As FDR said, "If anybody is unsure as to why this war is being fought, let them look to Norway". This British film came a year before Warner Brothers' "Edge of Darkness" ended with that paraphrased quote. That lavish drama with Errol Flynn took place in a coastal fishing village and covered pretty much the same topic as this, how the locals all got together and vowed to drive the Nazis out, no matter what the consequences or loss of life might be. The same thing happens here, except that it all starts with the arrival of the German U-Boats and shows how the British got involved with the resistance, assuring them with a "wait and see" attitude that the timing would ultimately wound the Nazis more than an all out attack before their defenses were down.
Ralph Richardson is the British spy in the camp, assuring Norweigans that help is imminent. He falls for the lovely Deborah Kerr, the feisty daughter of a fisherman being held by the Nazis for making anti-German statements. She is forced to marry a "Quisling" (traitor) to save her father and as a result of her marriage becomes an outcast even though she is secretly working with several members of the resistance who know the truth. The other townspeople do everything in their power to make the Nazis lives miserable, humorously going out of their way with little annoyances. When a night raid leaves dozens of Germans dead, eight Norwegian men (along with Richardson and Kerr) are arrested and sentenced to be shot, but in the nick of time, a crowd pleasing (if improbable) finale leads to a hopeful ending where the usual propaganda machine narrative warns against the Nazis and also warns the Axis (for those of them who would actually see this film) that their days were numbered and that the day would dawn when freedom will ring again for German occupied countries.
Films like this were a dime a dozen during World War II and most are at least enjoyable if not predictable in their narrative. The Nazis are presented fairly, only a few being genuinely evil, the others doing their duty as they've been ordered, a reminder that many of them too were either manipulated or forced by evil powers greater than themselves to follow a leader they feared too much to rebel against.
Ralph Richardson is the British spy in the camp, assuring Norweigans that help is imminent. He falls for the lovely Deborah Kerr, the feisty daughter of a fisherman being held by the Nazis for making anti-German statements. She is forced to marry a "Quisling" (traitor) to save her father and as a result of her marriage becomes an outcast even though she is secretly working with several members of the resistance who know the truth. The other townspeople do everything in their power to make the Nazis lives miserable, humorously going out of their way with little annoyances. When a night raid leaves dozens of Germans dead, eight Norwegian men (along with Richardson and Kerr) are arrested and sentenced to be shot, but in the nick of time, a crowd pleasing (if improbable) finale leads to a hopeful ending where the usual propaganda machine narrative warns against the Nazis and also warns the Axis (for those of them who would actually see this film) that their days were numbered and that the day would dawn when freedom will ring again for German occupied countries.
Films like this were a dime a dozen during World War II and most are at least enjoyable if not predictable in their narrative. The Nazis are presented fairly, only a few being genuinely evil, the others doing their duty as they've been ordered, a reminder that many of them too were either manipulated or forced by evil powers greater than themselves to follow a leader they feared too much to rebel against.