Sei minuti a mezzanotte

Creditable performances, a good plot and just enough Hitler Youth to make you want to see their plans undone.

The film was set in 1939, and played out like a spy drama from that era.

I was with it the whole way and the dramatic final scenes kept me interested.

Glad I saw it.

My Review - Six Minutes to Midnight

My Rating 7/10 Six Minutes to Midnight is a 2020 British war drama film directed by Andy Goddard from a screenplay by Goddard, Celyn Jones and Eddie Izzard, starring Izzard, Judi Dench, Carla Juri, James D'Arcy and Jim Broadbent.

I enjoyed Six Minutes to Midnight mainly for Judi Dench's performance and the effective music score by Marc Streitenfeld .

Eddie Izzard and Celyn Jones wrote the story set in a boarding school for German girls just before the commencement of The Second World War .The story is loosely inspired by the real-life Augusta Victoria College, located in the also real-life coastal town Bexhill-on-Sea (county of Sussex, south-east to England).

The establishment is under surveillance by the British secret service, and the film follows the attempts by a British agent (masquerading as a school teacher) to uncover a plot to repatriate the pupils and discover what happened to his predecessor, who has disappeared.

I thought the female cast held this film together especially Judi Dench casting as Miss Rocholl the Principle of the boarding school and Carla Juri as the Head Teacher Ilse plus all of the 20 young girl students were well cast special mention of Maria Dragus cast as Astrid the Class Leader.

I was less impressed by the male cast including Eddie Izzard who is cast as Thomas Miller the Agent posing as a school teacher . No spoilers but I would have preferred Actors of the caliber of Ben Whishaw or Benedict Cumberbatch in this important role. James D'arcy as Captain Drey I thought was almost melodramatically comedic at times in his performance.

I kept thinking this is a story Alfred Hitchcock would have Directed far better and very differently to Andy Goddard .

Judi Dench now 86 years old and very vision impaired amazes me with her aptitude for remembering lines and even more for her dedication to any part she plays . There's a scene where she realises what's happening and not a word is spoken but all is conveyed in her facial reactions.

Six Minutes to Midnight for me had a great beginning and conclusion but got a little off track somewhere in the middle but it's well worth a look.

This is a really interesting story and until this, I didn't realize that Nazis were sending their daughters to English boarding school with the original intention of having them integrate into the upper social circles of British society (and the movie didn't make that clear, I had to look that up online).

So there's so much potential here, but for a spy movie, it feel surprisingly NOT all that suspenseful. The setting was great and there was nothing wrong with the performances, the story just lacked something and I feel like this should have been more of an edge of your seat story. A decent WWII drama.

Some other comments here are probably accurate but I thought it an entertaining yarn. Worth watching.

No CGI superheroes or Hollywood schmalz this very English feel is predictable but nuanced and entertaining nonetheless.

Don't believe the poor reviews; it is not that bad if a bit 39 Steps and the script isn't poor at all. It is understated which is a bit of a disadvantage in these over the top times.

Judi Dench and Eddie Izzard shine.

The soundtrack is excellent

The ending. Is pretty effective. - in these days it's better than most dark offerings.