Joe Dante on The Seventh Cross

Vienna-born Fred Zinnemann's first major MGM directorial assignment is an uncommonly intelligent and well researched anti-Nazi film. Spencer Tracy plays an embittered escapee from a concentration camp whose faith in humanity is restored when others help him reach the Dutch border. Adding authenticity is the unbilled presence in the cast of several actual German refugees, including the wives of Bertolt Brecht and Max Reinhardt.