Tonight We Raid Calais

What was Nazi-occupied France like? A hotbed of resistance? Or were most of the people happy to be collaborators? This film was made in 1943, and deals with this controversial topic.Some argue that only a minority of the French were interested in resistance, and that only when the Allied victory was certain was there a significant upsurge in resistance to the Nazis.Geoffrey Carpenter (john Sutton) is a British officer sent into occupied France to pinpoint a factory making anti- tank shells. The factory must be destroyed by the RAF as these shells could prove deadly to Allied soldiers operating in North Africa.To identify the factory to the RAF, Carter needs the help of locals. He finds it in the Bonnard family. While the head of the family, Monsieur Bonnard( Lee J. Cobb) is a true patriot, his daughter Odette (Annabella) is not. She hates the British because her brother Pierre was killed when the Royal Navy attacked the French fleet at Oran. She is initially almost a collaborator with the Germans.How Carter achieves his objective makes for a very tense and intriguing movie.There are some minor flaws. The sets are none too convincing. They scream studio back lot. There are some coincidences which always tends to eat away a bit at realism.The flaws do not detract from the fact that some powerful performances are given. Lee J. Cobb gives a convincing performance as a patriot. He gives his daughter a powerful warning against collaboration. John Sutton gives a sound performance, although he lacks the charisma for an A list star.It is Annabella who really shines. At first very anti- British, she is compelled by tragedy to revise her views.Annabella really deserved greater success in Hollywood. She projects enormous conviction.It was nice to see Blanche Yurka again as one of the resistants. She gave another steely eyed performance as Madame De Farge in the 1935 Ronald Colman classic.

Pretty good with a watch

I had never heard of this movie but saw the last five minutes of it one evening. I have a collection of World War II movies and wanted to add this one to it.

a god movie for WWII buffs.

Excellent old-time war film. We may have better visual effects today, but we've lost the immediacy of the older films. They have better plots, more real suspense, and feel genuine.

Okay!

A classic. Shipped and arrived quick

Not bad

Some would call this movie nothing but allied propaganda. It is obvious that it has been made during wartime which is betrayed by WWI equipment and cliché dialogue and situations. That may well be but the movie also has been designed to lift the morale of the moviegoer who has been exposed to nothing but defeats and rationing. It allows the viewer to experience a sense of justice - the Nazi's getting a taste of their own medicine. It remains one of a series of classic war movies written and filmed during the war - worth a view for the casual observer and a "must have" for any collector military films

i really enjoyed this movie because the battle scènes were more realistic than a lor of movies that are timed during ww2 good acting and looks sincere

The actors performed their roles as if they had lived the moments.A story that seemed true,

It could have been an excellent war suspense movie,but it missed the opportunity.

It was a decent movie