While Zinnemann’s Act of Violence (1949) deals with the postwar shame of a man who ratted out his comrades and ultimately decides to face the consequences, Mario Soldati’s Fuga in Francia (US: Escape to France) deals with a war criminal who lacks such contrition and instead tries to flee the consequences by escaping across the border to France. Former fascist Riccardo Torre (Fulco Lulli), for whose capture the Italian government has offered a million-dollar reward, plots his escape to France from a hotel in a small mountain town accompanied by his young son Fabrizio (Enrico Olivieri) whom he’d tried unsuccessfully to unload onto an Italian boarding school. Having been identified by his former housemaid Pierina (Rose Mirafiore), who now works as a waitress at the hotel, the wicked Riccardo is compelled to murder the young woman and depart for the border before the crime is discovered, eventually joining up with three smugglers led by Tembien (Pietro Germi, taking a break from directing). Soldati effectively builds suspense from two primary settings — the “cozy” hotel and an abandoned mountain cabin along the snowy escape route — as Riccardo’s identity is exposed and his desperation is escalated to the point of hurting his own son. Germi is excellent as the vigilant smuggler who takes a protective, paternalistic interest in Fabrizio, especially after his injury, and the crescendos of Nino Rota’s beautiful score effectively dramatize the peaks of the landscape.