Address Unknown (1944 film)

Address Unknown
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWilliam Cameron Menzies
Screenplay byHerbert Dalmas
Based onAddress Unknown
(1938 novel)
by Kressmann Taylor
Produced byWilliam Cameron Menzies
StarringPaul Lukas
CinematographyRudolph Maté
Edited byAl Clark
Music byErnst Toch
Color processBlack and white
Production
company
Columbia Pictures
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • June 1, 1944 (1944-06-01)
Running time
72 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Address Unknown is a 1944 American film noir drama film directed by William Cameron Menzies based on Kressmann Taylor's novel Address Unknown (1938). The film tells the story of two families caught up in the rise of Nazism in Germany before the start of World War II.[1]

Cinematographer Rudolph Maté employed shadows, shapes and camera angles to create the imagery. One notable scene shows Martin Schulz (Paul Lukas) descending a staircase awaiting his arrest by the Gestapo, with the shadow of a web-like criss-cross of window panes behind him.

  1. ^ Higham, Charles; Greenberg, Joel (1968). Hollywood in the Forties. London: A. Zwemmer Limited. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-498-06928-4.