American airman Ray Milland (John) has been shot down and landed in a small occupied French village. He is helped by the Resistance and nun Barbara Britton (Sister Clothilde) so that he can make his way back out as he is holding some vital information. Can he evade the French Mayor Walter Slezak (Vitrey) and Nazi German Major Konstantin Shayne (Krupp) who are aware of his presence and are determined to capture him?
The film started well with Mother Superior Lucile Watson setting the scene in her church. However, once Milland appears the film just drops away, I'm afraid to say. I expected better. Britton goes on the run with Millan and the film's pace just comes to a halt at this point. Instead of cranking up the tension, we get Milland boring us senseless with his views on romance and marriage. This is all meant to be for the benefit of Britton's naïve nun character. This was pretty dull stuff and I fell asleep during this nonsense. When I awoke, he was still prattling on. Yawn.
The story is predictable, daft and pretty stupid when you see the decision that Britton makes when there is a boat waiting to take her away. Nazis are portrayed as cartoon shouty characters and the ending will make you cringe as we are forced to believe that Britton is relieved. I don't think so.
Just before the film, I had cooked some squid. I put the squid into a saucepan with an onion and let it heat for 30 minutes with some garlic, chilli and Italian herbs. I then returned and added some tomato sauce and cooked for a further 30 minutes so as to give the flavours a good opportunity to soak in. After the squid had been cooking for an hour, I then added some Madeira wine and left it for a further 20 minutes, after which the meal was ready and I served it with Rigatone. It was beautiful. It may also have caused me to fall asleep during the boring part of the film. I would like to recommend to readers that they make the same meal and pour a whole bottle of Madeira wine into the recipe. You can then fall asleep to the whole film although you may not need the prompt once Milland starts his waffling. You will miss nothing, unfortunately, as the film is a disappointing effort but you will have had a fantastic meal.
The film started well with Mother Superior Lucile Watson setting the scene in her church. However, once Milland appears the film just drops away, I'm afraid to say. I expected better. Britton goes on the run with Millan and the film's pace just comes to a halt at this point. Instead of cranking up the tension, we get Milland boring us senseless with his views on romance and marriage. This is all meant to be for the benefit of Britton's naïve nun character. This was pretty dull stuff and I fell asleep during this nonsense. When I awoke, he was still prattling on. Yawn.
The story is predictable, daft and pretty stupid when you see the decision that Britton makes when there is a boat waiting to take her away. Nazis are portrayed as cartoon shouty characters and the ending will make you cringe as we are forced to believe that Britton is relieved. I don't think so.
Just before the film, I had cooked some squid. I put the squid into a saucepan with an onion and let it heat for 30 minutes with some garlic, chilli and Italian herbs. I then returned and added some tomato sauce and cooked for a further 30 minutes so as to give the flavours a good opportunity to soak in. After the squid had been cooking for an hour, I then added some Madeira wine and left it for a further 20 minutes, after which the meal was ready and I served it with Rigatone. It was beautiful. It may also have caused me to fall asleep during the boring part of the film. I would like to recommend to readers that they make the same meal and pour a whole bottle of Madeira wine into the recipe. You can then fall asleep to the whole film although you may not need the prompt once Milland starts his waffling. You will miss nothing, unfortunately, as the film is a disappointing effort but you will have had a fantastic meal.