Decision Before Dawn (1951)
Directed by Anatole Litvak · 119 min · War, Action, Thriller
35.0 TOPICAL score · #3,098 of 6,776 films
Vote for it on the board →WWII is entering its last phase: Germany is in ruins, but does not yield. The US army lacks crucial knowledge about the German units operating on the opposite side of the Rhine, and decides to send two German prisoners to gather information. The scheme is risky: the Gestapo retains a terribly efficient network to identify and capture spies and deserters. Moreover, it is not clear that "Tiger", who does not mind any dirty work as long as the price is right, and war-weary "Happy", who might be easily betrayed by his feelings, are dependable agents. After Tiger and another American agent are successfully infiltrated, Happy is parachuted in Bavaria. His duty: find out the whereabouts of a powerful German armored unit moving towards the western front.
Decision Before Dawn (1951, directed by Anatole Litvak) has a TOPICAL score of 35.0 - ranked 3,098 of the 6,776 films TOPICAL scores. It scores highest on critics and awards, and lowest on cast. It won 1 award from 3 nominations, including the National Board of Review: Top Ten Films. Critics: 100% on Rotten Tomatoes · 7.8/10 critics' average. Audiences: TMDB 6.8/10 (50 ratings). Wikipedia covers it in 20 languages.
Why this score
Each bar: better than this % of the 6,776 films we score. How the score works.
- Critics100% on Rotten Tomatoes · 7.8/10 critics' average
- AudienceTMDB 6.8/10 (50 ratings)
- Awards1 win, 3 nominations - incl. National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
- ImpactWikipedia articles in 20 languages
- Still read3,516 Wikipedia readers in the last 60 days
Starring: Richard Basehart (actor #1,645), Gary Merrill, Oskar Werner (actor #919), Hildegard Knef