The Master Race has an interesting premise, but it doesn't build upon it in a sufficiently engaging or imaginative manner. Positing that elite Germans are going "undercover" in the waning days of World War II to sew dissent that will blossom in a third World War is a fine idea, but director/co-screenwriter Herbert Biberman fails to make it come alive. The resulting screenplay is overly complicated, trying to cover too many bases and so failing to cover any of them as satisfactorily as it might. The characterizations, which could have been rich and detailed, instead come out as fairly stereotypical, and the drama becomes melodrama. And while a few scenes do feature some powerful writing, there are others which are saddled with dialogue that is embarrassingly poor. The cast is game, but they're hampered by the script and by Biberman's middling direction. Osa Massen, as the woman bearing the stigma of a Nazi-fathered child, turns in the most fully realized performance. George Coulouris certainly has the evil villainy of his character down pat, but plays him too obviously: a more "sideways" approach to the role would have made his by-the-numbers machinations carry more weight. Master is watchable, but too propagandistic and too much of its period to be anything more than a curiosity.