Edge of Darkness (1943) on Netflix
Dr. Martin Stensgard would rather stay neutral, but his brother-in-law Kaspar Torgersen owns the fish cannery and collaborates with the Nazis. His daughter Karen works with the resistance.
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Trailer
Plot summary
In the Nazi-occupied Norwegian fishing village of Trollness, Dr. Martin Stensgard would prefer to stay neutral, while his wife Anna wants the family's comfortable routine to go on as if the occupiers were not there. The doctor's brother-in-law Kaspar Torgersen, who owns the fish cannery in town, collaborates with the Germans. His daughter Karen belongs to the resistance and is romantically involved with the group's leader, Gunnar Brogge. Her brother Johann has just come home from school in Oslo and falls under the influence of his Nazi-sympathizing uncle. Karen and Gunnar lead a group of resistance members who wait for a British submarine to bring them arms; the group hides the weapons in a cellar and asks the townsfolk to hold off on violence until the right moment.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Edge of Darkness (1943)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- After the 1943 Argentine Revolution, pro-Nazi Vice-president Juan Perón banned Edge of Darkness in Buenos Aires, objecting to its sympathetic portrayal of the Norwegian resistance and its unambiguously evil Nazi occupiers.
- During filming, Warner Bros. added six grave markers carrying the names of Nazi saboteurs recently executed in the US, for extra realism.
- Ann Sheridan and Humphrey Bogart were announced as the stars of Edge of Darkness, but Bogart dropped out and was replaced by Errol Flynn.
- Shooting was postponed two weeks so Errol Flynn could recuperate from bad health; Hedda Hopper reported he slipped off to Mexico City to hunt and had never wanted the film, partly because his role was small. Bruce Cabot was listed as a possible replacement, but Warners pressured Flynn and he returned.
- Screenwriter Robert Rossen wrote the villagers' dialogue in the speechways of New York's East Side rather than anything Norwegian; director Lewis Milestone said nobody else knew the difference, so the idiom worked admirably.
- Most of the film was shot at Warner Bros. in Burbank, with exteriors in Monterey, where Warners rented two of the town's biggest piers and a fleet of sailing boats, lined the streets with Norwegian and Nazi flags and signs, and cast locals as extras.
