The Moon is Down (1943) is remembered, if at all, for the fact that it's based on a Steinbeck novel and maybe for it having Henry Travers (Clarence in, It's a Wonderful Life). Like a lot of others made that year, this is most certainly a product of its time, but it rises above other similar propaganda movies made during the war in how it humanizes individuals, even some of the Nazis.
The cast does reasonably well, even if they tend to underplay some of the scenes, with Travers and Peter van Eyck, making the strongest impressions. Oh, and Natalie Wood appears in her first movie as a child.
The movie spends a little too much time having the characters stand around monologuing, but makes its point. This is another movie that I'm pretty sure Dad saw during the war, perhaps between shifts at the P-51 factory. Another point he probably found amusing was the way that the Germans brought a brass band with them to the occupied village.
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