Odette (1951)

Great Film overall

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Painstaking reconstruction of lost heroes of the war in an almost documentary character, in this case the French resistance organized from England with a quite ordinary woman as the main link and foundation of the operations, as she as an ordinary woman is best fit not to attract attention. When she is asked to volunteer she has no experience whatsoever, an ordinary woman with three children separated from her husband, whom we never hear a word of throughout the film. Instead there is Trevor Howard as a certain Peter Churchill as the other main link in the operations together with Peter Ustinov as the indispensable radio operator. He is caught and killed by the Gestapo, which you learn already in the beginning of the film, but you never see it happen. Instead you see the full torture sessions and ordeals of Trevor Howard and Anna Neagle.It certainly is one of her best performances, the direction by Herbert Wilcox is completely natural all the way, and Anthony Collins has provided the film with discreet but eloquent music perfectly suited to the action; but the perhaps most interesting performance is that of the dubious Marius Goring as the Abwehr man, who like Canaris is well aware of the fallacy of Hitler's regime and continuosly seeks a way out of the war dilemma but falls in with the tragedy and must take the consquences of being part of it. It's a gripping film of the unknown heroes of the war that never reached any public acknowledgement, while they were the ones who risked their lives more than most and often lost it. Still, this is also a film of survival against all odds by sheer obstinacy and refusal to cooperate with a dictatorship.

One always feels a sense of.duty while watching an Anna Neagle film. She tackles important subjects, as well as doing musicals with Errol Flynn, but she always plays the same role - la Neagle. Here she is a Resistance heroine based on a real figure, but one can't help feeling that Virginia McKenna did the role far better in 1957's CARVE HER NAME WITH PRIDE. Nonetheless this film has its moments, and passes away a wet afternoon agreeably enough.

Harrowing World War 11 story of a widowed French woman living in England who is recruited by the British to return to Nazi occupied France and spy for the allies.Anna Neagle is in top form as Odette. She is equally matched with still another fine Trevor Howard performance, as her partner in spying in France as well as her eventual lover. Peter Ustinov has a pivotal role as a message transmitter who was ultimately executed by the Nazis for his deeds. Marius Goring plays an interesting character. He is a German who professes his hatred of the Nazis to Odette and tries to shield her from the gestapo.Odette's experiences at the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp are harrowing indeed. She is tough to the core and will not betray her comrades despite repeated Nazi torture. We see women playing in an orchestra at the camp; playing in order to save their lives. We hear the usual line of "I just followed orders."A very good, a very inspirational film.

Anna Neagle is "Odette" in this story of a war heroine, based on the adventures of Odette Sansom. Her costars are Trevor Howard, Marius Goring, and Peter Ustinov.Odette is drafted by the government into spy work after she hears on the radio that Admiralty are asking for photos taken during vacations and trips overseas for possible war use. Odette sends her info to the wrong office and before she knows it, she is drafted as a spy and sent to France to work with the resistance, her three daughters left in a convent school.There, she meets Peter Churchill, code name Raoul, who is to be her supervisor. She is given the name Lise. Unfortunately a double agent reports them and both are captured and tortured by the Gestapo. Odette tells the Gestapo that she is married to Peter Churchill and that he is related to Winston Churchill (he isn't) in the hopes that the Nazis won't kill them.I really loved this movie but what happens to Churchill and Odette is given away in the opening credits, so there are no surprises. There is, however, a lot of suspense, and there are wonderful performances by everyone involved. I didn't care for Marius Goring in "The Red Shoes" - he just wasn't leading man enough for me, but he always made a very effective villain. As a German officer, he does a great job here. Peter Ustinov, as a fellow agent of Lise's and Raoul's, is young and likable in his role, which, despite its seriousness, he tackles with a light touch. Trevor Howard is solid as Peter, and Anna Neagle is lovely and extremely effective as Odette.The real Odette, as we know from those opening credits, does marry Peter Churchill, but they divorced in 1956 and she married a third time. (Her first husband actually died while she was imprisoned by the Nazis, though the film says they are separated.) She was given the legion d'honneur for her war work. Her life was very interesting - as a child she had polio and was blind and crippled for a year. She died in 1995 at the age of 82.Before Odette died, her legion d'honneur Gold Cross was stolen. She made a public appeal and it was returned with the following note: "You, Madame, appear to be a dear old lady. God bless you and your children. I thank you for having faith in me. I am not all that bad - it's just circumstances. Your little dog really loves me. I gave him a nice pat and left him a piece of meat - out of fridge. Sincerely yours, A Bad Egg." Well worth checking out.