The 25th Hour

source: The 25th Hour

It is truly surprising that this movie is not more popular than it is..! This movie used to be shown quite often during the 70's on regular local television channels. I expected that with Mr. Quinn's passing, this movie along with the Secret of Santa Vittoria would make a come back. I am truly disappointed that it hasn't.

Anthony Quinn was a legend of 20th century in cinema by his great roles obtained this movie about a policeman innovated a false guilt for Toni to rape his beauty wife (Lisi) but he failed in this trap because he faced the strength of Lisi but he succeeded in his trap which was prepared by him for Toni that he put his name in the list of Jewish people in Romania and he transported from country to another in east Europe. This movie was directed in 1967 at the time of Arab -Isreeli war in 1967 (Six days war) as an evidence of harmful works from Jewish people which were caused by Jewish people not only in Europe but also in the rest continents. Jewish people were a great cause of French revolution in 1789 , the Pelchfik revolution in Russia 1917, the Turmoil of different countries in any time. Pearl Buck wrote a novel (Peony) in 1948 at the time of occupied Palasteine in 1948 about Chinese Jewish people and their problems they faced in China because of their bad instruments they used in these countries as keys of crisis.

This is a finely crafted movie with moving sequences, humor, and best of all a love story. Anthony Quinn is wonderfully casted and after seeing several of his movies, this has to be categorized as one of his best performances, besides Zorba. The movie makes you really wonder if its filmed in Romania, which apparently is not the case. It is sure to fool even native Romanians, with its authentic-like landscape, costume, and ways of life. According to IMDb it is actually shot in France and Yugoslavia, hmmm. The story is compelling, making you want to watch the entire movie over, to see if you missed something. It provoked me into researching to find out if this is a truth based movie, but to my disappointment, it is a novel based film, seemingly fiction. It seems a bit far fetched to have happened for real, but one never knows.... The one problem with this film, is that it doesn't seem to cast any Romanian actors, and it is a film about a Romanian character. There are probably many Romanian fill-ins in the beginning, but maybe not, it is filmed elsewhere. The author of the book was Romanian, at least thats all fine and dandy - overall a masterpiece in cinematography.

I watched this film early 70's.It is the best film I have ever watched And I will never forget it as long as I live. I hate wars. I hate wars. I hate wars. I wonder why we humans still let wars happen. Do you? Do you know why all these wars go on and on and on? innocent people get killed, even today, for stupid and unreal rezone ? I watched this film early 70's.It is the best film I have ever watched And I will never forget it as long as I live. I hate wars. I hate wars. I hate wars. I wonder why we humans still let wars happen. Do you? Do you know why all these wars go on and on and on? innocent people get killed, even today, for stupid and unreal rezone ? I watched this film early 70's.It is the best film I have ever watched And I will never forget it as long as I live. I hate wars. I hate wars. I hate wars. I wonder why we humans still let wars happen. Do you? Do you know why all these wars go on and on and on? innocent people get killed, even today, for stupid and unreal rezone ?

Like so many international co-productions HenriVerneuil's "The 25th Hour" is epic in scale but feeble in execution. A potentially good story about how Anthony Quinn's Romanian peasant finds himself, through some incredibly far-fetched circumstances, in the S.S. after the German invasion, falls very flat as its plot of almost Dickensian complexity gets lost on the widescreen and its cast of many nations struggles to put across its deeply mediocre script, (perhaps three script writers, including Britains Wolf Mankowitz, was two too many). Quinn himself is totally miscast but then so is everyone else. It has the feel of a poor man's "Dr Zhivago", (the film, not the book), so maybe what it really needed was a David Lean to carry it off. As it stands it is something of a disaster that thankfully isn't much seen today.

I was reading reports of the John Demjanjuk trial today and it immediately reminded me of this film. Like most others, I haven't seen this film in over 20 years and Quinn, who in my opinion gives his BEST performance ever, is luminous as Johann Moritz, a simple Romanian peasant, who is caught up as the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time throughout World War 2 and has absolutely no idea why. Yet, through the entire story, he never loses his essential goodness, compassion and humanity. Spoilers Follow: Quinn plays Moritz as an easygoing Romanian peasant married to Verna Lisi who is coveted by the local police chief. Falsely denounced by the Chief as a Jew, he is shipped off to a concentration camp with the other Jews of his town. While an inmate with his friends in the Concentration camp, he is spotted by an SS officer from the Nazi Office of Racial Purity who questions him about his background and ancestry. As a result, he is pronounced of Pure Aryan blood by the SS, given a job in the SS guarding the same camp where he was formerly an inmate and publicized in the German propaganda of the day. He uses his new position to smuggle food to his friends and, ultimately, saves their lives by killing the other SS guards who want to execute them. Captured by the Russians, he is thrown into prison for three years until he is tried as a War Criminal only to be acquitted because of the testimony of the Jewish friends whose lives he saved. Throughout the film, Moritz never loses his essential humanity and acts out of love and friendship to do the right thing. Quinn inhabits the role of Moritz and displays the gamut of emotions far beyond even La Strada or Zorba. Many have compared this film to "Schndler's List", but I think a more apt comparison would be to Agniezka Holland's "Europa, Europa" or Jiri Menzel's "I Served The King Of England" as similar stories. Henri Verneuil's direction captures the Romanian peasant society perfectly while illustrating that ethnic prejudice was not confined to Germans/Jewish alone. Verna Lisi's performance is among her finest and the rest of the supporting cast are equally well-done. As a result of all this, I actually found New DVD copies of this film available on Amazon.com. I ordered a copy for myself and HIGHLY recommend it to everybody else. SEE THIS FILM. If you're like me and most other reviewers here it will, simultaneously, uplift your spirits and haunt you for years as it illustrates the fundamental absurdity of War and Hate.

This movie's about a simple individual who gets changing labels of friend and foe stuck on him, and is a victim of the way society works. Although set in the epicenter of war in Europe during the 40's, the story contains a timeless theme: A man is known by the company he keeps. First as a Romanian peasant Johann was taken to be of inferior race: Jewish, a "non-Aryan", and thus put in a POW camp by the Germans. But then by scientific observation, the Germans come to recognize Johann to be equal and even superior to themselves: Indo Aryan; that is from an original direct lineage of their own Aryan forefathers in India. Johann plays along and enjoys the perks of his newfound social status, creating confusion amongst his fellow family, and eventually amongst the Allies as they free the POW camp. The social dilemma is clear. The "soldier" is so well camouflaged and undercover that even his "own side" fails to identify him correctly. So Johann gets judged by his appearance or the Germans he associated with. Never mind, that he had the good interest of his fellow prisoners in mind! I, being of Indian descent and raised in Europe, recognize this contradiction whenever I come across racists or neoNazis. That's why I enjoyed this movie when I watched it on TMC-Europe. This movie gives valuable insight to both perpetrators and victims, and even to fighters against similar evils.

I was wrapped to see many other people also enjoyed this film. First watched it when I was in my early teens and then again several times late at night a few times after. Then sadly, no more. I'm now nearly 49 and so wish it could be made available on DVD. Why not? The best Anthony Quinn role, no one could have been more suited for the part or parts he plays - I've mentioned it to other film buffs of similar age and alas, no one I know recalls it. As the daughter of a generation that went through WWII and its aftermath (and myself deeply fascinated by what that generation endured) I guess this film at the time gave me a wonderful cinematic insight into some of the heartbreaking issues of the day. For classic final scenes this movie is a stand out.

The naive Catholic Romanian peasant Johann Moritz (Anthony Quinn) is happily married with the gorgeous Suzanna Moritz (Virna Lisi). The local sergeant Dobresco (Grégoire Aslan) is a wolf and lusts Suzanna that rejects him. So he includes the name of Johann in the list of Jewishes in the village and he is sent to a forced labor camp for Jewish. Johann explains to the commander that he is not Jewish while Suzanna unsuccessfully seeks out authorities trying to fix the mistake, but she is forced to divorce from Johann to keep their house. Johann finally accepts to join a group of Jews to escape from the camp to Bulgary. However he is captured again and sent to a concentration camp. However, the SS commander believes there is a mistake since he has the profile of the perfect Arian and Johann joins the SS. After the end of the war, he is sent to a prisoner camp and judged in Nuremberg when he finally knows the fate of Suzanna. "La vingt-cinquième heure", a.k.a. "The 25th Hour", is a great movie with a heartbreaking story of wickedness, naivety and injustice in World War II. This movie forces the viewer to understand the chaotic condition of Europe after this war in every aspect. Anthony Quinn has a wonderful performance and Virna Lisi is perfectly cast in the role of a beautiful peasant. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): "A 25ª Hora" ("The 25th Hour")