This is one of my favorite Errol films. Right up there with Objective Burma and Rocky Mountain. This movie is awesome.
Made at the height of his artistic career as an actor, Edge of Darkness was made at what ultimately became the turning point - and not in a good way - of his personal life and professional downward spiral that lasted until his death in 1959. In the middle of making Edge of Darkness, Flynn was indicted for statutory rape, with a resulting trial that scarred and changed him. At the same time, co-star Ann Sheridan had a very public and messy separation and ultimate divorce from Flynn, in no small part due to an affair she had had with Flynn after making Dodge City together. movie.
The movie was filmed in the Monterey area, with the cannery scenes filmed on Monterey Row. Unfortunately, the very Central Coast weather delayed filming for weeks due to fog. It was all so much easier in LA, I suppose. But LA doesn't look like Norway.
But it was a movie of it's time. That is, a great World War II propaganda movie, intended to educate and inspire the home front about the evils of Nazi Germany and the heroic suffering of the Norwegian people. However, rare for WWII propaganda films, it didn't shy away from fully portraying the quislings (a term unfortunately a product of Norway) and cowardice that also accompanies war. In that regard, it's a pretty rare war movie. And I like it. So there.
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