"Classic Fritz Lang Thriller"
The film Fritz Lang made as his follow up to 1945's SCARLET STREET gets a UK dual format DVD & Blu-ray release courtesy of Eureka.
World War II. Alvah Jesper (Gary Cooper) is a nuclear physicist who gets recruited by America's Office of Strategic Services. He's sent to Switzerland as an undercover agent to meet up with former colleague Katarin Lodor (Helene Thimig) regarding the Nazis plan to construct an atomic bomb.
However, things go wrong when Katerin is killed and Alvah finds himself travelling to Italy to meet Dr Giovanni Polda (Vladimir Sokoloff) whose daughter has been kidnapped by the Nazis so that he will work for them.
Alvah joins forces with resistance fighter Gina (Lilli Palmer in her first Hollywood role) and together they plan to smuggle Dr Polda out of Italy. But there are plenty of obstacles in their way.
A stylish wartime espionage picture with Cooper and Palmer having great onscreen chemistry, CLOAK AND DAGGER was the plot template for 1984 Jim Abrahams / Zucker Brothers spoof TOP SECRET! Admittedly Gary Cooper's science professor does possess a somewhat unbelievable ability to beat up bad guys but treated as the piece of suspenseful action cinema it was intended as it still holds up as a fun ride.
Eureka's disc gives us a brand new commentary track from Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, a new video essay from David Cairns, a 1946 radio adaptation of the story starring Lilli Palmer and Ronald Reagan, 11 hours (!) of Cloak and Dagger: The Radio Series and a booklet with new writing on the film from Samm Deighan.
Fritz Lang's CLOAK AND DAGGER is out from Eureka on dual format on Monday 27th January 2020
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