Decision Before Dawn

Decision Before Dawn is a 1951 American war film directed by Anatole Litvak, starring Richard Basehart, Oskar Werner, and Hans Christian Blech. It tells the story of the U.S. Army using potentially unreliable German prisoners of war to gather intelligence as clandestine "line-crossers" in the closing days of World War II. The film was adapted by Peter Viertel and Jack Rollens (uncredited) from the novel Call It Treason by George Howe. Plot By late 1944, as the Allies march toward the Rhine, it is obvious Germany will lose the war. American Colonel Devlin (Gary Merrill) leads a military intelligence unit that enlists German POWs to cross back over and spy on their former comrades. "Tiger" (Hans Christian Blech), a cynical mercenary, is one such recruit. There is also "Happy" (Oskar Werner), a young idealist who envisions an optimistic post-war Germany. Monique (Dominique Blanchar), a former resistance operative, trains Happy and others in espionage techniques. Later, Devlin learns a Wehrmacht general wants to negotiate surrender of his entire command. Thus, a mission is organized. Devlin selects Lieutenant Rennick (Richard Basehart) to lead. He is a man who hates turncoats on both sides of the war. Tiger is chosen; he knows the area well. Happy is given a related task of locating the 11th Panzer Corps, which might oppose the mass surrender. All three parachute into Germany, then split up. During his search Happy encounters Germans with differing attitudes towards the war. On buses and trains, in guest houses and taverns, he meets the still defiant, such as SS courier Scholtz (Wilfried Seyferth), and the resigned, like Hilde (Hildegard Knef), a war widow turned hooker. Eventually, Happy locates the 11th Panzer, posing as a medic. He is commandeered to treat its commander, Oberst von Ecker (O.E. Hasse), at his castle headquarters. Afterwards, Happy narrowly escapes capture by the Gestapo. He makes his way to a safe house in the ruins of heavily-bombed Mannheim, where Rennick and Tiger hide out. They have learned that the German commander they were to contact has supposedly been injured and in a hospital under SS guard; without him, the other German officers cannot and will not surrender to the Allies. After their radio is knocked out, Happy, Tiger, and Rennick make their way to the banks of the Rhine, where they plan to swim across to American lines.