The concluding chapter in director Frank Borzage’s “Weimar Trilogy,” The Mortal Storm addresses head-on the rise of fascism. Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart play a young intellectual couple whose families are riven by ideological differences when Hitler becomes Chancellor in 1933. By situating the star-crossed lovers against a harrowing political backdrop, director Frank Borzage imbues his most cherished tropes with a tragic gravity.
Production: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. A Frank Borzage Production. Distribution: Loew's Inc. Producer: Frank Borzage. Director: Frank Borzage. Based on the novel The Mortal Storm by Phyllis Bottome. Screenwriter: Claudine West, Anderson Ellis, George Froeschel. Cinematographer: William Daniels. Art Director: Cedric Gibbons. Editor: Elmo Vernon. Music: Edward Kane. With: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young, Frank Morgan, Robert Stack. 35mm, b/w, 100 min.
