P.H. contre Gestapo

This is a wonder of a film, completely unknown and gradually being discovered as an exceptional gem of priceless interest in the flood of war propaganda films of the second world war. Emeric Pressburger wrote the original story, and you can trace his hand everywhere, so that it actually could be suspected on reasonable grounds that this was an ordinary Powell- Pressburger film all through, but Vernon Sewell, who lived to be almost 98 and made many praiseworthy films, together with Gordon Wellesley softened the script somewhat and made it more stringent with marvellous results for the action, the developing plot of constant surprises, the very sensitive nuances of the characters and all supported by the perfectly adapted dramatic music by Allan Gray. Although Ralph Richardson makes as eloquent and clearcut a character as ever, always reliable for interesting and straight-backed integrity, the most interesting performance is by Esmond Knight as the leading nazi, making quite a nazi character out of the ordinary in hilarious serious caricature. Pressburger disagreed with turning the character thus, but it's a great success - you'll never forget his plater of spaghetti, perhaps the best scene in the film. In brief, this is a surprisingly sparkling film of suspense and intelligence to discover and enjoy and with great delight never to part with.

Dutchman Van Leyden (Richardson) knows his shipyard will be used by the Germans whether he like it or not, so chooses to play a dangerous double game, ostensibly playing along with the Germans -earning the ire of his countrymen who think he is a Quisling- whilst anonymously organising acts of sabotage under the name 'Piet Hein' -a historic Dutch naval hero.

Powell and Pressburger's film was made as war propaganda and it shows; however it is both a good film in its own right and it portrays the Germans in a less bad light than was originally intended.

The script is credited to Sewell and Wellesley, but the first draft was written by Emeric Pressburger, who had been forced out of Germany by the Nazis and had first hand experience of what they were like. He originally wrote it not only with threats of Nazi reprisals, but reprisals on civilians made real. He refused to have his name put to the script once these had been edited out by Sewell.

The story is inspired by real events; Dutch dockyard workers did hijack a Nazi submarine during WWII. Much of the film was shot at Denham studios, with dockyard scenes in Dundee and some street scenes in King's Lynn. Oddly enough parts of King's Lynn were built with Dutch-made bricks and tiles (they were brought back as ballast by ships exporting wool from East Anglia) so the resemblance to Dutch streets is more than coincidental.

It would have been easy to make every part in this film a mere caricature (as many are) but Richardson's role is much more nuanced than that. Nothing of course could do justice to the many selfless acts carried out by partisans during WWII but this does more than make a token gesture in that direction.

Overall this probably isn't one of P&P's best films but that certainly doesn't make it a bad film in absolute terms; it is a lofty canon. For what it was and when it was made it gets eight out of ten from me.

I missed the first few minutes of this (and somehow entirely missed the entire of Kathleen Byron's part unfortunately!) but was able to pick up the main plot line - Ralph Richardson is a Dutchman in charge of a shipyard who plays up to the Nazis to win their trust, but garners himself a bad reputation in the anti-Nazi community, which bodes poorly for his small son who gets beat up at school, and his wife, Googie Withers (the only reason I recorded this film!) who can't buy groceries anymore because no one will serve her. It's ultimately a very sad story but equally engrossing and you'll never guess who Piet Helm is!

Dutch shipyard owner Ralph Richardson (van Leyden) works with the Nazis to allow his yard to manufacture submarines. Only does he? He certainly is at the helm in his organization to the extent that the townspeople don't trust him or his family that includes wife Googie Withers (Helene) and son Willem Akkerman (Willem). At the same time, the mysterious Piet Hein is masterminding some anti-Nazi underground sabotage. Can the 2 planned submarines be completed for Nazi use or can Piet Hein and his colleagues win the day?

First of all, the identity of Piet Hein is obvious from the very beginning but this is not to the detriment of the film. Just the opposite. It is necessary for the audience to know who he is in order for the film to work. The main cast – Richardson and Withers - are good and that includes young Willem Ackerman. I don't normally like kids in films but he plays his part well. However, at the opposite end of the spectrum, Bobby Davro turns up to play a comedy Gestapo officer with scrunched up face, woeful accent and typical comedy shouty Nazi attitude, He is dreadful! The film loses a mark for his performance given that he has so much screen time. Davro should just stick to performing bellyflops as he is most recently famous for.

The story doesn't rush things but this adds to the sentimentality of the proceedings at the film's end when the idea of human sacrifice comes into play. It's a sad end that is aimed to rally the audience to support the war effort and be brave. The film is told in flashback by Withers as she reads a diary and it is a good mechanism to unravel the story.

The first film of Powell & Pressburger's newly-formed company The Archers to see the light of day (shot on a soundstage adjacent to the production of 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp') probably represented the final bow of Ralph Richardson (also billed as 'Associate Producer') as an action hero having previously played Bulldog Drummond and a gentleman spy in a bowler hat in 'Q Planes'.

It bears a striking resemblance to Fritz Lang's 'Hangmen Also Die, currently being shot in Hollywood and also set in a fanciful version of Europe under the heel of a wonderful collection of caricature Nazis. Powell was a huge admirer of Lang so the resemblance of the scene were Richardson marks a Quisling with a big letter 'Q' to one in a certain film by Lang is almost certainly not just fortuitous.