Margin for Error (1943)

Wonderful character development!

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

In order to bring this to the screen in 1943 Margin For Error had to be told in flashback. So it was by star Milton Berle as he relates to his fellow GIs his and Carl Esmond's story as they are about to hit a beach.Margin For Error which was written by Clare Booth Luce had a run of 264 performances on Broadway during the 1939-40 season. Only Otto Preminger as the sadistic Nazi consul in New York before FDR broke diplomatic relationship with them and star of the story and Edward McNamara playing a police captain repeat their roles from Broadway.Milton Berle takes the place of Sam Levene playing New York City policeman Moe Finkelstein who draws from McNamara the unenviable task of guarding the Third Reich embassy in New York. Can you imagine that in New York there are a sizable number of people not happy with the doctrines of the Third Reich, a lot of them with names like Finkelstein? Still Berle does his duty and at the same time is in a position to foil a few Nazi schemes.Otto Preminger is looking like he's loving playing the villain here, a man without a single redeeming feature you can name. He's even stealing from the Third Reich because he has a nasty gambling habit which ultimately brings him down. He's married to Joan Bennett whose mother was American although she's in love with the embassy's secretary Carl Esmond.Howard Freeman is in the cast as the leader of the American Bund in a characterization a whole lot like Fritz Kuhn. Kuhn had ambitions to be America's Hitler, but he was a bungler and a clod and just didn't have the right stuff. Still he was what later would be termed a useful idiot, but even Freeman's not putting up with Preminger for too much longer.Watching Berle in another feature from 20th Century Fox it becomes even more abundantly clear that Darryl Zanuck saw in him a comedy star who could be as bankable at the box office as Bob Hope was with Paramount. He was certainly more convincing in this instant as a Jew than Hope would have been, but the lines and situations were pure Hope.Margin For Error still holds up well as a World War II era item than a whole lot of others do.

Here, Nazi silliness makes "Hogan's Heroes" look serious. Two Jewish cops (Milton Berle and Joe Kirk) are assigned to the German Embassy in New York, an assignment I wouldn't wish on a Communist. The head of the embassy is the very imperious, very rigid Otto Preminger who verbally assaults Berle the moment he makes his introduction. Calling him pretty much everything but his last name, he even questions him on his European heritage, giving the hint that he's going to place Berle's remaining relatives in a concentration camp. When Berle meets Preminger's lovely American born wife (Joan Bennett), he learns that this fate has already befell her father thanks to Preminger. Berle finds it difficult to become friendly with the staff until compliments towards a mostly German speaking maid (Poldi Dur) break through her seemingly cold demeanor towards him, showing that underneath the fear of showing one's own identity past Nazi ambitions dominated those forced to work for people they most likely secretly despised.Of course, it's only a matter of time before one of the Nazi's is killed, possibly by one of the people seemingly closest to them. Berle must put the pieces together to expose the killer, no matter how well deserved the murder was. The film is told in flashback aboard a navy ship where Berle explains how he met German Baron Carl Esmond, accused by Preminger of being part Jewish and threatened with entertainment in a concentration camp. Probably timely in 1943, it seems much dated now, even if the propaganda factor is of interest historically. Berle doesn't seem much "the cop type", and Bennett is pretty much wasted, even in a top-billed assignment. Preminger overacts with such obvious hatred towards the politics of the Nazi's. In fact, his performance seems to have influenced actor Leon Askin who played the German General on "Hogan's Heroes".It's hard to either like or dislike this film, because it is clear that its motivations were to show that Nazi influence was felt locally. The Manhattan community of Yorkville (the location of Gracie Mansion) is mentioned as being particularly known as an area where members of the Nazi party living abroad lived. In a documentary on the movie "All Through the Night", this is also mentioned, and it is clear that several of the scenes in that film (dealing with a Nazi spy ring) in New York take place there as well. So I have to call this anti-Nazi comedy (one of many) historically important rather than an entertainment because it gives the message that "Be quiet. The enemy might be listening", a warning that still exists today.

It's just a joy to see Moe Finkelstein,a modest cop ,give lessons in democracy to a consul (the director/actor) and to a German of high birth,a baron !It was a propaganda movie ,but it did not repeat parrot(!) fashion Preminger's peers ' errors (!).Actually the purpose of the movie was to denounce Nazis and it pulls it off with gusto ,thanks to Milton Berle's naive but effective common sense .He probably never read "Tristan Und Isolde" but he knows that his country is the country where you enjoy freedom of expression.The movie cannot be ranked among Preminger's finest works,by a long shot ,but its construction (a long flashback) is a good way to show that all the Germans are not evil when the cop (now a soldier)stands up for his noble friend .There's also a murder mystery a la Agatha Christie a bit far fetched but rather smart. Fine acting,particularly by Joan Benett and Milton Berle.Preminger's character is a bit caricatured.

I saw this film last night at the NFT.Unfortunately my hopes were not realised.It could not decide whether it was a comedy,drama or war film.Otto Preminger,doing his usual nasty Nazi was the only good thing in the film.When he disappeared the whole film went down the plughole.Milton Berle is unknown in the UK.I have seen some of his film performances which tend to be rather over the top.In this film he is rather restrained,more is the pity.Even he could not draw humour out of what should have been a promising situation.Apparently Otto was so keen for this film to succeed he spent his own money on rewrites.This begs the question just how bad the film was before the script alterations.All i can say is,Otto you should have saved your money.