Escape

Escape (1940)

Genres - Drama  |   Sub-Genres - War Drama  |   Release Date - Nov 1, 1940 (USA - Unknown)  |   Run Time - 104 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson

Based on a novel by Ethel Vance, Escape stars Robert Taylor as a young American, the son of a widowed European woman (Alla Nazimova). The mother has been imprisoned in a German concentration camp, compelling her son to ignore America's neutrality and attempt a rescue. Sneaking into German-occupied Europe, Taylor is befriended by a countess (Norma Shearer) who is the mistress of a Nazi general (Conrad Veidt). Taylor isn't certain of the countess' loyalties, but she proves herself by aiding in the rescue of the imprisoned woman. Escape is distinguished by a surprisingly subtle performance from Norma Shearer, though she gives in to her tendency to "ham" in her final denunciation of her Nazi paramour.

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Keywords

war, actor, America, aristocracy, arrest, behind-enemy-lines, border [geographic], camp, career, concentration-camp, death, doctor/nurse, drugs, escape, estate, extramarital-affair, fame, fidelity, finishing-school, General, Germany, girl, help, loot, love, mistress, mother, mountains, Nazism, official, plans, plight, rescue, return, school, selling, smuggling, snowstorm, son, stage, stars [celebrities], storm, traveling, widow/widower, woman, youth