Odette

This film, made in 1950 was one of many made around that time to record and pay tribute to the hero(ines) of World War Two. It is amazingly unsentimental, and all the more powerful for that reason. Anna Neagle shows more emotion in the few scenes where she contacts her children than she does later when spying for the British in France. Neagle is surrounded by a galaxy of fine British actors including Trevor Howard, Bernard Lee (ironically playing the same kind of role as in his many outings in the Bond movies) and Marius Goring. I don't doubt the veracity of her exploits and she was very lucky to have survived the ordeal of her imprisonment at Ravensbruck. Neagle made many films with her husband Herbert Wilcox, this is probably one of the best, and though it is clearly a low budget film, it is none the worse for that.

Watched this film previously sometime in the '60s and it follows as much as we can be told about the SOE in WW2. I didn't think much of Anna Neagles French or her accent although I know her husband, Herbert Wilcox, the films Director and Producer used foreign actors wherever possible and needed a 'name' in the lead female role to carry the film. Also starred Trevor Howard, Bernard Lee, Peter Ustinov and Marius Goring and tells the story of Odette Sanson, recruited to the SOE and dropped into France. Neagle was quite the 'star' of Biopics having played Queen Victoria, Edith Cavell in film same name (Very good and historically quite accurate. Wilcox Direction is a little slow and pedantic and is the thing that really lets the film down. Another true-story is Carve her name with Pride (excellent) about Violette Szabo (played by Virginia McKenna) another SOE recruit, described as 'the bravest of them all'.

Trevor Howard and Anna Nagle give sterling performances in this WW2 Biopic of Odette Churchill, the wife of a relative of Winston Churchill. Every scene has the feeling of that authenticity that only films during or shortly after WW2 have. This film has understated British sensibilities, not overblown Hollywood production values. In many ways, it is similar to the one of best films of WW2, Brief Encounter. Howard was in that film as well. These were the best two films of his career; and this film is the best performance in Anna Neagle's career as well. Peter Ustinov gives a pleasing performance, and will become the owner of Spartacus in ten years or so. The only criticism of the film is the survival rate of leaders in the French Resistance. A documentary I have seen recently mentioned that the fatality rate of leaders in the French Resistance approached 75%. Hollywood (and Britain for that matter) likes to portray the Germans as stupid and incompetent when policing the French Resistance. Nothing could be further from the truth. The semi documentary I saw (Army of Shadows 1969) showed a highly efficient German surveillance of French Underground activity and the elimination of the vast majority of those brave participants. See these films for the best about the French Resistance.

A British biographical drama: A story about the French widow of an English soldier who offers her services to British Intelligence who send her undercover to assist the French Resistance in Vichy France, but soon the enemy sets a trap. This gripping, moving, and grim fact-based melodrama is a daunting and vivid tale. Anna Nagle gives a fine performance, immersing herself in the role in the same way as many Method actors would do in a later generation. Trevor Howard and Peter Ustinov are equally convincing. Although the film doesn't provide much mystery, the factual elements are sensitively handled.

This movie is a tribute to all the women and men that risk their lives in resisting in France. It tells the story of Odette, a French-born woman that decided to enlist in a British section working under cover in France to help resistance and gather intelligence.

The movie is inspired by real events and tries to give a good overview on what was that kind of life. It can only be commended for that. However in itself, the movie is so so, not to say disappointing. It lacks a few film to grasp the audience and make us feel the bravery shown by all this women and men!

I also did not understand the language management in this movie: We switch from English to French in France only to distinguish the British spys from the rest - at first - and then every French in relation with them speak English as well. It should have be either all in English or in French: to speak English in France under cover would be really amateurish... (I'll not mention the bad French spoken with an evident English accent). On top of it, same happens with German (with the secretary being told bad with English to the next scene fluently talking in that language...).