Back in 1940, war raged across Europe, but the United States remained formally out of combat. Some desperately wanted the US to enter the conflict against fascism, and in that environment comes 1940’s The Mortal Storm, a commentary on how Germany changed under Hitler.

Set in the German Alps, 60-year-old Professor Viktor Roth (Frank Morgan) leads a sedate life with his family. In January 1933, however, Adolf Hitler becomes the country’s chancellor, and this almost immediately upsets matters.

While some of Roth’s kin and friends embrace the Nazi creed, others disagree, and the non-Aryan Roth finds himself a target. Roth and family struggle to adapt to this dangerous new circumstance.

Once the US entered World War II in late 1941, Hollywood quickly embraced the propaganda effort to promote the cause of victory. Prior to that, though, movies tended to straddle the line a bit more cautiously, so films like Storm or Chaplin’s Great Dictator stand out as more politically ambitious than most.

While I don’t think Dictator quite deserves its status as a classic, it does come with glimmers of brilliance at times. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the much less effective Storm.

Though fictionalized, Storm should pack a real punch, especially given all that we know about what happened in Germany during these years. We enjoy a historical perspective that means the basic tale boasts plenty of opportunity for power and drama.

However, the execution of the story just doesn’t much work, and the film displays missteps from literally its start. Storm opens with a ridiculously overwrought introduction about the “violent storm” of the day, which we see depicted literally in a clumsy sequence.

From there, the basic sappiness of the tale becomes an issue. Storm takes an awfully long time to go anywhere, as it devotes an awful lot of screen space to depict how everyone adores Professor Roth.

Matters shift some from there, and rather than focus on the Professor, we end up with a dominant theme about veterinarian/family friend Martin Breitner (James Stewart), a pacifist who resists constant pressure to join the Nazi thugs. Professor Roth’s daughter Freya (Margaret Sullavan) also struggles through her relationship with avid Hitler follower Fritz Marberg (Robert Young).

At times, these elements come with reasonable drama, mainly because of our connections to the brutality of the era – and our own. I don’t want to get political, but it becomes difficult not to equate the mindless, violent cult of personality that surrounds Hitler with a similar attitude toward a certain US president.

Unfortunately, Storm doesn’t develop these conflicts in an especially meaningful manner. Fritz and his peers embrace Hitler for reasons never made clear, and the story lacks any sense of nuance.

Not that I necessarily think these nasty brutes deserve introspection, but the characters tend to go from zero to 60 awfully quickly, and their motivations don’t feel clear. Granted, “mob mentality” can be huge, but I still think the story would work better with a less blunt approach.

Perhaps I shouldn’t dock Storm for this, as I understand its purpose: to educate Americans about the threat of Hitler. If we see beloved boy-next-door Jimmy Stewart combat these ills, how can the country not follow?

None of this makes Storm a rich or especially compelling movie, though. With a cloying score and a generally sappy, sentimental tone, the movie acts as an intriguing piece of history but it just doesn’t consistently connect as a drama.

The Mortal Storm appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This was a consistently pleasing presentation.

Sharpness usually appeared very good. The film only suffered from a few slightly ill-defined shots, as the majority of the flick demonstrated nice delineation. I saw no problems with jagged edges or shimmering, and the movie lacked edge haloes.

In terms of print flaws, Storm looked clean. Blacks appeared deep and rich, while low-light shots demonstrated fine definition and clarity. This ended up as a solid image.

Although the DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack of Storm didn’t demonstrate anything special, it worked fine for its era and genre. Speech seemed slightly thin but was good for its age, as lines remained intelligible and clear.

Music demonstrated reasonable range. The score didn’t impress, but it appeared acceptably bright.

Effects became a minor component in this chatty flick, and they came across as reasonably accurate. Though they had little heft, they were clean and didn’t suffer from distortion or other concerns. The audio appeared positive for its era.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we get two shorts. Peace On Earth (8:49) features a family of squirrels who celebrate Christmas in a world where war brought the extinction of humans.

Seriously.

Despite the cute critters and some attempts at comedy, this becomes a cartoon with a much darker message than most. It scores some satirical points but the odd juxtaposition of adorable animals, comedy and literal human holocaust doesn’t really work.

Meet the Fleet (20:20) features some new Navy recruits who go through training. It’s a fairly dull comedic piece of propaganda noteworthy because it features actors like Robert Armstrong and pre-Superman George Reeves. Though worthwhile for archival value, I can’t call it an especially entertaining effort.

While well-intentioned, The Mortal Storm suffers from too much sentimentality and not enough real character or story development. It acts as an intriguing snapshot of US politics before the nation entered WWII but it never becomes an actual good movie. The Blu-ray brings appealing picture and audio along with minor bonus features. Storm occasionally shows signs of life, but it falters too much of the time.