---
title: 'Decision Before Dawn (1951)'
type: 'film'
director: 'Anatole Litvak'
released: '1951-12-21'
runtime_minutes: 111
genres:
  - 'War'
  - 'Thriller'
countries:
  - 'United States'
canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/movies/decision-before-dawn-1951'
review_count: 0
imdb: 'https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043459/'
publisher: 'CinePixo'
---

# Decision Before Dawn (1951)

1951 · 111 min · War, Thriller · United States


## Synopsis

Decision Before Dawn is a 1951 American war film directed by Anatole Litvak and starring Richard Basehart, Oskar Werner and Hans Christian Blech. It tells the story of the U.S. Army using potentially unreliable German prisoners of war to gather intelligence as clandestine "line-crossers" in the closing days of World War II. The film was adapted by Peter Viertel and Jack Rollens (uncredited) from the novel Call It Treason by George L. Howe. Decision Before Dawn was a critical success and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

## Credits

- **Director:** [Anatole Litvak](https://cinepixo.com/people/anatole-litvak)
- **Producer:** [Anatole Litvak](https://cinepixo.com/people/anatole-litvak), [Frank McCarthy](https://cinepixo.com/people/frank-mccarthy)
- **Screenplay:** [Peter Viertel](https://cinepixo.com/people/peter-viertel)
- **Original Music Composer:** [Franz Waxman](https://cinepixo.com/people/franz-waxman)
- **Director of Photography:** [Franz Planer](https://cinepixo.com/people/franz-planer)
- **Editor:** [Dorothy Spencer](https://cinepixo.com/people/dorothy-spencer)

## Cast

- [Peter Martin Urtel](https://cinepixo.com/people/peter-martin-urtel)
- [Loni Heuser](https://cinepixo.com/people/loni-heuser)
- [Elfe Gerhart](https://cinepixo.com/people/elfe-gerhart)
- [Richard Basehart](https://cinepixo.com/people/richard-basehart)
- [Dominique Blanchar](https://cinepixo.com/people/dominique-blanchar)
- [Charles Régnier](https://cinepixo.com/people/charles-regnier)
- [Wilfried Seyferth](https://cinepixo.com/people/wilfried-seyferth)
- [Klaus Kinski](https://cinepixo.com/people/klaus-kinski)
- [Werner Fuetterer](https://cinepixo.com/people/werner-fuetterer)
- [Walter Ladengast](https://cinepixo.com/people/walter-ladengast)
- [Adi Lödel](https://cinepixo.com/people/adi-lodel)
- [Oskar Werner](https://cinepixo.com/people/oskar-werner)
- [Gert Fröbe](https://cinepixo.com/people/gert-frobe)
- [Hans Christian Blech](https://cinepixo.com/people/hans-christian-blech)
- [Gary Merrill](https://cinepixo.com/people/gary-merrill)

## Criticism on CinePixo

No reviews published yet.

Source: https://cinepixo.com/movies/decision-before-dawn-1951
Film facts: Wikidata (Q1345327); synopsis from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Reviews, themes and notes are the work of this site's members.