Secret Command

There are some great scenes at the wharf with shootouts and manhunting and some very hard fights with sledge knuckles and some water incidents - the greatest scene is the rescuing of a man falling down from a great height, and the greatest combat is also in the water with one man drowning, but everything is rather predictable. It's about sabotaging a wharf building ships for transporting American soldiers over seas, and the Nazis are really bad guys, not hesitating to shoot to kill. Fortunately there are also some women involved (the beautiful Carole Landis) and some very sweet kids, who contribute in saving the film. It is worth watching but only barely, mainly for the dramatic fights and incidents at the wharf, but any propaganda film of 1943 could of course only end one way.

World War II spy thriller, taking place in a ship-building plant, with Pat OBrien, who made a whole lotta movies, mostly war times. Carol Landis, who made a good number of movies, but committed suicide at an early age, shortly after making, ironically, "The Noose". Secret Command was nominated for an Oscar, but was up against "30 seconds over Tokyo" (S Tracy, V Johnson,R Mitchum), so of course, it didn't have a chance. I thought the suspense-full high crane scenes were actually pretty good, considering when this was made, in spite of the liberal use of back-mats throughout the film. The sound also cuts out several times, and I wondered if it was dialogue editing, poor recording quality, or the fault of my local cable company. (was shown on Turner Classic Movies in June 2007). see my entry in message boards for this film for additional observations and shortcomings in the script.

Government agent Pat O'Brien goes undercover at a shipyard where his estranged brother Chester Morris works. Pat's trying to root out Nazi saboteurs. Part of his cover is that stunning Carole Landis pretends to be his wife. Something tells me they didn't have to twist Pat's arm to take this assignment. The look on Pat's face when he comes home to see Carole in her tight-fitting dress is priceless. Well paced WW2 espionage movie with a decent script and likable leads. Very nice supporting cast includes Ruth Warrick, Barton MacLane, Tom Tully, and Wallace Ford. One of those little hidden gems you come across on TCM every once in awhile. A must-see for Carole Landis fans.

Enjoyed viewing Carole Landis in the 1941 picture,"I Wake Up Screaming" and greatly enjoyed her performance in this film where she was so young, pretty and happy as a wife, (Jill McGann) to her husband Sam Gallagher, (Pat O'Brien) and a sweet funny little girl and boy to complete their lovely family. Sam Gallagher had a brother played by Chester Morris, (Jeff Gallagher) who did not see each other for years and wound up meeting each other in a ship yard which was building an aircraft carrier during WW II. Jeff Gallagher becomes suspicious of his brother Sam and for some reason does not believe he is married to Jill McGann and wonders just what his brother is up to. Jeff does not trust his brother and they both have a good fight in which both of the brothers get all beaten up. This is a great spy picture, but I still think Pat O'Brien was too old to act with Carole Landis or even marry her. Good Spy Film in 1944.

TCM gave this four stars. It's a 2-1/2 stars film, in my opinion.

Pat O'Brien is Sam Gallagher, a U.S. government agent, a step up from his old job as a foreign correspondent. His brother Jeff (Chester Morris) offers him a job working in a shipyard as a pileback. Piles are poles, driven into the soil by a mechanical device to give a foundation to a structure Sam's purpose is to ferret out a group of Nazi spies trying to sabotage the shipyards. To give him a background, Jill McCann (Carole Landis), who is an FBI agent, poses as his wife, and two small war orphans are brought in as his children.

Jeff is surprised by all this - okay, he hasn't seen his brother in seven years, but something isn't right. He tells Lea Damoran (Ruth Warrick, his girlfriend who used to be Sam's girlfriend) his thoughts.

Sam is able to find out that the yard is going to be blown up the yard while an aircraft carrier is docked. And he begins to learn who the Nazis are in the yard. One problem: His brother's suspicions are drawing too much attention to Sam.

Pat O'Brien for me has never made it as a leading man, yet for some reason, every once in a while he was given a lead role. This is a role for Joel McCrea, John Wayne, that ilk: masculine, solid, and, frankly, kind of a chick magnet. I mean, on one side there's gorgeous Carole Landis, and on the other, his old girlfriend who still has feelings for him.

The story is only so-so, but the final scenes are quite good. The subplot concerning the war orphans is sweet and probably unnecessary.

Carole Landis would be dead only four years later, at the age of 29. I suspect the affair with Harrison was probably the last straw. She was done in Hollywood: she was nearing 30, the cutoff age for actresses back then, there were no more big films thanks to her relationship with Darryl Zanuck ending, she couldn't have children, and at the age of 29, she had already had four husbands. A sad end for a beautiful woman who learned that in Hollywood, you're disposable.