A Call to Spy

Another puzzle under all the second war movies that completes the resistance machinery agains the German Gestapo.

Some British women took important functions to spy out the Nazis in France. It is well done with atmosphere and costumes. If you are Interested in this genre check it out. It was never boring and the actors played their roles very good. Solid 6/10.

The BBC, in their wisdom, covered this same topic as a series (1987-1990) called Wish Me Luck - a very well-made drama centered on the work done by civilian volunteers for the SOE in WWII France. I watched it on Amazon a year or so back but it is now currently unavailable to stream. If it ever does come back, watch it perhaps in conjunction with this movie and the other movie people have mentioned in their reviews (Female Agents) which I have yet to see.

Loved the three female leads - each brought a lot of texture and depth to the screen. Also, so grateful to know about these amazing women in WWII! They should be common knowledge - so thank you to the filmmakers for educating us in an entertaining way!! Great movie!!!

Enjoyable, based on a true story, film about some amazingly brave and little known WWII heroes...women spies. The acting, although not Oscar worthy, was decent by most. The pace was a bit slow and the editing could have been better, which would have upped the tension a bit, but the film was interesting, informative, and entertaining. (no language or nudity) This underrated, lesser known film held our attention throughout and is worth the watch, IMHO! 6.5 stars - June 2021.

This succeeds in highlighting the important (and often under-looked) true story of female spies in WWII. I was already familiar with Vera Atkins and Virginia Hall and it was nice to see their stories put to film. It was great learning the heroic story of Noor Inayat Khan too. "A Call To Spy" is the kind of film that gets you researching the true events after. More people should know about these women.

As a film itself, it definitely had a TV-movie vibe. The script was rather woeful at times and occasionally the acting came across quite wooden. It still did enough to tell the stories though, while keeping my interest. I would have thought a film depicting the heroic actions of spies in WWII would have more tension and better pacing though.

It felt a bit too long at times, and during the first 20 minutes, I wrestled whether to abandon it entirely. I felt the story of these women deserved my time though, so I persisted and I'm mostly glad I did.

Sarah Megan Thomas delivered a particularly good performance as Virginia Hall. You could easily tell she was passionate about this film and the story of these women. Stana Katic had great chemistry with her too.

A few months ago I watched the reality docuseries "Churchill's Secret Agents: The New Recruits", which depicted the SOE in WWII. I highly recommend watching that series before watching this, as it gave a fantastic education and background to the roles of these brave men and women. As a movie? "A Call To Spy" is rather lacklustre and has its share of shortcomings. As a story? Everyone should know about it.