A Two Cities Film, made at D & P Studios, Denham, presented by J. Arthur Rank, released through Columbia Pictures Corp. Not copyrighted in the U.S.A. No New York opening. U.S. release: 11 April 1942. U.K. release: 10 August 1942. Australian release: 23 September 1943 (sic). 8,444 feet. 93½ minutes.
SYNOPSIS: British newspaperman tangles with Nazi spies in London during the blitz.
COMMENT: Despite some very conventional characters and plot strands in this wartime newspaper yarn, this is a truly remarkable film. Aside from the actuality footage of the London blitz which is skilfully worked into the fabric of the movie itself - horrifying, unbelievable material of human ingenuity, courage, perseverance and insistence on "normalcy" in the face of incredibly wanton destruction, peril and danger - there are a number of astonishing set-pieces including an extended dolly shot of vast crowds of evacuated Dunkirk servicemen at a railway station and a skilfully disorienting tracking shot down a London street in a black-out. The lighting, compositions and camera movement often reveal an imaginative skill far beyond the normal rather humdrum standards of director Harold French. At times indeed the terrifyingly real-life bizarreness of the movie's background overshadows the story - particularly Valerie Hobson's part in it which has been struck from the cliched mould of novice girl reporter makes good (though she does figure in an edge-of-the-seat cliffhanger bit of action which would put any Hollywood serial to shame).
Greene is also solidly conventional though he does have opportunities to show his mettle. The other players are likewise predictably cast and serve their roles with the fine exactitudes we might expect, though we should note Ronald Shiner in a small but straight role, and the wonderfully realistic portrait of Frederick Cooper as the belittled Trapes.
Production values are amazingly lavish. Although there's plenty of vividly staged action, it is even more for its contemporary insight into London living in the truly horrifying nights of 1941-42, that merits Unpublished Story a top place in British cinema.
SYNOPSIS: British newspaperman tangles with Nazi spies in London during the blitz.
COMMENT: Despite some very conventional characters and plot strands in this wartime newspaper yarn, this is a truly remarkable film. Aside from the actuality footage of the London blitz which is skilfully worked into the fabric of the movie itself - horrifying, unbelievable material of human ingenuity, courage, perseverance and insistence on "normalcy" in the face of incredibly wanton destruction, peril and danger - there are a number of astonishing set-pieces including an extended dolly shot of vast crowds of evacuated Dunkirk servicemen at a railway station and a skilfully disorienting tracking shot down a London street in a black-out. The lighting, compositions and camera movement often reveal an imaginative skill far beyond the normal rather humdrum standards of director Harold French. At times indeed the terrifyingly real-life bizarreness of the movie's background overshadows the story - particularly Valerie Hobson's part in it which has been struck from the cliched mould of novice girl reporter makes good (though she does figure in an edge-of-the-seat cliffhanger bit of action which would put any Hollywood serial to shame).
Greene is also solidly conventional though he does have opportunities to show his mettle. The other players are likewise predictably cast and serve their roles with the fine exactitudes we might expect, though we should note Ronald Shiner in a small but straight role, and the wonderfully realistic portrait of Frederick Cooper as the belittled Trapes.
Production values are amazingly lavish. Although there's plenty of vividly staged action, it is even more for its contemporary insight into London living in the truly horrifying nights of 1941-42, that merits Unpublished Story a top place in British cinema.