Confirm or Deny

Though it has some glaring tonal shifts this little charmer should be better known then it is.

Don Ameche stars as a brash, to put it mildly, news reporter who bulldozes his way to whatever he wants in London during the Blitz. One night while walking during a blackout he happens to meet a lovely Joan Bennett and practically sweeps her off her feet. When the air raid sirens go off they end up spending the night in a tube station with dozens of others, when he wakes up and she's gone leaving behind a cheeky note that would be the end of it for most men but not for Ameche who doggedly finds out her identity and finagles a way for them to work together. From there it's a fast dance towards love amongst the threat of bombs and assorted crises. It's all pretty breezy with nice performances by the stars but being a war movie reality occasionally intrudes leading to those jarring shifts.

Still certainly as good as many other better known movies from the era why this one has fallen through the cracks is a puzzler.

There are some good things in this period piece about WW England before the US got involved in the action. That would be Roddy McDowell, who steals the film away from everyone, and shows why he would be a major star in the future. The rest of the cast is OK, but the major weakness of the film is that it spends too much time building up the relationship between Ameche and Bennett, instead of examining more of the role of McDowell. Ameche seems to be on an adrenaline rush, and the chemistry between him and Bennett just does not seem to click very well. Whether this is poor writing, or poor acting is not really too clear. The film does, however, capture the atmosphere of a beleaguered England during the Blitz. Period films about these events are almost always better than those made several years after the fact. Worth viewing for the McDowell sequences.

Made in the months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Confirm Or Deny is a pleasant comedy-drama set during the London blitz, featuring engaging performances by its lead players, Don Ameche and Joan Bennett. The production values are excellent, and for a modest film it is visually quite striking, managing at times to evoke the mood of the real life photographs and newsreels of London on a Hollywood backlot. Director Archie Mayo was in decline when he made this film, but rallied for the occasion, making it seem much better than its script. A period piece, for sure, but a fascinating one, and at times quite moving. Unlike most American movies of the period, this one gives the real world its due, and its occasional moments of sadness and even tragedy are touching, and still resonate through the years.

Don Ameche is an American newspaperman waiting for the Germans to invade London in "Confirm or Deny," a 1941 film also starring Joan Bennett, Roddy McDowall, and Eric Blore.

Ameche plays the conniving, fast-talking Mitch, who meets Jennifer (Bennett) during an air raid and falls for her. When his office building is bombed, he moves the staff into the basement of a hotel and persuades someone to let him use a teletype machine to give him a 40-minute lead on the other papers when the invasion happens.

He arranges for Jennifer to be loaned out as a teletypist. Meanwhile, Mitch becomes angry that the censor (John Loder) isn't letting him report on some of the news.

This is a small movie from 20th Century Fox, but it really conveys the atmosphere, tension, and tragedy of wartime and has interesting and likable characters. Ameche does his usual terrific job, Bennett is lovely, and Roddy McDowall is adorable as a little volunteer watching out for homing pigeons with coded messages.

Recommended.

this movie is quite amazing... not a big surprised after i learned from imdb that sam fuller was part writer,...

this insanely intense guy is a manager of a newspaper branch in london during the nazi raids in the early 40s. yr never quite sure if he is more worried about getting killed, or getting the jump on the other papers on some big story, like about a possible german land invasion of england. then he meets this odd british woman to push against him, maybe thats why he likes her, damn good thing he met her too as youll see in the end. its all photographed amazingly,,,

so weird to see how people lived during the bombing as well,... the london subway with its posters, its huddled masses trying to sleep, bombs, violence, the actors are really good, esp. the two leads. don ameche was gonan jump out of the screen, i got tired just watching the guy.. the last 5 minutes are pure propaganda, but so what, the rest of the movie is great.

oh well whatever, its stupid to gush over a fake version of something real that had millions of people that you could actually meet out there to talk about how truly intense it was etc.

anyways, the movie is still great.