A brisk story of Hugh Williams as a British reporter who plays the horses, knocks about Europe as the war begins, and trades quips and rounds of beer with such colleagues as Ralph Richardson.
He's exiled to Norway for his light and careless approach to his duties, but Norway turns into a hot spot when the Germans take it over and build a secret U-boat base. With the help of locals, who include Deborah Kerr, Williams manages to escape but the government sends him back to the village to set up a signal to the bombers that will try to demolish the submarine base.
The base is, in fact, destroyed by the raid but Williams and many others are taken into custody and sentenced to be executed. This leads to a few harrowing moments in the jail, while Williams comforts a terrified Kerr. Then the cavalry arrives. Some day the dawn will come again.
It's a rather mediocre war-time flag waver. It's not bad; it's just that it's not very polished. The plot, looked at as a whole, resembles the crab nebula of Orion. Britain to Poland to Britain to Norway to Britain to Norway to Britain.
Williams is all right as the wisecracking reporter but Deborah Kerr, a truly fine actress, is miscast and undone by her make up. Kerr has a fragile beauty and a tremulous voice. She's always a little frightened in her later movies. (I like that in a woman.) But here she's barely recognizable as an earthy, stalwart Norwegian peasant. I mean it literally when I say "barely recognizable." Her fair hair is bound in curls that twist around each other like a loaf of challah. Her eyelids seem to have been darkened so much that they droop like an alcoholic's, and her lipstick is a glossy obsidian. She was only twenty-one but appears older and, in some scenes, a little debauched. She has one or two poignant moments, though. While exchanging small talk with Williams, awaiting execution in a darkened cell, she suddenly shudders, buries her face against his shoulder, and cries, "I'm AFRAID." So are we all, darling.
The sequence in which Williams is parachuted into Norway is short but done with vigor.
He's exiled to Norway for his light and careless approach to his duties, but Norway turns into a hot spot when the Germans take it over and build a secret U-boat base. With the help of locals, who include Deborah Kerr, Williams manages to escape but the government sends him back to the village to set up a signal to the bombers that will try to demolish the submarine base.
The base is, in fact, destroyed by the raid but Williams and many others are taken into custody and sentenced to be executed. This leads to a few harrowing moments in the jail, while Williams comforts a terrified Kerr. Then the cavalry arrives. Some day the dawn will come again.
It's a rather mediocre war-time flag waver. It's not bad; it's just that it's not very polished. The plot, looked at as a whole, resembles the crab nebula of Orion. Britain to Poland to Britain to Norway to Britain to Norway to Britain.
Williams is all right as the wisecracking reporter but Deborah Kerr, a truly fine actress, is miscast and undone by her make up. Kerr has a fragile beauty and a tremulous voice. She's always a little frightened in her later movies. (I like that in a woman.) But here she's barely recognizable as an earthy, stalwart Norwegian peasant. I mean it literally when I say "barely recognizable." Her fair hair is bound in curls that twist around each other like a loaf of challah. Her eyelids seem to have been darkened so much that they droop like an alcoholic's, and her lipstick is a glossy obsidian. She was only twenty-one but appears older and, in some scenes, a little debauched. She has one or two poignant moments, though. While exchanging small talk with Williams, awaiting execution in a darkened cell, she suddenly shudders, buries her face against his shoulder, and cries, "I'm AFRAID." So are we all, darling.
The sequence in which Williams is parachuted into Norway is short but done with vigor.