Just as Powell and Pressburger followed up Spy in Black with Contraband, so this was an unofficial sequel to The 49th Parallel. Perhaps responding to criticism of making a war film with German protagonists, this has the same situation only it’s a British air crew who’ve cashed in occupied Holland.
It’s a lot less fun movie – the co-operative, professional British soldiers are less interesting than the Germans, who were always yelling, squabbling, and pushing Nazi doctrine on the locals. Ditto the locals in The 49th Parallel were more colourful and engaging that the Dutch here, who are loyal, diligent, etc. – and dull. The only bright spark is Robert Helpmann as a traitor, although Googie Withers and Pamela Brown have beautiful, evocative presences. The main debit are the characterisations of the British soldiers - it's hard to tell them apart except the old guy (a knight who flies on a bomber). They're all bland.
Some of it’s brilliant, though – the stunning opening credit sequence with an empty plane flying through the air, Googie Withers’ inspirational speech about resistance in the dark. And I did like the fact that the British find the missing one of their number playing soccer with some locals.
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