Undercover – 1943 | 80 mins | War | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Sergei Nolbandov directed one more Ealing film before devoting his career to government films, and after the war to the monthly Rank series This.Modern Age, which was intended to be Britain’s answer to the popular American two-reelers made by Time-Life, The March of Time. Undercover was originally to have been called Chetnic, after the Yugoslav resistance movement under the command of General Mihailovic. But politics overtook the situation, Mihailovic and the Royalists were out, and the new leader was Tito.

The screenplay, by John Dighton and Monja Danischewsky, was accordingly amended. It was a straightforward war drama following a Belgrade family. One brother (John Clements) becomes a partisan and takes to the mountains, while the other (Stephen Murray) stays in the city as a doctor and is regarded as a quisling, enabling him to pick up much useful information from a German general (Godfrey Tearle). The climax of the film is a pitched battle between the Germans and the guerrillas, with the ending a tribute to the fervent patriotism of the Yugoslav people. The film was shot in Wales, using the hills of Brecon as the mountains of Yugoslavia, and Rachel Thomas, who had performed so successfully in The Proud Valley, played the part of the mother of the Petrovitch family, with Tom Walls somewhat miscast as her husband. The film is unconvincing and cliche-ridden, and not for a moment are its players believable Yugoslavs. The only notable thing about it was that it marked the screen debut of the fourteen-year-old Stanley Baker, whose acting had been limited hitherto to the school dramatic society.