Features: DVD
Editor's Note
In Fritz Lang's compelling World War II espionage thriller CLOAK AND DAGGER, Gary Cooper stars as Alvah Jasper, a shy and retiring physics professor at a midwestern university. When government agents press Jasper into joining them in an effort to curtail the Nazis' efforts to attain atomic secrets, his life takes a dramatic turn. He is sent to Switzerland to contact Dr. Katerin Loder, a renowned scientist who has information about the status of German atomic technology, but on arriving in Europe finds the scientist missing, and therefore embarks on on a breakneck journey through Switzerland and Italy, fleeing the Nazi SS and attempting to locate Dr. Polda, who is the last person still alive who can give him the vital nuclear information. Along the way, romance is born between Jasper and a beautiful Italian resistance fighter, Gina.Filmed at the close of World War II, CLOAK AND DAGGER was one of Hollywood's first films to deal with the activities of the OSS during the war. The movie tackled some of Fritz Lang's favorite motifs, including underground espionage, anti-Nazi activity, and psychological warfare. The secret world of the OSS is expertly illustrated through the codes, secret handshakes, fistfights, and shoot-outs that pepper Jasper's transcontinental flight. The drama of the final escape makes CLOAK AND DAGGER one of Lang's most exciting films.
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