TONIGHT WE RAID CALAIS
US, 1943, 71 minutes, Black and white.
Annabella, John Sutton, Lee J Cobb, Beulah Bondi, Blanche Yurka, Howard Da Silva, Marcel Dalio, Anne Codee, Nigel de Brulier, Robert Lewis, Richard Derr.
Directed by John Brahm.
This is one of the more interesting war propaganda films coming from America in 1943 but focusing on the British, occupied France, the Resistance, Nazi munitions building in occupied France.
John Sutton has the opportunity for a leading role, a soldier who is sent into occupied France to organise the bombardment of the factory. He is accepted by a French family (with Lee J.Cobb and Beulah Bondi as the parents) but the daughter of the house, Annabella, hostile because of British abandoning of France and the death of her brother in action. (Annabella was French, her brother had died because of the Nazis, she had made efforts to get her parents out of France, had married Tyrone Power and supported the war effort and entertained the troops.)
French actor Marcel Dalio has a small role. Howard Da Silva, with a rather American accent, is the main one who seems out of place in the film, an officer who is romantically involved with the daughter of the house.
The film is directed by German-born John Brahm who made a number of strong thrillers during the 1940s, The Lodger, Hangover Square, The Brasher Doubloon, The Locket.
1. An interesting war propaganda film? In retrospect? The British? Occupied friends? The role of the Nazis? Nazi industrial activity in France? The Resistance?
2. The British opening, the commissioning of Carter, his credentials, a single commando raid, going undercover? The preparation for his mission, the explanation, his landing, making his way to the town, accepted by the family, posing as their son? The hostility of the daughter?
3. Audience familiarity by 1943 of the Resistance, the occupation, action like this?
4. Carter as a personality, his skills, being able to speak French, stay undercover, interact with the family, the discussions and hostility of Odette? Getting the information about the factory? Preparing a raid? Interactions with the Germans? The officer and his relationship with Odette? The commanding officer, his being betrayed by Odette, the questioning? The interaction with the resistance, the women? Maurice Bonnard and his rivalry with his brother, hostility? Betrayal? The plan for the fire, lighting the ground for the British planes and the bombardment?
5. Odette, her resentment against the British because of the war, her resentment because of her dead brother, looking after the baby? The attentions of the German officer? Her disagreement with her family, Carter posing as her brother? Her put in compromising situations with the Germans? The decision to betray Carter? The drama of the raid, the Resistance, the German treatment, a change of heart – and the end, and the possibility for her going to England?
6. Odette and her parents, landowning, the oppression of the Nazis, the attentions of the officer, the dead son? The Resistance? The father and his strength of character? His weaker brother and betrayal? The mother and her confusion and grief? The decision for Carter to pose as to their son, checking with the people on the town, their not knowing the son was dead? His being able to do his observations on the plans for the raid?
7. The French colleague and his mother? The visit, the discussion – and the later being arrested and executed? The roundup of the citizens, including the parents, their being executed?
8. The women, strength of mind, prepared to help with the burning of the crops, the sacrifice of the crops as a move towards greater freedom, the arguments for and against, the showing the spirit of the Resistance?
9. The plan itself, thwarted, Carter and his ingenuity, Odette and her contribution? The women and the lighting the fire? The planes of the bombardment? The destruction of the plant, the Germans, going to the plant, the tunnel, deaths?
10. The film released in the uncertainties of what would happen by the end of the war? A tribute to the British and the Resistance in retrospect of later decades?
