O.S.S.

Done in semi documentary style I enjoyed this film and it was not done too sentimentally which it would have been easy to slip in to. The Nazi were not portrayed as being particularly nasty, not nice of course but not very nasty as is common in a lot of WWII films. In the trivia section it's mention that Alan Ladd's character's height is give on his OSS record card as 5' 10" but it's actually given as being 5' 10 1/2", Mr Ladd being only 5' 6". Mr Ladd's films have an extra dimension in spotting the efforts made to avoid his lack of height being obvious. A lot of sitting and kneeling down goes on in his films to avoid him being on the same level as others on screen with him.

Nothing but praise for this taught well made 2nd WW narrative. All good reviews and worth viewing , highly recommended.

My one eye opener , unlikely to have been noticed or be of any serious concern to the uninitiated , the scene where Brink is in the wash room building we first see him camera right , and about 24 /5 seconds later he is seen cam. Left , ie: presumably the director knew this and producer left that as we saw it ! Yes they both got away with that , albeit I wonder how many movies in the US and how many films in the UK let that important film making rule slip by even prior to 1946 ? That broken rule , if dialogue is involved can compromise the clarity of an actors voice, meaning additional budget for post dubbing ? In this instance, I am not sure if there was suspenseful music b g , albeit no dialogue , so it almost past muster ? That rule applies to this day , never cross the line . If you do, characters appear in the frame when they should not as the audience concentration can become disorientated ?

Liked this film. Its practically a film about what would becomes as the CIA. Four new agents try to get secrets across france but are slowly gets caught, one by one. As each try to survive, each mission seems to gets murkier by the minute.

I would say it was a nice surprise to see a film that talks openly about espionage AND how it is deployed. I just wished the lady character could have been played better AND is played less frustrated. She gives too tense vibes for an espionage film. Alan Ladd is not really that much of an actor either but works well as a straight man but is much believable as a man trying to keep his head afloat. The tension too is not as build up as I would have liked .

Otherwise, other than that seemingly from war attacking sequence, which was wonderful. There is nothing really to write about it. Just random fun facts like the writer for this film would serve as a writer for some of the Bond films.

Fine film.

Alan Ladd and Geraldine Fitzgerald head up a team of spies in "O.S.S.," a 1946 film about the Office of Strategic Services formed just before the U.S. entered World War II. Ladd and Fitzgerald are part of a group, trained by Patric Knowles, who then parachute into France, perform acts of sabotage and also spy activities. One of the complications is that the Ladd character, John Martin, is a chauvinist who believes that "Elaine Duprez" (Fitzgerald) can't do what he considers a man's job effectively. She proves him wrong as she flirts with a German officer and gets to travel with him by train. The sculpture she is doing of him contains a bomb, which she passes out the window to John and he plants. She climbs out and the two run out of the tunnel. Eventually the two fall in love, but it's bittersweet as they watch the rest of their team fall prey to the Germans.

This is a pretty good film, not the most exciting thing you'll ever see, but it's heightened by the acting of Geraldine Fitzgerald and the presence of Alan Ladd. It's hard to think of Ladd as a great actor; he was very limited, but what he did, he did very well. Handsome, tough, with a no-nonsense line delivery, he was perfect starring in the noir films for which he is justifiably famous and, of course, Shane.

The attractive Patric Knowles does a good job, as does the rest of the cast. "O.S.S." is effective in that you care about the characters. There is some tension, though probably not enough, and nowhere near enough action for this kind of movie. If it were any other actors, it wouldn't be worth seeing; but given the cast, it's a decent watch.

Direction and screenplay are below average in this movie. The script is clunky, the music distracting, and the acting so-so. While the subject is interesting and the plot is superb it falls short. Alan Ladd is great even when he doesn't try to act well and the other actors do their best, but I think they were held hostage by bad direction. Maybe Irving Pichel was just having a bad day when he made this movie. Worth watching if you appreciate the courage and sacrifices of a past generation that allow us to live free.