lillian hellman play and adapt by dashiell hammett with help from hellman and become a curious project to come out of gritty warner bros. paul lukas and reprise his broadway role and win the best actor oscar and play an anti nazi german underground leader fight the fascist and drag his american wife and three child all over europe before find refuge in the state ( via the mexico border ) . they settle in washington with the wife wealthy mother and brother and though a boarder residing in the manor be immediately suspicious of the newcomer and spend an awful lot of time down at the german embassy playing poker . it seem to take forever for this drama to find it focus and and when we realize what the heart of the material be ( the wise and honest and direct refugee teach the clueless and head in the sand americans how the world have suddenly change ) and it seem a little patronize the viewer be quite literally put in the relative place and be lecture to . lukas have several speech in the third act which undoubtedly win him the academy award and yet for the much of the picture he seem to do little but enter and exit and enter and exit . a his spouse and bette davis enunciate like nobody else and work her wide eye to good advantage and but the role doesn not allow her much color . their child ( all with divergent accent . ) be alternately humorous and annoying and and geraldine fitzgerald have a nothing role a a put upon wife ( and the disgruntled texture she bring to the part seem entirely wrong ) . the intent here be to tastefully and tactfully show u just because a ( wwii era ) man may be german and that doesn not make him a nazi sympathizer . we get that in the first few minute while the rest of this tasteful and tactful movie be make up of exposition and defensive confrontation and and ultimately and compassion . it should be a heady mix and but instead it rather dry eyed and inert . from .