A charity organization becomes a front of Nazi spy ring in England during the Blitz, Fritz Lang’s conspiracy theory-fused film-noir is based on Graham Greene’s novel, a taut if sketchy escapade about an innocent man’s dogged investigation of what is hidden under the plain sight, that said man is Stephen Neal (Milland), who is newly released from an asylum after being interned for assisted murder of his sick wife, here, Seton I. Miller’s script tones down Stephen’s crime, thus significantly attenuates his guilt which pervades in the source novel.
Stephen’s sanity has never been questioned, a new lease on life barely starts when he fetches up in a village fête organized by the Mothers of Free Nations charity, and inexplicably wins a cake due to sheer quirk of fate and far-fetched misapprehension, when the cake is bombarded along with a nameless assailant, Stephen, narrowly survives within an inch of his life, goes to London and starts his own derring-do to get the bottom of the incident, down the road, he meet an Austrian refugee Carla Hilfe (Reynolds), who runs the charity with her brother Willi (Esmond), friend or foe, a catenation of happenstances will determine that, only, circumscribed by a simplified approach to close the story with a happy ending, the suspension fizzles out in a jiffy.
Clear as day that Lang’s Hollywood knockoffs are unable to hold a candle to his Weimar years achievements, still, in MINISTRY OF FEAR, monochromatic allure and seamless mise-en-scène materialize from time to time, notably during a séance presided by a clairvoyant Ms. Bellane (Brooke), a femme fatale archetype, Lang proves he still has his impressionistic conceit in his genes, only the masterstrokes are at a premium in this second-rate output.
referential entries: Lang’s THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW (1944, 7.5/10); CLOAK AND DAGGER (1946, 6.5/10).
显而易见的魅力和道德焦虑的混合物，电影版是一个令人愉快的有关偏执狂的“冤枉的人”惊悚片。
《恐惧内阁》是朗极其推崇的小说，曾想为自己买下它的版权，但没有成功。当朗看到制片厂的剧本后，企图不履行合同。
完成的影片和小说有很大区别。在格林版中，邋遢的主人公刚刚获释，他是因给妻子实施安乐死而被关进监狱的。
电影中，这个人物则是个英俊的家伙，被判无罪。类似格林对大轰炸时期伦敦的幻影式描绘的东西，派拉蒙一样也没能获得。最好的片段是那些暴力动作，场面设计和摄影的新颖不凡。
A charity organization becomes a front of Nazi spy ring in England during the Blitz, Fritz Lang’s conspiracy theory-fused film-noir is based on Graham Greene’s novel, a taut if sketchy escapade about an innocent man’s dogged investigation of what is hidden under the plain sight, that said man is Stephen Neal (Milland), who is newly released from an asylum after being interned for assisted murder of his sick wife, here, Seton I. Miller’s script tones down Stephen’s crime, thus significantly attenuates his guilt which pervades in the source novel.
Stephen’s sanity has never been questioned, a new lease on life barely starts when he fetches up in a village fête organized by the Mothers of Free Nations charity, and inexplicably wins a cake due to sheer quirk of fate and far-fetched misapprehension, when the cake is bombarded along with a nameless assailant, Stephen, narrowly survives within an inch of his life, goes to London and starts his own derring-do to get the bottom of the incident, down the road, he meet an Austrian refugee Carla Hilfe (Reynolds), who runs the charity with her brother Willi (Esmond), friend or foe, a catenation of happenstances will determine that, only, circumscribed by a simplified approach to close the story with a happy ending, the suspension fizzles out in a jiffy.
Clear as day that Lang’s Hollywood knockoffs are unable to hold a candle to his Weimar years achievements, still, in MINISTRY OF FEAR, monochromatic allure and seamless mise-en-scène materialize from time to time, notably during a séance presided by a clairvoyant Ms. Bellane (Brooke), a femme fatale archetype, Lang proves he still has his impressionistic conceit in his genes, only the masterstrokes are at a premium in this second-rate output.
referential entries: Lang’s THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW (1944, 7.5/10); CLOAK AND DAGGER (1946, 6.5/10).
不知道是因为影响力有限制约了选角范围，还是出于对此类英式惊悚题材的角色特征认识不够深入，朗为本片的所挑选的演员总感觉差强人意。男主人公的扮演者雷·米兰论演技没有话说。他曾经凭借在比利怀特的《周末》中的出色演绎获得过奥斯卡最佳男演员。但他那略带阴险的嘴角眉梢，显然更适合表现性格更为复杂的一些人物。甚至是反面人物（如希区柯克的《电话谋杀案》），而不是本片中的男主角。善良、无辜、被冤枉且为美女所吸引，这样的角色还是加里格兰特那种类型更为适合。女主角的扮演者就差太多。缺少明星魅力。同时，朗在两人第一次见面的段落中，并没有给予更多感情互动。以至于我们很难理解当，米兰走投无路的时候为什么要给女主角打电话，而对方为什么真就欣然相助。
本片结尾通常被人诟病。理由是因为警察的突兀介入产生了反高潮效果。个人认为有一定的道理。在所看过的一些格林汉姆的小说改编电影当中，普遍存在的一个问题就是编导对警察角色在故事主要情节发展中的定位不是很清晰合理。《第三个人》的结尾，马丁不过是与英国警察搜捕队同行的的一名美国作家。可为什么最终只有他这个业余执法人员才能去完成大义灭亲？显然这里刻意安排的戏剧化成分居多。而《坍塌的偶像》中，同样是警察，对于男管家的太太坠楼一事的判断的反复无常也多少影响了剧情的发展的合理性。希区柯克曾说过，悬疑惊悚电影不能让警察参与太早，因为如果那样的化，男主角所面临的危险性就被降低。于是也就必然导致观众的移情度的降低。当然，除非是你能设计为他同时被警察和匪徒双重追杀。看来还是很有道理的。
朗电影中的图案，一直是其拥趸影迷热衷讨论的话题之一。例如本片中出现在女巫师会客厅的墙壁上的螺旋方形图案：
<图>
类似的图案在朗的许多其他作品中也曾反复出现。
《绿窗魔影》1944 <图>
《狂热》1953 <图>
按照某些影评家的的解读，图案的运用，可以追溯到朗的的德国表现主义默片时期。图案本身普遍带有某种隐喻和象征。诸如圆形象征邪恶，螺旋表示困惑迷乱等等。不过，在美国好莱坞的类型片中，它们是否真能向观众传递出导演所希望的象征意义，那就只有是见仁见智了。
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_537b619801008055.html
7.5~8分。n好莱坞工业化流水线一方面做到了雅俗共赏，一方面也抹杀了导演的个性，这也是朗在美国时期的作品不太被提及（以及很少被观看/拥有知名度）的原因。
n客观来说，这部电影制作的还是很精美（如同电影中第一个悬疑点蛋糕），整个悬念的设置，铺陈，开展，与解套也处理得引人入胜，但偏于娱乐化（必须通俗？）的设定还是让剧情和人物的描绘显得苍白。
n不过好莱坞的优势还是在如下这些细节展现的淋漓尽致：摄影，搭景，以及令人赞叹不已的室内陈列（尤其贝伦太太的房间，仿如教科书一般），单个镜头中隐藏的信息量之多，值得细细品味。
n最后射杀兄弟的那一枪也是充满创意，宛如神迹。这也是一位大师导演在大环境限制，在艺术创作低潮之时（年龄上应该属于高峰的年纪），突破枷锁的尝试。
n片头的时钟母题也具有多重意向的表达：n1，杀妻/妻子死亡倒计时n2，自由/胜利解放倒计时n3，回忆/心灵折磨倒计时n4，将被谋害/危险迫近倒计时