So Ends Our Night (1941)

75% of users liked it
(31 ratings)

The Nazis are clearly the villains in So Ends Our Night, but since the film was made before America's entry into World War II, Adolph Hitler goes unmentioned (we wouldn't want to lose those foreign markets, would we?) Based on Erich Maria Remarque's novel Flotsam, the film zeroes in on three German… More The Nazis are clearly the villains in So Ends Our Night, but since the film was made before America's entry into World War II, Adolph Hitler goes unmentioned (we wouldn't want to lose those foreign markets, would we?) Based on Erich Maria Remarque's novel Flotsam, the film zeroes in on three German refugees. Frederic March despises the Nazis on ideological grounds; Margaret Sullavan, a Jew, is fleeing for her life; and Glenn Ford, born of a Jewish mother and Aryan father, is racked with confusion and torn loyalties. The three separate as they move from country to country in Europe, just a step or so ahead of the advancing Nazis. As Sullavan and Ford fall in love, March puts his life on the line by trying to arrange a reunion with his ailing wife Frances Dee, who has remained in Germany. Had So Ends Our Night been released a few months after the US entry into the war, it might have done better at the box office. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 57 min.
Directed By: John Cromwell
Written By: Talbot Jennings
Genres: Drama, Classics

In Theaters: Feb 27, 1941 Wide
On DVD: Oct 3, 2006
Studio: VCI

Critic Reviews

Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Though containing a number of lighter scenes and blessed with a strong sense of humanity (a Cromwell trademark), the film pulls no punches and is all the stronger for it.
Phil Hall, Film Threat
A mess of melodramatic puffery that ultimately trivializes the tragedy it wants to spotlight.

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Featured Audience Ratings

jay n

Mournful war drama with a strong cast, several of whom are underused. Glenn Ford is impossibly young and gives a good if callow account of himself but it is Margaret Sullavan with her beautiful bruised diginity that wins the acting honors here. March and Dee really are in support even… More
Mournful war drama with a strong cast, several of whom are underused. Glenn Ford is impossibly young and gives a good if callow account of himself but it is Margaret Sullavan with her beautiful bruised diginity that wins the acting honors here. March and Dee really are in support even though they are top billed.

Cast

            Fredric March as Josef Steiner

            Margaret Sullavan as Ruth Holland

            Frances Dee as Marie Steiner

            Glenn Ford as Ludwig Kern

            Anna Sten as Lilo

            Erich von Stroheim as Brenner

            Allan Brett as Marcel

            Joseph Cawthorn as Patzlock

            Leonid Kinskey as The Chicken

            Alexander Granach as The Pole

            Roman Bohnen as Mr. Kern

            Sig Rumann as Ammers

            William Stack as Prof. Meyer

            Lionel Royce as Barnekrogg

            Ernst Deutsch as Dr. Behr

            Spencer Charters as Swiss Policeman

            Hans Schumm as Kobel

            Walter O. Stahl as Police Captain

            Philip Van Zandt as Bachman

            Fredrik Vogeding as Gestapo Colonel

            Joe E. Marks as The Bird

            James Bush as Herbert

            Emory Parnell as Weiss

            Kate MacKenna as Mrs. Ammers

            Edith Angold as Ammera' Sister-in-Law

            Edward Fielding as Durant

            William Von Brincken as German Official

            Lisa Golm as The Pale Woman

            Adolph Milar as Black Pig Proprietor

            Marjorie Rambeau
            
            Gisela Werbiseck as The Harpy

            Sig Ruman
            
See full cast