La storia d'Edith Cavell

Having just finished the 2 pictures in which she played Queen Victoria, Neagle continued in the same vein with her portrayal of Nurse Edith Carell. This film was made by producer Herbert Wilcox in Hollywood at the studios of RKO Radio Pictures,as would other of her wartime films.She does an excellent job in this polished production with a good American cast

Deeply moving dramatisation of the heroism of the English nurse Edith Cavell and her Belgian supporters, who smuggled about 200 Allied soldiers and airmen out of German-occupied Belgium until she was caught, tried and on 12 October 1915 shot at dawn. Notable for the immense restraint and dignity shown by Anna Neagle in the title role, caring equally for wounded German troops and completely unafraid of blustering German officers. A devout Anglican, above her duty to her country she placed the overriding duty of saving life.

Diplomats at the Brussels embassy of the neutral USA made huge efforts to save her life once captured but the Germans were implacable. After the war, her disinterred remains were given a state funeral in Westminster Abbey and then reburied at Norwich Cathedral. This film came out as sacrifices were again being asked from English women, while the USA watched Belgium being crushed a second time by an even more vicious German regime.

This is a shocking account of war directly from reality, telling the story of the indefatigable effort of a nurse to work against it, by simply nursing wounded soldiers and helping them back to life - and to go on fighting. For that she is ultimately prosecuted by the Germans and promptly executed, despite the fact that she is a woman and a nurse at that, who has saved many lives and only worked idealistically for humanitarianism. It is also the story of other brave women who assisted her, like Dame Edna May Oliver in one of her formidable roles, and her fellow nurses, who never gave up on her. The film is upsetting but overwhelming in its uncompromising realism and deals a definite stamp of inhumanity on the always absurd business of any war, that never in any circumstances made any sense.

Before her popular "London Suite" escapism of the late 40s Anna Neagle achieved early fame for her biopics - Nell Gwyn, Queen Victoria & Amy Johnson portrayed with dignity & feeling,when necessary. This was even more evident in Edith Cavell under the sincere & sympathetic direction of husband,Herbert Wilcox. Her martyrdom & heroism to both her calling & beliefs that "patriotism is not enough" was commemorated after WW1 with the erection of a famed statue in London's Charing X Road,still there, so in the film the ending was never in doubt. Wilcox repeated his 1928 "Dawn" with Sybil Thorndyke without histrionics or dramatics and a bunch of popular stars in more untypical reserved roles except George Sanders who was getting into his stride after "Lancer Spy" as the stiff,autocratic Hun determined to uphold the intransigency of the "rules of war" & expediency irrespective of pleadings of British diplomats up to the very last and the decision of the court-martial against this dignified British nurse - all of which Kubrick later reflected so vividly in "Paths Of Glory". It is interesting to compare the Hun his descendant/counterpart, the Nazi and his downfall - each had their degrees of corporate conquest & world domination whatever the cost. The basic tale of Nurse Cavell running her small Belgian underground escape route for soldiers & fliers under the noses of the enemy is narrated in brief factual episodes. The short closing scenes of her arrest,brief imprisonment,quick execution & memorial service in Westminster Abbey are moving & dignified as directed by Wilcox, a name in high regard among British filmgoers for almost 20 years irrespective of their unfortunate later bankruptcy. By this time Anna Neagle's figure & appearance as a dancer had changed noticeably since her earlier buxom parts in such as "The 3 Maxims"(Later remade as "Trapeze")doing very realistically what Betty Hutton did very realistically later for de Mille. Regrettably, many copies of this rarely seen film have deteriorated especially the sound track which can be muffled & inaudible. Happily,my video copy was taped before it reached this state.

Beautifully shot (if you find decent print) and reasonably accurate - unlike Cinderella Man, Quills, Hurricane and other despicable "biography" junk. What is the most surprising that the story is not "sexed up": the main heroes are mostly middle-aged or elderly women - Edna May Olivier as the Countess steals the whole show!