The Mortal Storm (1940) is a powerful film that reveals the tenets of fascism, and specifically that which would overtake the Europe of its time. It opens with some narration that ends with a question (the title of this review) in "January 1933 (in) A small university town at the foot of the Alps in southern Germany".It's a day of celebration, Professor Viktor Roth (Frank Morgan) is turning 60; he's a well respected man in his household, by his family and friends, and among his colleagues and students at the university, where he teaches science. On this special day, many show Viktor their love, including his daughter Freya (Margaret Sullavan), or speak his praises, including one of his top students Fritz Marberg (Robert Young), who does so in front of perhaps the entire university in his jam-packed classroom, and a longtime family friend Martin Breitner (James Stewart), who's a farmer.However, that day, January 30, 1933, is also the day that Adolf Hitler was named chancellor of Germany, and the Roth's dinner celebration of Viktor's birthday turns sour: Fritz, who's just claimed Freya as his fiancée, and her stepbrothers Otto and Erich (Robert Stack and William T. Orr, respectively) receive the news of Hitler's appointment with great enthusiasm while most of the others do not. Besides Viktor, it's Martin - who'd had designs on Freya himself and was just as shocked by Fritz's claim of her as she was - that appears to be the least excited about it.This division of family continues because Viktor is non-Aryan, so his life is soon in danger, despite the fact of his laudable reputation within the community. Flags with swastikas soon appear and Fritz, Otto and Erich are caught up in a sick kind of patriotism that finds them persecuting another non-Aryan Professor Werner (Thomas W. Ross) at the urging of the fanatical Holl (Dan Dailey in his film debut), before turning on Martin - who publicly defends Werner before helping him escape to neighboring Innsbruck - and finally Viktor, who's arrested in August. When winter comes again, Viktor dies in prison, and his wife Emilia (Irene Rich) also leaves for Austria.Freya had long rejected Fritz and his politics, before their town had devolved into a more threatening and violent environment for anyone that resisted the Nazi party or wouldn't return in kind the "Heil Hitler" salute. That included Elsa (Bonita Granville), an hysterical teenager working on the Breitner's farm with Martin's mother Hilda (Maria Ouspenskaya); they're bullied by a thuggish partisan soldier named Franz (Ward Bond).When Martin daringly returns, he and Freya have a brief romantic moment with Hilda, before attempting an escape on skis. Fritz's commander forces him to decide whether to show loyalty to the Fuhrer or former friends by leading his fellow soldiers to intercept them. The party wins out, and Fritz is responsible for Freya's murder. He guiltily confesses it to Otto and Erich claiming "he had no choice" while Otto laments how much their lives have changed.

This is a surprisingly modern and almost shockingly valid film still today after 75 years, since all the arguments are as important today as in 1940 and perhaps even more so than ever. It's about the transience from a democracy to an autocracy, how it changes the very core of society and plunges people into an entirely different mentality turning many of them into aliens and forcing them into exile, if they want to escape the brainwash. It's an upsetting story extremely efficiently told with marvellous photography, especially in the final scenes way up in the Alps, and it's a joy to see James Stewart so young and fresh and completely himself in total honesty. Margaret Sullavan has done better in other films, especially "Three Comrades" two years earlier, another German story on a novel by Remarque, but no one is falling short of perfect. Frank Borzage's direction celebrates perhaps its greatest triumphs in this vitally important film so much ahead of its time, since it clearly sees through all what Germany actually was about long before America entered the war. This is actually a timelessly important film unmasking the very essence of autocracy as a very efficient warning against it for all times - it could be about any autocracy. Perhaps it's a little dramatized and exaggerated, it all happens in 1933 while it's still winter, while it really depicts the whole development in Germany up till 1939, but that's a minor detail, and the film would have been less efficient without the exaggerations - the message is the important thing, and it remains a vitally important one for all ages.

Frank Morgan (Professor Roth) is a respected German Scientist/Biology Lecturer. The film starts on his 60th birthday in 1933 – the same day that Adolf Hitler assumes the Chancellorship of Germany. Uh-oh…. Maybe things won't be the same.This film entertains as it shows the bullying power (Nazis) that can be very scary – in any walk of life. The satisfaction comes from the fight back, in this film, led by James Stewart (Martin Breitner) and his mother Maria Ouspenskaya (Mrs Breitner).A scene that stands out for me is the mock wedding that is staged by Ouspenskaya as she unites her son, James Stewart, and his wife-to-be Margaret Sullavan (Freya) at her home before the two lovers embark upon their escape. The scene is played with sentimentality at first that may make you feel that you are embarking upon some kind of nonsense…until you realize that this is Ouspenskaya's last moment that she can share in happiness. Very touching.What is interesting is this film as a document of a time gone by with how things were in Nazi times. There will always be suppression in some form across the globe. I felt that the film delivers a standard ending, however, but the tears should be saved for Maria Ouspa and her fate.

Sincere, moving story about the Nazi takeover in Germany and its affect on one family in particular. The father (Frank Morgan) is sent to a concentration camp. His stepsons become ardent Nazis, as does the man who was supposed to marry his daughter (Margaret Sullavan). This also drives a wedge between the sons and a lifelong friend (James Stewart), who is in love with Sullavan.Beautifully acted with fine performances from all. Stewart and Sullavan are amazing. Robert Young, usually playing good guy parts, here plays a Nazi. Bonita Granville does well, as does Ward Bond in a villainous part. Maria Ouspenskaya is brilliant as usual. But the best kudos would have to go to Frank Morgan for his sensitive, intelligent performance. Possibly the finest of his career. Robert Stack also appears as one of the Nazi stepsons and plays a part in the film's powerful final scene.This is truly a classic in every sense of the word. It's a movie that should be seen by everybody, both for its content as well as its historical value.