Watch On The Rhine (1943) DVD

After German underground leader Kurt Muller arrives with his family in Washington, DC, he soon finds the tentacles of Nazi terror have a very long reach. Lillian Hellman's 1941 stage hit (adapted by Dashiell Hammett) retains it's emotional and intellectual power in this suspenseful movie awarded the New York Film Critics 1943 Best Picture prize. Repeating his Broadway triumph, Paul Lukas gives a passionate Oscar-winning performance as Muller. Bette Davis, who took on the film because she believed in it's importance, portrays Muller's wife with ringing integrity. Lucile Watson as a socialite whose complacency is shaken out of the magnolias and George Coulouris as a shady blackmailer also memorably reprise their stage roles.