Read Oskar Werner's bio, he was not ONLY A GREAT ACTOR he did all he could to avoid the Nazis who took over of his country and Europe. He was a GREAT ACTOR AND A GREAT HUMAN BEING WHO WITH GREAT COURAGE fought his own war to avoid service in the NAZI armies and to serve the needs and protection of his own family during WWII.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0921459/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Gritty, Realistic, Superb Spy Film set at the Very End of WWII made only a Few Years After the Actual Time Frame. This is a Remarkable Film on Many Levels. It is Unlikely that Any Movie about the Second World War is so Out of Sync from its Time. It has a German Soldier as the Protagonist. A Sensitive P.O.W. Medic (Oskar Werner) Recruited as a Spy to Infiltrate and Discover Secrets.This is Film-Noir Territory (one of the few war movies that could be considered) with a No-Nonsense, Stripped of Gloss, On Location Filming, of Devastation, Despair, and Characters that have no Pretension and are Well Crafted and Acted. This is Very Believable Stuff. The Bombed-Out Buildings, the Air Raids, the Extras and the Style of the Movie that is Close to Docu/Cinema-Verite, All make this one of the Best and Least Known of Hollywood War Films.A Must See for War Historians, Film-History Students, Off Center Cult Movie Types, and Anyone Looking for Realism, Craftsmanship, and Unfettered Storytelling.

As I fell asleep the night I watched this film I was in a pretty good mood. I couldn't believe I missed this film all these years. I'm glad I finally caught up with it.The first half of the film sees 2 GI's on their way to a base in France stumble onto 2 German soldiers who are lost from their outfit. One of these prisoners is the Oskar Werner character. The 2 GI's take them prisoner and take them to the very base they end up at. This base is for intelligence and it also holds POW's from the German army. This is where he decides to spy for the Americans.The second half of the film is just superb. Oskar Werner is then inserted behind enemy lines in his old uniform where he proceeds to gather the intelligence that the Allies want. This part of the film keeps you on the edge of your seat for the next hour. You get to see this character weave his way through German troop movements and trying to keep an SS intelligence officer off his tale.Part of the drama is getting to see the German side of the equation and what it was really like. To me the whole film is the Oskar Werner character and his facial expressions. He does speak but most of the film is the looks on his face. They are just sad and depressing and priceless. He was the star of this film. Oskar Werner was this film.

This film was nominated for best picture in 1951 and along with "A Place in the Sun," should have received more careful attention from Academy voters. Their choice of "An American in Paris" as best picture left a bitter taste in the mouths of movie people."Decision Before Dawn" chronicles the U.S. army's attempt to recruit German soldiers to spy on their own countries. These recruits are tested at a prisoner of war camp.A very young Oskar Werner steals the show as one who is chosen. The picture becomes even more exciting as Werner eludes the German army as the gestapo is on to him. This film deals with those Germans who realized that the war was lost and what Germany had done, they want to redeem themselves even if it means that their countrymen would denounce them after the war. Then, there are those who would use this as an attempt to get back home and inform the army of the traitors among them.Werner gets terrific support from Gary Merrill and Richard Basehart, the latter a fantastically under-rated actor.