Ministry of Fear is a 1944 film noir directed by Fritz Lang based on the novel The Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene. The film tells the story of a man just released from a mental asylum who finds himself caught up in an international spy ring in London during the Blitz. After guessing the weight of a cake at a fair, he is pursued by foreign agents and incriminated for murder. The original music for the film was composed by Miklós Rózsa and Victor Young.
Fritz Lang's adaptation of Graham Greene's novel is filled with unusual touches, beginning with the fact that protagonist Stephen Neale (Ray Milland) has just been released from a mental asylum. To celebrate his return to the real world, he visits a local carnival, only to accidentally receive a "prize" meant for a Nazi agent. When he discovers the error, he turns for help to a detective, whose investigations only make the matter more complicated. Neale soon winds up on the run from both the Nazis and the police, who mistakenly believe him guilty of murder. Lang's famous expressionistic style is somewhat muted here, but Henry Sharp's crisp black-and-white cinematography sets a suitably unsettling mood, and the twists and double-crosses of Greene's story unfold at an appropriately quick pace. While it does not reach the same level of timeless classic as Carol Reed's adaptation of Greene's The Third Man four years later, Ministry of Fear stands as a well-made, thoroughly gripping and intelligent example of film noir.
Lang creates a lingering sense of dread throughout, as Neale moves alone through the foggy, bombed-out streets of London, uncovering a secret enemy network hidden beneath the veneer of respectable society. He can’t approach the police, because of his criminal record, and everyone he meets is a potential enemy - even the beautiful and resourceful Carla Hilfe (Marjorie Reynolds), who becomes his chief ally.
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