During the two decades of the 40's and 50's a new kind of film style was developed. The French, who had been deprived of many American films in the early 40's during the occupation by Nazi Germany, adopted the term, "Film Noir." They came up with the phrase to describe a kind of film that was different in various ways. First these films were most notably photographed in black and white and featured dark shadows and a feeling of menace. Generally their stories evolved around the seamier sides of life. Most of these were crime films shot in this stark black and white style. In addition, there were a few that were devoted to war in the more corrupt sense, though it is difficult to see war as anything but corruption on a grand scale and as a demonstration that once again diplomacy and common sense have failed.
The first film to be described as film noir was the now famous crime drama starring Humphrey Bogart and a crew of other outstanding actors and actresses. It was the third try at depicting the perversity in Dashiell Hammet's novelistic style with the same basic storyline. It was called "The Maltese Falcon." Hammett had written quite successfully up to then for the popular pulp magazine's that provided fast moving short stories in a variety of environments and most particularly in a criminal environment . Most critics, though not all, consider this 1941 production as the first true film noir. The nearly 20-year history of film noir is generally considered as ending with Orson Welles direction and acting in the "The Touch of Evil" a film of corruption and darkness supposedly shot on the American-Mexican border but which was actually filmed in the then seedy Los Angeles district near the ocean known as Venice.
In between these 1941 to 1958 milestones more than a score of other films were qualified as genuine film noir productions. Just a few of these included such classics as "The Big Sleep," which again starred Humphrey Bogart in a classic story of intrigue and murders. This story was derived from the Raymond Chandler novel of the same name, a name which Chandler created as a euphemism for death. Chandler scored with several other of his tight novels including "Murder My Sweet," starring Dick Powell in his initial excursion outside his usual film roles as a singer in Busby Berkeley type musicals. This film was remade a few years later under the title Chandler had originally written it under, "Farewell My Lovely." Both films featured the same private eye, Philip Marlowe.
A number of other films were produced in this kind of crime environment and a few more were delivered to movie theater goers with intrigue type plots. Graham Greene and Eric Ambler were the principal writers in this genre which included such gems as "The Mask of Demetrious" featuring two veterans of the Maltese Falcon, Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre against the legendary Balkans villain Demetrious, played by Zachary Scott . "Journey Into Fear" was another of this type along with "The Third Man" perhaps the greatest film noir of all. The latter and the previously identified film saw Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton as leads. Cotton plays a somewhat befuddled man not sure of what is going on in both films while Welles is a Turkish Secret Service Director in the former and the film's villain, Harry Lime in the second.
This somewhat long introduction brings us up to considering the "The Good German" which was described in its ads as a film of the past with all the qualities that marked the film noir of some 50 or so years earlier. In some respects it most resembles the "Third Man" dealing with corruption after the finish of World War II fighting in Europe. While the Third Man was set in Vienna the "The Good German" finds us in a suburb of Berlin located in the Soviet occupational area. It is the time of the Potsdam talks. This was a three power meeting between Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Harry Truman. The man who provides a sort of Joseph Cotton persona in The Third Man is played by George Clooney. Clooney is Jacob "Jake" Geismer a newsman attached to one of the news services who is there to cover the talks.
The U.S. Military has furnished Clooney an American officer's uniform to facilitate his passage between the Soviet and American occupation zones. It has also provided him with a driver, Tobey Maguire playing an American soldier, Patrick Tully, who we quickly learn is the epitome of corruption. He's dealing in the Black Market and is also involved in other shady deals. Tully has a mistress, a German girl named Lena Brandt played by Cate Blanchett. As an example of Tully's corruption he offers Brandt to Geismer if he wants to sleep with her.
When Geismer first sees Brandt in a shady bar it is obvious that he is very surprised. It develops that she worked for him when he was assigned to Berlin by an American news magazine before the war. Actually, she was more than just an employee since they had a sexual relationship as well. Finally we meet one more important player, Beau Bridges as American Colonel Muller. Muller has a key role in American occupation forces. He is trying to locate high level German scientists to get them to go to the United States before the Soviets get them into Russia. He is particularly interested in one scientist, a man who had an important role in the development of German rocket science, and specifically in the V2's that went up into the stratosphere and came down in Britain where they exploded with great effectiveness.
Lena Brandt has an important role in this scenario since her husband worked for the rocket scientist. She declares both her husband and the rocket scientist are dead. The film primarily deals with the search for both men, and a murder that is of particular interest to Geismer.
Tully has agreed to try and help Lena get out of Germany. He deals with both the Russians and Colonel Muller. The scenario is involved in that Muller assigns Tully to be Geismer's driver because he knows of the latter's pre-war relationship with Lena. He is hopeful that their pre-war relationship will lead to the location of Lena's husband and from him to the rocket scientist. Neither the Russians or the Americans really believe the two men are dead, but believe they are in hiding somewhere.
Geimer finally learns the truth from Lena and agrees to try to aid in her escape from Berlin. The closing scene is at an airport where the two talk together and a U.S. Military transport, the very familiar DC-3, warms up in the background. It's a nice touch to recall this same setting from "Casablanca." where Bogart says goodbye to Ingrid Bergman. It is a telling moment in "The Good German" for it is at this moment that Lena tells Geismer of her corrupt war time activities .
"The Good German" is a very successful invoking of the film noir technique. The lighting is outstanding with heavy shadows. The story is quite interesting, and the principles, primarily Maguire and Blanchett perform their roles to perfection. The film is a welcome addition to the repertoire that makes up the film noir genre.
Dick Gardner, Classic Films
Read the 25th Anniversary Edition of Classic Films No. 15, January 1983
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