Yellow Canary

During the war, the Ministry of Information subsided the film industry resulting in a lot of mindless flag-waving carbon copy movies. Not this though! Intelligent, intriguing, suspenseful and extremely well made describes this one.

Some have called this the thinking person's wartime spy film but that makes this sound much drier than this actually is. This is not a dry, cerebral espionage story - this has real, likeable people who make you care about them and drag you into the story. It's even got Margaret Rutherford and Claude Bailey providing exactly the right amount of comedy..... which is a difficult thing to achieve. Most comedic inserts in films of this era are either cringingly unfunny or so out of context that they just annoy you. Herbert Wilcox however gets this spot on.

Although Mr Wilcox had been making pictures for years (indeed, he almost single-handedly started up the British film industry), I've never considered him outstanding. This however is outstanding: superb writing, superb cinematography, superb acting and incredible atmosphere.

Although the soon to be Mrs Wilcox, Anna Neagle had also been making pictures for years, I've never understood what it was about her that made her so popular. Maybe, as is clearly demonstrated in this, it was because she was a brilliant actress. You'll be impressed. Richard Greene is also a surprisingly excellent personable leading man. Lastly, who remembers that old poet Cyril Fletcher reading his silly "odd odes" on That's Life in the seventies? Well here he is as a young man, doing the same, sans chaise!

If you like wartime espionage films - this is for you. (The Ian Fleming in this however isn't that Ian Fleming.)

Readily admitting that I know nothing about Director Herbert Wilcox, I am grateful to IMDB for affording the important - and extremely interesting - piece of information that he was married to the film's female lead, the elegant Anna Neagle, who is also filmed to her advantage as befits a director in love with his star.

Other curiosities are that the excellent support cast includes the great Margaret Rutherford as the nonstop chatterbox, Richard Greene who would become British TV's Robin Hood a decade or more later, the ever slithering Albert Lieven flashing a swastika-bearing cigarette case, and actor Miles Malleson (better known as as the dithering, poetic executioner in KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS) this time out of camera as script writer.

The script certainly is not short on innuendo and clever turns as Neagle receives a stuffed yellow canary in the mail that is her intro to a highly restrictive Nazi cell in Halifax, Canada, to where she travels by ship under the guard of Greene.

Wonderful to see Canadian-British cooperation to down the Nazi cell, pity that Canadian landscapes do not feature more.

Needless to say, you need to suspend your disbelief here and there but YELLOW CANARY is great fun to watch if you are not one of those viewers who expect directors, screenwriters and cameramen in 1943 to be aware of CGI, cinema industry changes and all the rest of it that causes some current viewers to brand movies like this one as "dated."

I enjoyed it thoroughly and hope to have the opportunity to rewatch it in the not too distant future. 7/10.

Anna Neagle stars with Richard Greene, Albert Lieven, Nova Pilbeam, and Margaret Rutherford in the British film "The Yellow Canary" from 1943,

Anna Neagle is Sally Maitland, a woman from a good family, estranged from them, who is a known Nazi sympathizer. She is forced to move to Halifax, Nova Scotia. On the ship, she meets a Polish aristocrat, Jan Orloch (Albert Lieven) and is also chased around by a British naval intelligence officer, Jimmy Garrick (Richard Greene). Once on dry land, she agrees to meet Jan's mother (Lucie Mannheim) who was blinded when the Nazis bombed their home.

Garrick, meanwhile, is supposed to watch her every move.

Enjoyable spy movie, with Neagle, the hugely popular British star, in fine form as a glamorous and somewhat snobby woman in this film, which has many twists and turns.

Handsome Richard Greene was signed by 20th Century Fox, but went back to England during the war and served in the Royal Armoured Corps of the Twenty-Seventh Lancers, rising to Captain. His career never got off the ground again, but he is best known by us old-timers in the states for being Robin Hood in the British TV series, which made him filthy rich and well known. After that, he became a country gentleman, raising thoroughbreds. Here he is pleasant and earnest.

Nova Pilbeam, who worked with Hitchcock, plays Neagle's mother in a small role.

The smallest role is Margaret Rutherford, who is a riot and a real scene-stealer.

If you see this is going to be on TCM, try and catch it.

Anna Neagle ("Sally") is quite efficient as the supposed Nazi sympathiser who abandons her family in a frequently bombed London and heads to the safety of Nova Scotia. En route, she attracts the attention of both the suave Polish officer "Jan Orlock" (Albert Lieven) and of the apparently hapless British one - Richard Greene ("Garrick") on the boat. On arrival, she befriends the mother of "Orlock" (Lucie Mannheim) and our story of espionage and counter-espionage begins in earnest. Nobody is exactly - or even remotely - whom they say they are and Herbert Wilcox manages to keep us guessing for much of the film, helped by three decent lead performances and quite a good story. Margaret Rutherford has some fun, in her very typical fashion to add a bit of light comedy (and sheer bloody mindedness) to the mix too and all told, this is a gently engaging tale of courage and bravery that is just about plausible.

It's 1940. Observers notice a possible signal to the German bombers up above but Sally Maitland (Anna Neagle) escapes leaving behind a dead body. She is suspected of being a Nazi sympathizer as she boards a ship to Halifax in Canada. She is approached separately by Jim Garrick (Richard Greene) and Polish officer Jan Orlock (Albert Lieven). Apparently, no one is who they appear to be or even pretend to be.

I actually like this movie while they are on the boat. It's fascinating to figure who's who and what's what in a contained location. There is a sense of claustrophobia and a lack of escape. They're trapped. When the Nazis get on board, it elevates the situation but then it goes flat. I start losing the thread of the characters. I don't know why the Nazi would just leave. They should at least execute a few of the passengers. The ship is a vastly better location for a thriller. Once the movie switches to Halifax, the sense of danger lowers. It's not a scary place even if the plot demands it to be important. The most compelling reveal is the truth about the opening scene. This is fine but the second half is a bit flat.