Tonight We Raid Calais (1943)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

Excellent photography is the star of this World War II propaganda actioneer where an English flier, posing as a Frenchman, plots to alert the allies to the location of a German factory in the French countryside with the help of the locales, willing to loose their farms in order to end the Nazi occupation. John Sutton, taking over on the "B" front for 20th Century Fox's usual "A" lead Tyrone Power, is excellent as he convinces the locales to help him, finding instant animosity with the pretty Annabella, afraid of Nazi retaliation against her family. Lee J. Cobb and Beaulah Bondi are her courageous parents, with Blanche Yurka playing a more noble version of her "A Tale of Two Cities" character Madame DeFarge and Ann Codee (a softer version of Yurka who sounds almost like her) playing other locales. Short and sweet at just over an hour, this has some excellent action sequences, brisk editing and lots of rousing flag-waving, even if it is typical of many films of this period. Some of the Nazi cruelty is genuinely shocking, with Howard da Silva standing out as a German officer who has his eye on Annabella.

With bigger stars away fighting, it was John Sutton's chance at a good lead in "Tonight We Raid Calais," a 1943 film starring Annabella, Lee J. Cobb, Beulah Bondi, Blanche Yurka, and Howard da Silva.Sutton plays an Englishman, Geoffrey Carter, fluent in French, who is sent into Occupied France to find a German weapons factory so that it can be bombed. There are several factories, but only one is actually making anything.Carter lands in France, moves in with a family, and poses as the son who has come back from the service. Actually, the son, Philippe is dead, but only the villagers know this. It soon becomes evident that not everyone wants to help the English, in particular, Philippe's sister Odette (Annabella), who is in charge of the baby Philippe left behind, his wife having died in childbirth.At something like 71 minutes, this is a short film to have been the main feature. I suspect it was a second feature, as Darryl Zanuck had turned his back on Annabella's career after she married his major star, Tyrone Power, against his wishes. Annabella was probably very interested in this film, as her own brother had been killed by the Nazis, and she had been a wreck in the late '30s trying to get her mother and daughter out of France. During the war, she also entertained the troops, and she and Tyrone Power raised money for war orphans.Handsome John Sutton does a good job, and he's surrounded by a fine cast. Lee J. Cobb and Beulah Bondi play Odette's parents. It's a shame that Annabella's career was cut short by her marriage - she was a wonderful actress and a huge star in her native France. She's a real asset here.One reviewer on this site said that "everybody speaks English." Actually they don't, they're speaking French or German. As with plays by Chekov, one assumes everyone is speaking Russian, or that in a film set in Spain, they're all speaking Spanish. That's why accents aren't really necessary.Very good movie, fast-moving and suspenseful.

While "Tonight We Raid Calais" isn't the most realistic film and it smacks very hard of a wartime propaganda flick, it is well made and worth seeing."Tonight We Raid Calais" begins with a soldier being called out of a meet for a special assignment. I liked this scene as when you hear various names called out, one was 'Chateaubriand'---which is a type of tenderloin steak. I think someone slipped this one in as a joke. But the special assignment is not a joke--a French-speaking British soldier is sent to pinpoint a German weapons factory so that bombers can hone in one it. Once in France, however, it becomes clear that while most are patriotic and hate their German overlords, some are more than willing to save their own sorry skins by appeasing their new masters. Will the soldier's assignment succeed...and will he pick up a hot French lady at the same time? Overall, the film does what it was intended to do--shore up support for the war effort. While it's not brilliant, it's well made, interesting and different. Worth seeing--especially so you can see Lee J. Cobb play a Frenchman! Annabella (Mrs. Tyrone Power)By the way, the leading lady, Annabella, was married to Tyrone Power.

Production values are very basic in this quickly made WW II soft-propaganda effort. The writing is wooden and predictable with the appropriate highs and lows considering the patriotic terrain of 1942-43. There were hundreds of these films made--inexpensive, short and fit right into the lower half of a double feature--the meat and potatoes of the time. There is a U.S. War Bonds logo at the end of the film, and as I remember it, they would actually go around in the movie house and collect for the war effort. John Sutton manages to make a payday with his acting, and a young Lee J. Cobb (made up to look older!) does show signs of his later greatness. Annabella's part is so contrived, that it would have challenged a far better actress to make it work. To the history of propaganda cinema buffs, "Calais" should hold one's interest.