Yellow Canary

The U. S. version of this film (and also a Spanish-subtitled version on Amazon, apparently) is missing around 11 minutes near the beginning. The minutes are rather important, because they include a scene at the protagonist's home that is helpful for later developments. Those minutes also include Nova Pilbeam, who plays the protagonist's sister. This is the version shown on TCM. However, there is a seemingly complete version currently (2021) available on youtube, and the viewer should watch the first quarter-hour there. I thought I was alerted to this fact here on IMDb, and I wanted to thank the user, but I can't find the note. It must have been two reviewers of the Spanish-subtitled version on Amazon. Enjoyable film, more enjoyable with the minutes included. Happy to see Richard Greene, because I always used to watch him in Robin Hood when I was a child. Margaret Rutherford is terrific in her small parts, and Anna Neagle is very good too.

Anna Neagle stars with Richard Greene, Albert Lieven, Nova Pilbeam, and Margaret Rutherford in the British film "The Yellow Canary" from 1943,

Anna Neagle is Sally Maitland, a woman from a good family, estranged from them, who is a known Nazi sympathizer. She is forced to move to Halifax, Nova Scotia. On the ship, she meets a Polish aristocrat, Jan Orloch (Albert Lieven) and is also chased around by a British naval intelligence officer, Jimmy Garrick (Richard Greene). Once on dry land, she agrees to meet Jan's mother (Lucie Mannheim) who was blinded when the Nazis bombed their home.

Garrick, meanwhile, is supposed to watch her every move.

Enjoyable spy movie, with Neagle, the hugely popular British star, in fine form as a glamorous and somewhat snobby woman in this film, which has many twists and turns.

Handsome Richard Greene was signed by 20th Century Fox, but went back to England during the war and served in the Royal Armoured Corps of the Twenty-Seventh Lancers, rising to Captain. His career never got off the ground again, but he is best known by us old-timers in the states for being Robin Hood in the British TV series, which made him filthy rich and well known. After that, he became a country gentleman, raising thoroughbreds. Here he is pleasant and earnest.

Nova Pilbeam, who worked with Hitchcock, plays Neagle's mother in a small role.

The smallest role is Margaret Rutherford, who is a riot and a real scene-stealer.

If you see this is going to be on TCM, try and catch it.

Readily admitting that I know nothing about Director Herbert Wilcox, I am grateful to IMDB for affording the important - and extremely interesting - piece of information that he was married to the film's female lead, the elegant Anna Neagle, who is also filmed to her advantage as befits a director in love with his star.

Other curiosities are that the excellent support cast includes the great Margaret Rutherford as the nonstop chatterbox, Richard Greene who would become British TV's Robin Hood a decade or more later, the ever slithering Albert Lieven flashing a swastika-bearing cigarette case, and actor Miles Malleson (better known as as the dithering, poetic executioner in KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS) this time out of camera as script writer.

The script certainly is not short on innuendo and clever turns as Neagle receives a stuffed yellow canary in the mail that is her intro to a highly restrictive Nazi cell in Halifax, Canada, to where she travels by ship under the guard of Greene.

Wonderful to see Canadian-British cooperation to down the Nazi cell, pity that Canadian landscapes do not feature more.

Needless to say, you need to suspend your disbelief here and there but YELLOW CANARY is great fun to watch if you are not one of those viewers who expect directors, screenwriters and cameramen in 1943 to be aware of CGI, cinema industry changes and all the rest of it that causes some current viewers to brand movies like this one as "dated."

I enjoyed it thoroughly and hope to have the opportunity to rewatch it in the not too distant future. 7/10.

Sally Maitland leaves behind her family, for a new life in Halifax, Canada. Having lived in Germany for some time, Sally is seen as a Nazi sympathiser, mistrusted even by her nearest and dearest. Sally is watched throughout her journey.

It's an enjoyable enough spy thriller from the 1940's, what makes this film all the more interesting, is the fact that it was made in the middle of the second world war, so it's somewhat different to the films that were made at the end of the war.

It's well made and well acted, it's a very attractive looking film, and definitely an interesting story, the burning question you'll have going in, is Sally a Nazi sympathiser or not, it doesn't take too long to work it out.

Anna Neagle and Richard Greene are both excellent, a hugely glamorous duo, both of whom had a real screen presence, both were excellent, I can't help but think the film was stolen however, by Margaret Rutherford, a small role, but a hugely effective one.

7/10.

It's 1940. Observers notice a possible signal to the German bombers up above but Sally Maitland (Anna Neagle) escapes leaving behind a dead body. She is suspected of being a Nazi sympathizer as she boards a ship to Halifax in Canada. She is approached separately by Jim Garrick (Richard Greene) and Polish officer Jan Orlock (Albert Lieven). Apparently, no one is who they appear to be or even pretend to be.

I actually like this movie while they are on the boat. It's fascinating to figure who's who and what's what in a contained location. There is a sense of claustrophobia and a lack of escape. They're trapped. When the Nazis get on board, it elevates the situation but then it goes flat. I start losing the thread of the characters. I don't know why the Nazi would just leave. They should at least execute a few of the passengers. The ship is a vastly better location for a thriller. Once the movie switches to Halifax, the sense of danger lowers. It's not a scary place even if the plot demands it to be important. The most compelling reveal is the truth about the opening scene. This is fine but the second half is a bit flat.