Cheap This Land Is Mine (Video) (Charles Laughton) Price

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Customer Reviews of This Land Is Mine

+1/2. Charles Laughton saves the day
French director Jean Renoir helmed this melodramatic wartime propaganda piece, about a small town "somewhere in Europe" that falls under the heel of Nazi occupation. Charles Laughton stars as a bumbling, apolitical local, befuddled schoolteacher Albert Lory, who is forced to face up to the dastardly evil of the fascist regime while others around him either give their lives to the resistance, or collaborate with the oppressors. A talented cast balances out a stilted and rather tendentious script; Laughton, in particular, is stunning for his ability to elevate his talk-heavy closing monologue above its baldly propagandistic scripting into something resembling a stirring, dramatic speech. Fans of the cantankerous character actor Una O'Connor will definitely want to check this one out as well: playing Laughton's domineering, opportunistic mother, she gets to chew more scenery here than in any other film I've seen her in. Also of interest is the attempt to lampoon the supposed gentlemanliness of the German Army, with Walter Slezak playing the well-educated, insidiously manipulative officer who seeks to quell any rebellion under his command. Not a great movie, but an interesting timecapsule of sloganeering wartime propaganda.

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A good look at today
Charles Laughton had a unique ability to reflect the mores of any period in time. In this movie he was reflecting the moral choices faced by a country occupied by the Nazi invasion.
Watch it and see today. Listen to the German ubermeister and hear the rant of today.
Enjoy the movies, think about the message.