Cloak and Dagger

Trailer—Cloak and Dagger

What a dull, silly and uninvolving film! There probably still are Gary Cooper fans and as a Cooper romance with bits about the atomic bomb stuck on it will probably please them even if there is no horse. This begins as if a serious thriller but the star fails to convince as a premiere scientist and it is downhill all the way. Sad to say that female co-star Lilli Palmer is a waste of space and like Cooper seems to have learned her lines by rote, so monotonous are both their deliveries. Only the striking Marjorie Hoshelle might have saved the day but her 'relationship' with Cooper is depicted by shots of boxes of chocolates and other gifts. A low point, surely, for Fritz Lang and I can only assume the project was foisted upon him and likewise the unlikely participants.

"Cloak and Dagger" is certainly one of the better movies of its type for that era. It's exciting as well as entertaining and not as dated as one would imagine. Gary Cooper is excellent as a nuclear physicist who turns smoothly into a secret agent. There is a fair amount of action (mainly good old-fashioned shoot-outs), a rather conventional romance and one superbly executed fight sequence.

This is old-school filmmaking by a master of directing; Fritz Lang, creator of M and many other fine films. Cloak and Dagger was made shortly after WW2, so it has that real WW2 feeling that only films from the 40s have. The two major stars, Gary Cooper and Lili Palmer have a wonderful chemistry that works, as well as all of the supporting actors. The production values are first-rate; Lang would make sure of that. The storyline is interesting; spies for the A-Bomb during the war. Recommended for good WW2 atmosphere.