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Waste of time

Powerful

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Fritz Lang is the director behind this fun wartime thriller, in which US academic Gary Cooper is sent to Switzerland to track down a nuclear scientist who's been coerced into working for the Germans. His goal is to prevent the Germans and the Italians from getting their hands on the methods to build a nuclear bomb, to which end he must work with the Italian resistance and combat many enemies along the way.This is a lively little picture for the most part, not dissimilar to a Hitchcock film like FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT. It's all propaganda of course, but that's no bad thing when you have an assured hand like Lang at the helm. The main thing that prevents CLOAK AND DAGGER from being a classic is a stodgy and extremely dull romantic sub-plot in which Cooper falls in love with one of his allies. This drags the story down in the second half and it only comes to life again for the climax.Still, it is a film worth watching, not least for some truly impressive and ahead of their time fight scenes. Lang shoots these fights in a shockingly brutal way for the 1940s, all below the belt hits and attempts to gouge and murder the rival fighter. They're good enough to stand up with the best of modern cinema, so it's just a shame that the rest of the production couldn't match this type of pace and excitement consistently.

first of all, the screenplay is so stupid and so shallow. a professor without any field training could become involved and acted like double o seven, flew first into swiss, then infiltrated into Italy, it's just such a naive screenplay. the sound track of the music synchronized with every gesture and movement of the actors, so over-the-top dramatic and exaggerated like Walt Disney's cartoons, sometimes very patriotic, sometimes sentimental, Christ on a crutch, givemeabreak. then when the guy sneaked into Italy, all the morons started smoking in the rear of the truck, when met Italian army's road block, the car was stopped, then easily let go, but then another stupid scenario put into play, the truck stuttered and couldn't drive away, then the Italian soldier lifted the canvas, used flashlight to check the back. the soldier must got a flu so serious that he couldn't even smell the cigarettes smoke those morons (including the high i.q. American physicist) just lit up and snuffed out a moment ago. then the stupid music accompanied the movie's actions and tempos going on and on. i don't want to mentioned the stupid arrangement of a beautiful Italian woman, Gina, the change her wet clothes in front of those men. the woman did another clothes changing in front of the American professor again, and warned him not to stare at her. the whole screenplay was just so stupidly drafted with contrived dialog, and the directing was also primitive. but the most annoying thing is the music. Jesus, sometimes even with so romantic violin score. stupid romance during the war, what a drag.

I'm a fan of both Gary Cooper and Fritz Lang films, and while I don't think this film is either person's greatest work, I did enjoy it.I think it's important to think about the time this was filmed and to think about how close it was to the events at the time, coming mere months after the US had bombed the Japanese.I think it was an important step at the time to make us aware of the dangers of nuclear weapons.I felt the film was careful not to turn into a propaganda piece trying to stir up hatred and fear.I also enjoyed see the "average" (if we all looked like movie stars) people doing what they could to fight the enemy. This wasn't supposed to be a trained James Bond, just someone truly concerned with helping as he could.I think what I liked best about the film is that it actually featured strong female characters. There was a famous and respected female nuclear physicists (in a world where women are STILL discriminated against in the sciences at Ivy League schools)! There was a female spy. There was a schoolteacher turned resistance fighter. There were evil women who killed. Women were just as much a part of everything that went on as anyone else.*Spoiler warning* Without revealing too much, I'd like to say that I also like the ending! I liked seeing that duty was chosen over escape or personal comfort. Coming from a woman (who has probably been socialized that men/love is everything) - that was refreshing to see in a movie! No unrealistically wrapped up happy ending.

If you cut this movie in half it would be tolerable. Gary Pooper is awkward and painful to watch. The middle section of the movie when Cooper and Palmer are hiding out in France has a slight "Casablanca" feel. It's the only part of the movie that didn't make me want to smack someone. Palmer is the poor man's Bergman and I won't even mention that Pooper guy in the same sentence with Bogart. Yuck what a waste of time. Fritz Lang directed this tripe? This is the same guy who gave us M and Metropolis? It was made by United States Pictures and the best I can figure is that it was a propaganda attempt. Cooper was just awful but the story and writing didn't help any of the other actors either. The writing is so bad it's embarrassing. If this was Coopers only movie I would link him with Dan Duryea as the bottom of the barrel in black and white pictures. I watched this because I thought it was a noir picture. It is not. I would call it film no. As in no don't watch it.