Editing Decision Before Dawn (section)

==Reception==
At the [[24th Academy Awards]], ''Decision Before Dawn'' was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture Oscar]], with [[Dorothy Spencer]] nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Film Editing|Best Film Editing]].

[[Bob Thomas (reporter)|Bob Thomas]] praised the film in his 1951 newspaper column, describing it as "movie-making at its best. ... By using the real German cities and people, this film has created a stirring and realistic picture of a dying nation."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCS19511224.1.15&srpos=7&e=------195-en--20-SCS-1--txt-txIN-%22capsule+review%22----1951---1 |title=Hollywood |author=Bob Thomas |newspaper=[[Santa Cruz Sentinel]] |date=December 24, 1951}}</ref> He also praised the performances of Basehart, Merrill and Werner.

Upon seeing the film, [[General Douglas MacArthur]] said "This is the finest picture I have seen this year, and I nominate it for an Academy Award."<ref name=LAT>''Los Angeles Times'', January 12, 1952, p. 12</ref>

In a 2006 review, ''[[Chicago Reader]]'' film critic J.R. Jones was less enthused, writing "By the time Fox released this 1952 feature, the patriotic orthodoxy of Hollywood war movies had softened enough to allow for a German hero, but not a very engaging one; the inherent drama of his divided loyalty is mostly bypassed in favor of a slack espionage plot."<ref name=CR>{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/decision-before-dawn/Film?oid=1058603 |title=Decision Before Dawn |author=J.R. Jones |newspaper=Chicago Reader |date=May 26, 2006}}</ref> However, Jones applauded Werner's "magnetic performance" and thought that Knef "is devastating in her brief turn as a war-weary hooker."<ref name=CR/>

In 2008 [[Emanuel Levy]] called ''Decision Before Dawn'' a "stirring drama ... And while not made as an explicitly agit-prop, it does convey its humanist anti-war message, without the usual sentimentality."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://emanuellevy.com/review/decision-before-dawn-9/ |title=Decision Before Dawn (1951): Best Picture Oscar-Nominated War Film |author=Emanuel Levy |date=January 24, 2008}}</ref>