Review of Surrender

This is another World War One drama that does not stand the test of time. It has some exquisite sets and photography, but the pacing is creaky and the performances seem stagy, even if there are some well-known professionals involved. It's a German set melodrama surrounding veteran German officer C. Aubrey Smith (the most guilty in the avenue of overreacting here) and his determination to see Paris fall. Several years gone by and that still has not happened, and getting French soldier Warner Baxter as a prisoner doesn't make his dream come any closer. Leila Hyams is the German woman previously involved with scarred soldier Ralph Bellamy (seen with half his face covered) Who falls in love with Baxter, even though she is also pursued by Smith's returning son, Alexander Kirkland. While Smith gets the award for overacting, Kirkland gets the award for having the talkiest scenes where nothing really happens.

The best performance comes from Ralph Bellamy as the embittered, scarred German officer who loses the girl (of course) but realizes that executing Baxter would only make him a martyr which gives him a bit of a conscience. The hard-nosed German / Prussian attitude can be a bit off-putting and one-dimensional, but a few developments in this correct lighting that up. I just found the pacing rather slow and the structure somewhat like a silent movie. Its attempts to have a Josef von Sternberg artistry fails, because there's no Dietrich to make it more exciting than it ends up being otherwise.