Review – Hangmen Also Die!

Fritz Lang teams up with Bertolt Brecht (credited as “Bert,” which made me wish Ernie Hemmingway had been involved as well) to create a disappointingly pedantic propaganda piece. The subject at hand is the aftermath of the Reinhard Heydrich assassination, but what we get can be described as “highly fictionalized” only if we’re feeling charitable. In the wake of The Hangman’s death, the Nazis clamp down and begin murdering hostages. In response, the Czechs unite to protect the assassin, ostracize anyone who so much as suggests any other course of action, and gleefully go to their deaths reciting some of the worst patriotic poetry ever committed to paper. I know Hollywood liked to paint strictly in black and white during the Second World War, but even by the standards of the day this is over the top. It has a few moments, but overall it’s too silly to work. Mildly amusing