Uncensored ** (1942, Eric Portman, Phyllis Calvert, Griffith Jones) – Classic Movie Review 11,876

Director Anthony Asquith’s 1942 British World War Two wartime film Uncensored is based on the 1937 novel by Oscar Millard, is set in occupied Belgium, and stars Eric Portman, Phyllis Calvert and Griffith Jones.

André Delange (Portman), the publisher of the Belgian quisling newspaper, is in fact working for the Resistance, and producing an underground journal to counter the occupying Nazis’ official one. His helper Julie Lanvin (Calvert)’s traitorous brother Victor Lanvin (Frederick Culley) squeals on them and the paper’s other resistance workers, but they all have a narrow escape.

Despite a promising premise, this standard propagandist wartime flagwaver uses a surprising amount of stalwart British talent to little avail, thanks to a confused, unrealistic and often tedious screenplay, showing the occupying German forces as simple-minded bunglers. The actors look worried, and the picture looks hurried. But it is upbeat and well meaning, with a tone that must have been useful in its day, and there is a lot of interesting detail of the time that keeps up a level of attention. It is also of interest as a work of a significant British director.

The film is produced for Gainsborough Pictures by Edward Black and shot at their Lime Grove Studios in Shepherd’s Bush.

Uncensored is directed by Anthony Asquith, runs 108 minutes (or 83 minutes), is made by Gainsborough Pictures, is released by General Film Distributors, is written by Rodney Ackland, Wolfgang Wilhelm and Terence Rattigan, based on the novel by Oscar Millard, is shot by Arthur Crabtree, is produced by Edward Black, is scored by Hans May and designed by Alex Vetchinsky.

The UK uncensored Uncensored runs 108 minutes, but it was censored to 83 minutes abroad.

The cast are Eric Portman as André Delange, Phyllis Calvert as Julie Lanvin, Griffith Jones as Father de Gruyte, Raymond Lovell as von Koerner, Peter Glenville as Charles Neels, Irene Handl as Frau von Koerner, Felix Aylmer as Col. von Hohenstein, Eliot Makeham as Abbé de Moor, John Slater as Théophile, Aubrey Mallalieu as Louis Backer, Frederick Culley as Victor Lanvin, Carl Jaffe as Kohlmeier, Walter Hudd as van Heemskirk, J H Roberts as Father Corot, Peter Godfrey as Lou, Ben Williams as Arthur Backer, Arthur Goullet as Gaston, Phyllis Monkman, Stuart Lundsell, Everley Gregg, Allan Jeayes, Charles Paton and Lloyd Pearson.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 11,876

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com