Watch on the Rhine is a distinguished picture ... but with broader sweep and in more affecting terms of personal emotion. The film more than retains the vital theme of the original play.

On the eve of World War II, the German Kurt Müller, his American-born wife Sara, and their three children, having lived in Europe for years, visit Sara's wealthy mother near Washington, DC.

Its rise on the banks of the Rhine has been driven by BASF, the world’s largest chemical company, which thrived on cheap natural gas, and exports to China. But rising energy costs and dwindling ...