Sotto copertura: come agire dietro le linee nemiche

How to Operate Behind Enemy Lines (1943)

*** (out of 4)

When WWII broke out Hollywood stood up and did what they could to help. Many famous actors enlisted while others made movies to help various departments of the military. Directors like John Huston, Frank Capra and John Ford made a very good number of these types of films and this one here belongs to Ford who not only directs but plays a couple different roles.

The story is pretty simple as the film is meant to teach new recruits the dangers of operating behind enemy lines and the various things they need to think about. The story of the film has two new recruits going behind enemy lines with one of them being careful and the other one not so much. As you can tell, the story itself is pretty simple as the main goal was just to show people what could happen if they weren't paying attention. The film opens and closes as a lecture and there's a nice little bit in the final seconds about a cigarette and how important it was to what we just watched.

For the most part this is an entertaining film that fans of the director should enjoy. Those who have watched a lot of these WWII films know that the quality usually isn't as high as what you'd expect in a Hollywood film but it's still quite good. The most fascinating factor here is the fact that Ford plays a couple different parts here and it's more of a distraction than anything else.