasso	...	Toni
Hume Cronyn	...	Paul Roeder
Jessica Tandy	...	Liesel Roeder
Agnes Moorehead	...	Mme. Marelli
Herbert Rudley	...	Franz Marnet
Felix Bressart	...	Poldi Schlamm
Ray Collins	...	Ernst Wallau
Alexander Granach	...	Zillich
Katherine Locke	...	Frau Hedy Sauer
George Macready	...	Bruno Sauer
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Fiedler
Steven Geray	...	Dr. Loewenstein
Kurt Katch	...	Leo Hermann
Kaaren Verne	...	Leni (as Karen Verne)

Also Known As:

The Seven Crosses

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G (TV rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the escapees are being hunted, the only uniformed personnel we see chasing them are the 'Storm troopers' (Sturmabteilung) or SA. Even before the 'night of the Long Knives', the SA would not have been the only group to search for escapees & by 1936, the hunt would also have been carried out by the regular police and the Schutzstaffel (SS).

Movie Connections:

Featured in Twenty Years After (1944)

Circle of friends selflessly aides man fleeing Nazis

This film version of the award-winning Anna Segers novel is the story of one man who manages to escape a Third Reich Era Nazi concentration camp, then continues his quest for freedom, aided by many friends, even strangers, who with their selfless kindness, at the risk of their own freedom and lives, feed, hide and otherwise tend to this man, whose only fault is that he was born a Jew.

This film serves as powerful testimony to the fact that humans are by nature kind and just, regardless of what brutal regime of terror and injustice they may live in. Opposition to the Nazi terror machine was not always violent and vocal, but, as seen here, silent, and without much furore. Many touching scenes show how virtual strangers lend support, doing so without taking credit, sometimes signaling with only a nod or a barely noticeable gesture.

The desire to aide the innocent and to have compassion for the oppressed is within us all. This film brilliantly reminds us of the genuinely good human qualities that set us aside from savages. Look for a youthful Jessica Tandy in a supporting role. This is a gem of a Hollywood Classic!