Although Richard Basehart is top-billed and his observations bookend the film, the real star is Oskar Werner - beset as usual with doubts - as the ironically nicknamed 'Happy'.
Like earlier Hollywood productions shot in Germany, this adaptation of George Howe's novel 'Call It Treason' (1949) goes for a harsh, monochromatic realism. Unlike them it's actually set back during the war itself from the point of view of the Germans themselves (most of the supporting cast consisting of authentic locals, including fleeting glimpses of youthful versions of Klaus Kinski and Gert Frobe) at the point when it had finally sunk in on the majority of them just what a terrible mistake they had made in electing Hitler.
Like earlier Hollywood productions shot in Germany, this adaptation of George Howe's novel 'Call It Treason' (1949) goes for a harsh, monochromatic realism. Unlike them it's actually set back during the war itself from the point of view of the Germans themselves (most of the supporting cast consisting of authentic locals, including fleeting glimpses of youthful versions of Klaus Kinski and Gert Frobe) at the point when it had finally sunk in on the majority of them just what a terrible mistake they had made in electing Hitler.