
Decision Before Dawn
1951 · Movie · NR · 119 min · ★ 6.8 · 95% critics
WWII is entering its last phase: Germany is in ruins, but does not yield. The US army lacks crucial knowledge about the German units operating on the opposite side of the Rhine, and decides to send two German prisoners to gather information. The scheme is risky: the Gestapo retains a terribly efficient network to identify and capture spies and deserters. Moreover, it is not clear that "Tiger", who does not mind any dirty work as long as the price is right, and war-weary "Happy", who might be easily betrayed by his feelings, are dependable agents. After Tiger and another American agent are successfully infiltrated, Happy is parachuted in Bavaria. His duty: find out the whereabouts of a powerful German armored unit moving towards the western front.
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Details
- Years
- 1951
- Release date
- 1951-12-21
- Language
- English
- Rated
- NR
- Runtime
- 119 min
- Critic score
- 95/100
- TMDB rating
- 6.8/10 (49 votes)
- Box office
- $1,550,000
Themes
- spy
- world war ii
- prisoner of war
- waffen ss
Awards & recognition
- National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
- Academy Award — Best Film Editing · 1952 · nominated
- Academy Award — Best Picture · 1952 · nominated
Cast & crew

Richard Basehart
as Lt. Dick Rennick

Gary Merrill
as Col. Devlin

Oskar Werner
as Cpl. Karl Maurer - aka Happy

Hildegard Knef
as Hilde

Dominique Blanchar
as Monique

O.E. Hasse
as Col. Oberst von Ecker

Wilfried Seyferth
as Heinz Scholtz, SS-Mann

Hans Christian Blech
as Sgt. Rudolf Barth - aka Tiger

Helene Thimig
as Fräulein Schneide

George Tyne
as Sgt. Griffin
Directed by Anatole Litvak