Yellow Canary

Love a good spy picture, especially those involving double agents and counter spies, and this is one of them. Richard Greene is at his most appealing as a pesty passenger/spy and Anna Neagle is a Nazi sympathizer/ counter spy who meets a Polish national onboard a ship to Halifax who is actually a Nazi operative. Great stuff when you put it all together and add a sinister Nazi espionage plan (is there any other kind of Nazi plan?).

Richard Greene is essential to the main plot, and don't go to the fridge during the passage to Halifax or you will miss a clever bit of deception involving Greene's character, as well as scenes with Margaret Rutherford, who is as delightful as always. "Yellow Canary" is well worth spending the 85 minutes running time. It is entertaining and contains the necessary moments of suspense and excitement that make movie-going so worthwhile.

The U. S. version of this film (and also a Spanish-subtitled version on Amazon, apparently) is missing around 11 minutes near the beginning. The minutes are rather important, because they include a scene at the protagonist's home that is helpful for later developments. Those minutes also include Nova Pilbeam, who plays the protagonist's sister. This is the version shown on TCM. However, there is a seemingly complete version currently (2021) available on youtube, and the viewer should watch the first quarter-hour there. I thought I was alerted to this fact here on IMDb, and I wanted to thank the user, but I can't find the note. It must have been two reviewers of the Spanish-subtitled version on Amazon. Enjoyable film, more enjoyable with the minutes included. Happy to see Richard Greene, because I always used to watch him in Robin Hood when I was a child. Margaret Rutherford is terrific in her small parts, and Anna Neagle is very good too.

This is a very clever thriller for its many fascinating details, its splendid dialogue and its total unpredictability. Anna Neagle makes a performance to go down in history, if all her other films will be forgotten, this one will not. Richard Greene also makes one of his best contributions, but the major male actor here is Albert Lieven as the Polish officer, who also makes probably his best performance. He was later to play the lead in "Beware of Pity" (on Stefan Zweig's famous and only novel) but is rather bleak there in comparison with this fascinating character; but this film is full of double characters, as if the major theme of the story and film was just that: double role play.

Herbert Wilcox, director and producer and Anna Neagle's husband, made his mark by witty innovations and brilliant dialogue, which places this spy thriller on a higher level than most, especially of the period. The intrigue is fascinating all the way, as you never can guess what will happen next, the film actually starts off with a profound mystery, as a man is found dead where someone just has been signalling to the Nazis bombing London in the 1940 Blitz, a mystery which leaves you hanging, and it's not until late in the film when you almost already have forgotten it that it is resolved.

The very introduction to the film is also worth a remark. Like in "Hamlet" two watchmen are chatting in the fog at night when the Blitz comes, but what they are discussing is Shakespeare. The other says Bacon, and there is an argument about it, until the second quotes Doctor Johnson: "If Bacon didn't write Shakespeare, he certainly missed his chance."

The scene is London and Canada, that is Halifax in Nova Scotia, and you reach the other scene exactly half way into the film, where Anna Neagle is stranded as a suspect spy or as a security risk placed under constant surveillance, while there is much more to it than that, as the action will prove.

Lucie Mannheim also makes a fascinating performance as the old lady Orlock, but the real original treat is Margaret Rutherford as one of her many delightfully eccentric old ladies - she dominates every scene she is in and gives a special relish of refreshment to the whole film.

In brief, this is and remains a timeless treat for everyone who would enjoy being intrigued.

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.

I was pleasantly surprised by this film, filled with twists and turns it feels wrong to give too much away so I'll keep my review brief.

The acting is all decent, everyone gives quite a funny and memorable performance with maybe a couple exceptions. The cinematography is surprisingly good with it mostly feeling pretty standard but sometimes delivering some very dynamic shots with oners and odd angles.

The negative aspects of this film are few but the first half of the film is slightly boring and the editing is incredibly plain, just fades and cuts, nothing very interesting. I also think that the film could do with subtitles when Nazis are speaking, I have a basic knowledge of German but with the sound quality and speed they were speaking I struggled to understand anything they said and while this didn't really matter much to the plot it still would have been nice, even if it may have ruined a couple reveals towards the end. Still this film was surprisingly good, if they remade it today I would be well up for watching it again 7/10.