Undercover [Underground Guerrillas] ** (1943, John Clements, Mary Morris, Stephen Murray, Tom Walls, Michael Wilding, Godfrey Tearle, Stanley Baker) – Classic Movie Review 12,449

Ealing Studios’ 1943 British war film Undercover [Underground Guerrillas] stars John Clements, Mary Morris, Stephen Murray, Tom Walls, Michael Wilding, and a 15-year-old Stanley Baker. Its story is about a guerrilla movement in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. 

Director Sergei Nolbandov’s 1943 black and white British war film Undercover [Underground Guerrillas] stars John Clements, Mary Morris, Stephen Murray, Tom Walls, Michael Wilding, and Godfrey Tearle, along with a 15-year-old Stanley Baker. Its story is set around a guerrilla movement in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia, loosely based on Draža Mihailović’s Chetnik resistance movement.

Alas, Ealing Studios’ fervent, well-meaning wartime morale-booster is damaged by a rather clichéd, sluggish script and a bunch of British actors unbelievably cast as Yugoslav partisans fighting the Nazis.

John Clements stars as Milosh Petrovitch, who joins the partisans in the hills, while his brother Stephan (Stephen Murray) practises as a doctor in the city, gathering secrets from German General von Staengel (Godfrey Tearle).

The sincere actors do their best, and the film is certainly in the interesting category, but this is not really one of Ealing most memorable moments.

It was originally called Chetnik, the name of Draža Mihailović’s resistance movement, but when General Tito took power, the script and the title were hastily altered.

Because of wartime restrictions, Wales stands in as outside location for Yugoslavia, hence, no doubt, all the Welsh actors.

Also in the cast are Robert Harris, Rachel Thomas, Charles Victor, Niall MacGinnis, Ivor Barnard, Stanley Baker, Norman Pierce, Ben Williams, George Merritt, Finlay Currie, Eynon Evans, Terwyn Jones, Eric Micklewood, John Slater, and Brynmore Thomas.

Undercover [Underground Guerrillas] is directed by Sergei Nolbandov, runs 80 minutes, is made by Ealing Studios, is released by United Artists, is written by John Dighton, Monja Danischewsky, Sergei Nolbandov (uncredited) and Milosh Sekulich (uncredited), based on a story by George Slocombe, Milosh Sekulich (uncredited) and Sergei Nolbandov (uncredited), is shot in black and white by Wilkie Cooper, is produced by Michael Balcon and S C Balcon (Associate Producer), is scored by Frederic Austin, and is designed by Duncan Sutherland.

It was released on 27 July 1943 (UK).

Columbia Pictures later released it in the US on 14 September 1944 as Underground Guerrillas.

It is similar to the American 20th Century Fox wartime film Chetniks! The Fighting Guerrillas (1943).

Other similar films are Odette (1950), Orders to Kill (1958), The Camp on Blood Island (1958), The High Command, Young Winston, Sink The Bismarck!, Operation Amsterdam, Freedom Radio and Night Boat to Dublin.

The cast are John Clements as Milosh Petrovitch, Mary Morris as Anna Petrovitch, Stephen Murray as Dr Stephan Petrovitch, Tom Walls as Kossan Petrovitch, Rachel Thomas as Maria Petrovitch, Michael Wilding as Constantine, Stanley Baker as Petar, Godfrey Tearle as General von Staengel, Robert Harris as Colonel von Brock, Niall MacGinnis as Dr Jordan, Ivor Barnard as Stationmaster, Terwyn Jones as Danilo, Finlay Currie as Priest, Ben Williams as Dragutin, George Merritt, Eynon Evans, Eric Micklewood, John Slater, and Brynmore Thomas.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,449

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