Six Minutes to Midnight (2020) User Reviews

I wish Alfred Hitchcock could have Directed this film

[tm-sheehan · 7/10 · 24 April 2021]

My Review - Six Minutes to Midnight

My Rating 7/10 Six Minutes to Midnight is a 2020 British war drama film directed by Andy Goddard from a screenplay by Goddard, Celyn Jones and Eddie Izzard, starring Izzard, Judi Dench, Carla Juri, James D'Arcy and Jim Broadbent.

I enjoyed Six Minutes to Midnight mainly for Judi Dench's performance and the effective music score by Marc Streitenfeld .

Eddie Izzard and Celyn Jones wrote the story set in a boarding school for German girls just before the commencement of The Second World War .The story is loosely inspired by the real-life Augusta Victoria College, located in the also real-life coastal town Bexhill-on-Sea (county of Sussex, south-east to England).

The establishment is under surveillance by the British secret service, and the film follows the attempts by a British agent (masquerading as a school teacher) to uncover a plot to repatriate the pupils and discover what happened to his predecessor, who has disappeared.

I thought the female cast held this film together especially Judi Dench casting as Miss Rocholl the Principle of the boarding school and Carla Juri as the Head Teacher Ilse plus all of the 20 young girl students were well cast special mention of Maria Dragus cast as Astrid the Class Leader.

I was less impressed by the male cast including Eddie Izzard who is cast as Thomas Miller the Agent posing as a school teacher . No spoilers but I would have preferred Actors of the caliber of Ben Whishaw or Benedict Cumberbatch in this important role. James D'arcy as Captain Drey I thought was almost melodramatically comedic at times in his performance.

I kept thinking this is a story Alfred Hitchcock would have Directed far better and very differently to Andy Goddard .

Judi Dench now 86 years old and very vision impaired amazes me with her aptitude for remembering lines and even more for her dedication to any part she plays . There's a scene where she realises what's happening and not a word is spoken but all is conveyed in her facial reactions.

Six Minutes to Midnight for me had a great beginning and conclusion but got a little off track somewhere in the middle but it's well worth a look.

Good little movie

[robsmuffins · 7/10 · 20 January 2021]

I though Eddie Izzard was surprisingly good in the leading roll ,and the story just got on with things . Definitely worth a watch . Who doesnt like seeing nazis plans scuppered.

yet another WWII story of interest

[ferguson-6 · 6/10 · 25 March 2021]

Greetings again from the darkness. I never cease to be amazed at the number of stories connected to WWII that translate so well to cinema. This one comes from director Andy Goddard (known mostly for his TV work) and his co-writers Eddie Izzard and Celyn Jones, and takes place in 1939 England, just prior to Germany invading Poland to start the war. The story was inspired by true events.

Augusta-Victoria College for Girls was located in Bexhill-On-Sea, and served as a finishing school for the daughters of the German elite from 1932 through 1939. We open as the school's English teacher, Mr. Wheatley (Nigel Lindsay), frantically flees when he realizes his undercover mission has been discovered. An artistically filmed sequence on the boardwalk ends with Wheatley missing and his bowler floating off on the horizon. We don't know yet what he uncovered, but Thomas Miller (co-writer Eddie Izzard) is quickly hired as the new teacher by Headmistress Miss Rocholl (Oscar winner Dame Judi Dench).

Teacher Ilse Keller (Carla Juri) puts the girls through their robotic lessons and ensures they listen to Nazi propaganda on the radio. Of course, as in most spy thrillers, no one is as they seem - or at least most aren't. Most of the girls seem indistinguishable from each other, save for dark-haired and bespectacled Gretel (Tijan Marei), who is a true outcast. The girls are referred to as the "Hitler League of German Girls" and are being educated and groomed for the planned new socialist nation.

It doesn't take Miller long to uncover a plan, and almost immediately, he's wrongly accused of murder - sending him on the run. It's no spoiler to reveal that Miller is part of British Intelligence, and in the role, Izzard delivers a more restrained performance than what we are accustomed to (see OCEAN'S TWELVE and OCEAN'S THIRTEEN ... and it's very effective. James D'Arcy as Captain Drey enters about halfway through, as does his partner Corporal Willis (played by co-writer Celyn Jones). This offers us a bit of cat and mouse between Drey and Miller, and they are joined in the fun by Charlie the bus driver, played by the always interesting Jim Broadbent.

The plan to evacuate the girls before the war seems a bit overly complicated, but then my experience planning such war time strategy is admittedly non-existent. Still, the lead characters and the setting make this intriguing enough, and cinematographer Chris Seager certainly has some fun with camera angles. For those hooked on all things related to WWII, it's likely a story you haven't heard much about, if anything. From IFC Films, SIX MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT opens March 26, 2021.

A "39-steps-esque" thriller that doesn't quite deliver on its potential

[bob-the-movie-man · 6/10 · 4 April 2021]

In "Six Minutes to Midnight", it's the summer of 1939 (so we are in a parallel time-flow here with the events of "The Dig"). A private girl's school - the Augusta Victoria College in Bexhill-on-Sea - is run with loving care by the spinster Miss Rocholl (Judi Dench). But the 'finishing school' is unusual, in that all its teenage students are German. Indeed, they are the offspring of prominent Nazis.

When half-German English teacher Thomas Miller (Eddie Izzard) applies for a suddenly vacant position, he is taken on to share the teaching duties with Rocholl and Ilse (Carla Juri). But in snooping into the activities going on there, he finds mystery and danger.

Positives:

• This is a fascinating premise for a movie that will appeal to an older generation, along the lines of "They don't make them like this anymore". It has elements of the 'good guy on the run' that struck parallels with "The 39 Steps" for me.

• It's great that the school is all based on historical fact. Miss Rochol did indeed run the school, as a part of a plan to infiltrate British high-society with pro-Nazi sympathies ahead of an invasion. In real-life, one of the pupils was the god-daughter of Heinrich Himmler and one - Bettina von Ribbentrop - was the daughter of the German foreign minister.

• After a comic "Family Guy"-style set of production logos to kick off with (for a full one and a half minutes!!), the pre-title sequence is a superb scene-setter. What exactly is going on here? A frantic scrabbling in a bookcase. A pier-end disappearance. The school badge (a genuine reproduction!) with its Union flag and Nazi Swastika insignia. The girls performing a ballet-like ritual on the beach with batons. (This looks to be a cracker, I thought).

• Judi Dench. Superb as always.

• Chris Seager does the cinematography, and impressively so. Most of Seager's CV has been TV work, so it must be delightful to be given the breadth of a cinema screen to capture landscapes like this.

• I like the clever title: "Six Minutes to Midnight". I assumed it was intended solely to reflect the imminence of war. But it actually has another meaning entirely.

Negatives:

• For me, was a highly frustrating film. All of the great credibility and atmosphere it builds up in the first 30 minutes, it then squanders by diving off into sub-Hitchcock spy capers.

• Izzard becomes a 'man on the run', and doesn't seem credible at that. (I appreciate the irony of this statement given that this is the man who ran 32 marathons in 31 days for charity!) But Izzard is built for distance and not for speed, and some of the police chase scenes in the movie strain credibility to breaking point. Another actor might have been able to pull this off better.

• There's a lack of continuity in the film: was it perhaps cut down from a much longer running time? At one point, Miller is a wanted murderer with his face plastered on the front pages. The next, kindly bus driver Charlie (Jim Broadbent) is unaccountably aiding him and Rochol seems to have assumed his innocence in later scenes.

• Various spy caper clichés are mined to extreme - including those old classics 'swerve to avoid bullets'; 'gun shot but different gun'; and 'shot guy seems to live forever'. And there are double-agent 'twists' occurring that are utterly predictable.

• A very specific continuity irritation for me was in an 'aircraft landing' scene. Markers are separated by nine paces (I went back and counted them!) yet a view from a plane shows them a 'runway-width' apart. This might have escaped scrutiny were it shown just once. But no... we have ground shot; air shot; ground shot; air shot..... repeatedly!

Summary thoughts: This was one of the cinema trailers that most appealed to me over a year ago, in those heady days in the sunlit-uplands of life before Covid-19. It's a movie that showed a great deal of promise, since the history is fascinating. And there is probably a really great TV serial in here: showing the 'alternate history' consequences of these high-society German girls penetrating British society and steering the war in a different direction (screenplay idea (C) RJ Mann!) But the potential is squandered with a non-credible spy caper bolted onto the side.

So with "Six Minutes to Midnight", Downton-director Andy Goddard has made a perfectly watchable 'rainy Sunday afternoon' film, that I enjoyed in part for its 'old-school' quirkiness. But it's frustrating that all the promise couldn't be transitioned into a more satisfying movie.

(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies on the web or Facebook. Thanks).

Good English movie

[communitygold1 · 7/10 · 22 April 2021]

Pretty predictable but okay to fill in an afternoon. Probably be a family type movie for older ones. No sex or swearing! Limited violence.

Quite believable.

Entertaining

[hankee-48414 · 6/10 · 27 November 2020]

Some other comments here are probably accurate but I thought it an entertaining yarn. Worth watching.

Enjoyable film, worth a watch

[djbrittas · 7/10 · 30 March 2021]

After reading some reviews I went into this film a little hesitantly with pretty low expectations, however I was pleasantly surprised with the story telling and acting is very good.

Plot moves along at a good pace with a few decent twists - all in all a decent film with good acting and enjoyable to watch.

Top cast, beautiful production, lacks focus

[cruzarts-73946 · 5/10 · 29 October 2020]

I was excited to see this, as it's Eddie Izzard's first co-written screenplay. I found it very predictable. One protracted chase comes across as unintentionally funny. Another series of dramatic moments during shoot-outs are disappointingly predictable -- as if adapted from dated material and not reworked.

Izzard is excellent, as is Dench. D'arcy's character is strangely under-developed. There is no mention whether the story is based on a true story from IFC or other project announcements, so my assumption is that it is not.

The "close calls" in the film are an "embarrassment of riches," which in detective lingo, indicates fraudulence. Unfortunately, SIX MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT suffers from such an underlying impression.

Flawed but great movie.

[ffattahi · 7/10 · 15 December 2022]

Yes, it has some plot holes. Yes, it has some lucky coincidences to help to move the story along. But, for me, this picture has far more positives than negatives, based on which I comfortably recommend it.

Comedian Eddie Izzard, who also participated in writing and producing this movie, turns in a surprisingly solid DRAMATIC performance. Dame Judy Dench is Dame Judy Dench. You never see a flawed performance from her. Her portrayal of a idealistic old woman, naively looking to assign some meaning to her life is nothing less than perfect. The rest of the cast are also quite credible.

But the best of the positives about this picture is the deft direction by Andy Goddard who competently does what we have seen from the great Alfred Hitchcock. Like Hitch, the second act of Goddard's movie is deliberately slow as it builds up to the breathtaking intensity of the third act, that is aided by the atmospheric camera work and the haunting music.

Like a roller-coaster, this picture slowly takes us to top, and then drops us into a heart-pounding drop. Very engaging.

Very Bumpy Road...

[carolinavol · 4/10 · 18 January 2021]

My wife and I watched this last week. Our rule is simple---we each have 'veto' power to stop watching a TV show or movie if we 'just can't take it anymore'. I nearly exercised my veto several times during Six Minutes to Midnight, but kept quiet. As it turns out, my wife also (silently at the time) considered using her veto. Neither of us spoke up. So we watched until the bitter end.

"Uneven" is a kind way to describe this effort. Good cast, nice scenery and the IDEA of the story is excellent. The execution of the story is poor. Sloppy script, poor direction, the pacing is....well, what pacing? There were times when the movie was quite serious...and then turned 'campy'. The character played by D'Arcy, in particular. I got the feeling his parts were filmed at a time when the movie was headed in one direction (camp) but ended up trying to be serious.

Before the credits rolled, we learn the German-controlled school for the education and refinement of daughters of Nazi VIPs (the school located IN ENGLAND) was real and operated for several years prior to England's entry into WWII. I noted the copyright was 2019---and it's being released in 2021. Any port in a storm.

A good 'spy' film based on pre WWII.

[ross-547-585754 · 8/10 · 21 April 2021]

Creditable performances, a good plot and just enough Hitler Youth to make you want to see their plans undone.

The film was set in 1939, and played out like a spy drama from that era.

I was with it the whole way and the dramatic final scenes kept me interested.

Glad I saw it.

Decent, but could have been a lot better

[mycannonball · 6/10 · 25 January 2022]

This is a really interesting story and until this, I didn't realize that Nazis were sending their daughters to English boarding school with the original intention of having them integrate into the upper social circles of British society (and the movie didn't make that clear, I had to look that up online).

So there's so much potential here, but for a spy movie, it feel surprisingly NOT all that suspenseful. The setting was great and there was nothing wrong with the performances, the story just lacked something and I feel like this should have been more of an edge of your seat story. A decent WWII drama.

Do We Really Care?

[merridew-2 · 4/10 · 29 March 2021]

Reportedly, Eddie Izzard, whose family is from Bexhill, knew the story of the real Augusta Victoria school and wanted to turn it into a WWII drama. But what is there really to this story: (a) there is a British school for the daughters of high-ranking German Nazis (inexplicably being educated in England) whom (b) the Germans want brought back to Germany before the war begins but (c) the British want detained in England (but would commit a diplomatic faux pas if they detained them prematurely). But does anyone truly care if these girls stay or go? All of the intrigue and thriller elements (some of which are reasonably well executed) are laid on top of what, at its core, is a seemingly inconsequential premise. Whether it's true or not, it's uninteresting. The twists and effective moments should have been saved for a film where the stakes were something we cared about.

Do not avoid this little thriller

[MikeWindgren · 7/10 · 8 September 2021]

It's a well crafted WW2 thriller movie.

Great production values, nice acting and a story that keeps you attention.

I enjoyed it.

Bad Nazis

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 30 May 2021]

The movie is quite predictable ... as predictable as knowing who is bad and who is good. Which makes you wonder how the ones involved do not see certain things. It also is quite convinient to say the least. On the other hand, would I want it any other way? Or any other viewer that is ... would you want this to have a different outcome? I highly doubt it.

Having said all that, the movie has some fine actors involved who may be under-used or "too good" for the movie - but then again, this is about Nazis and you know ... they were bad bad people! Anyway, a nice little thriller that has some serious story/character flaws.

bizarrely anachronistic

[random-70778 · 19 January 2021]

This was a difficult watch since it was so deeply anachronistic, somehow transporting modern values backwards in time. Do the writers of this know anything about attitudes on "races," extreme politics all over Pre-WWII Europe? Both labor and Tory party leaders were deeply racist. So was FDR for that matter. Same with antisemitism. Those facts are uncomfortable, but they are facts. And the communists ran schooling programs in 1930s UK (and US) as well. We are talking about pro Stalinist, which is to say enabled by and enabling a totalitarian and murderous regime just as bad as the Nazis. In fact up to 1939 the communists had mass murdered way way more people. The pro-Stalinist communists had legal poltical parties in the UK. The UK communist party, fully aligned with Stalin, had a communist "Children's movement" summer camps Young Communist League etc.

As a result of this total lack of context there are several scene that just boogle the mind. For example "discovering" the teachings of Nazi propaganda to German kids? Wow. Is that earth shaking or even notable? German kids and a German teacher in the UK before war broke out listening to German state radio news is somehow a shock? In the UK wasn't illegal to sit and listen to Radio Moscow, and subscribe or read Pravda, what would be different about listening to Radio Berlin. Both spun idiocy from equally vicious regimes.

The film just fails to establish any dramatic or coherent plot.

A thought provoking , enjoyable story, well paced and competently acted.

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 4 September 2022]

Interesting film with intrigue , suspense , action and historical events . This Six Minutes to Midnight(2020) boasts a good cast , such as Eddie Izzard , (Hannibal series) , Carla Juri , James D'Arcy , and veterans as Jim Broadbent and Judi Dench .Based - very loosely - on a true story , it is set in Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex, dealing with some powerful families in Nazi Germany have sent their daughters to a finishing school in an English seaside town in South England to learn the language and be influential ambassadors for a future looking National Socialist. UK, Aug. 15, 1939: 17 days before WWII, an English teacher and his camera disappear from a coastal boarding school with 20 German teen girls. Thomas Miller (Eddie Izzard) gets the job six days later, secretly attempting to find out what happened. The school is run by Miss Rocholl (Judi Dench) and Ilse Keller (Carla Juri) . The teacher there sees what is coming and is trying to raise the alarm. But the authorities believe he is the problem. Now, the clock is ticking, while spies passing along secret documents that allow to Nazis get their purports . And an undercover agent goes into action but being relentlessly chased . Britain 1939. Hitler's grip is tightening. No-one can be trusted. And the epilogue tells : "The Augusta-Victoria college for girls, Bexhill-on-Sea, was the first and last school of its kind in Britain. It opened in 1932 and was closed in the summer of 1939."

Based on Incredible true events in which both countries on the brink of war , as Germany is about to invade Poland , and subsequent war against England to take place , before long, British agents and undercover German spies enter the picture, and no one is safe , an undercover agent gets a job , but strange behaviours raise suspicions among colleagues. Something with a bit of substance and intellect for a change, containing suspense , intrigue , twists and turns .Although "inspired by a true story" it is very far from the truth and unbelievably no boorish profanities. These are usually extremely well made movies with adequate production values, nicely acted and shot but they also play fast and loose with the actual facts as to make them more agreeable to the audience. This genre is very popular, especially in the UK, as they are good award bait and popular with the spectators . However as a fictional war-era espionage drama it works pretty well. The tale was really engaging and amazing , and as far as I'm concerned well filmed . It's a compelling flick , motivating and morally empathetic , however partially unfaithful it is to the events that inspired it. The main characters feature Eddie Izzard as a suspect teacher , James D'Arcy as a police Inspector , and Judi Dench as elderly principal who excels in her role, all of them giving stunning interpretations. It results to be a new reunion between Eddie Izzard and Dench after their collaboration in films as Queen Victoria , and Abdul

This really interesting and different motion picture was professionally directed by Andy Goddard . He's a good filmmaker , an ordinary director of TV episodes from popular series as Luke Cage , The Level , Luke Cage, Downton Abbey , Twisted Tales, Taggart, Casualty Dracula , Law and Order : London, Torchwood , Dr. Who, Outcasts , Murphy's Law, The Punisher. And occassionally shooting for cinema , such as : A Kind of Murder, Set fire to stars and Six minutes to Midnight .Rating : 6.5/10. I have been into this movie from start to finish. Something you never thought about during the war really insightful and worth the watch. Loved it!.

Disappointing

[swgreif-25192 · 7/10 · 5 April 2022]

Just because a movie stars Judy Dench doesn't mean it's a good movie. It was all to predictable. And the plot is a lot far fetched. Please note that German Nazis in discussing their racial differences with Jews never used the word "Gentile" (Heide in German) but Arier (Aryan).

Be Untrue To Your School

[Lejink · 3/10 · 4 April 2021]

A rather confusing and low-energy would-be spy-drama set immediately before the outbreak of World War 2, based on the true story of an exchange scheme between British and German children, designed to foster better Anglo-German relations as the shadow of impending war loomed.

So we find twenty teenage German girls based at a boarding school in one of the English counties just as the countdown to the outbreak of the war is fast approaching. As the young frauleins are the offspring of important Nazi personnel, it stands to reason that their vaters and mutters will want them safely back home before the inevitable declaration of war is made, which is the jumping-off point for a rather old-fashioned and clichéd supposed spy-thriller. The film commences with a teacher at the school seeking to pass on to his superiors this vital intelligence about the planned German invasion of Poland combined with details of British secret agents operating behind enemy lines but he is secretly murdered before he can do so which sees Eddie Izzard step forward as a replacement teacher likewise tasked to work undercover on behalf of the secret service.

In his way is Judi Dench's headmistress, sympathetic to Germany and devoted to her students in a Jean Brodie type-of-way, although the actual teaching of the girls is carried out by her young German-born assistant Carla Juri. Soon, Izzard's position comes under suspicion as in true Richard Hannay style he is forced on the run with no-one believing his story. The film eventually winds its way to a would-be climax on the local beach as the incoming plane to uplift the girls arrives but sorry, "The 39 Steps" this isn't.

I really found the film to be underwritten, muddled and ultimately unconvincing. Izzard is hard to accept as a proto-James Bond action-hero type. With no real dramatic tension on display at any time, the film just trundled along to a rather flat finish. The acting and cinematography was just okay with the direction likewise lacking spark.

There were also just too many implausible occurrences to contend with, from Izzard's miraculously avoiding death from no less than three separate point-blank shots aimed at him as well as coming through a brutal beating by another pesky German double agent, to Dench's ignorance of what's going on under her own roof even when she walks in on an anti-Semitic lesson given by Juri.

The acting too was rather ordinary I felt by all and sundry and I include Dench and Jim Broadbent in that sweeping criticism. Maybe it's just that I didn't get the movie I anticipated from the blurb, but even once I adapted my expectations, it still failed to hold or entertain me.

Sorry, but I really think that all concerned should have gone back to school themselves before serving up this disappointingly slight entertainment.

Watchable historical drama

[jvincentnix-53818 · 7/10 · 30 January 2021]

We normally don't enjoy anything viewer-rated under 7.3. We did watch this and it kept threatening to get immersive and mesmerizing.

It didn't.

The acting and cinematography are excellent but the script tried to cover something best done in a miniseries.

More subtle than most movies today - entertaining though

[andrew-805 · 8/10 · 27 March 2021]

No CGI superheroes or Hollywood schmalz this very English feel is predictable but nuanced and entertaining nonetheless.

Don't believe the poor reviews; it is not that bad if a bit 39 Steps and the script isn't poor at all. It is understated which is a bit of a disadvantage in these over the top times.

Judi Dench and Eddie Izzard shine.

The soundtrack is excellent

The ending. Is pretty effective. - in these days it's better than most dark offerings.

Entertaining but not of any spoiler alert

[patrick-180-667941 · 7/10 · 24 January 2021]

Entertaining but we know right from the start that the horrible plans of the nasty Germans will be foiled.

Anachronistic in several aspects: antisemitism was not something rare, neither was racism or even eugenics in the Anglo-Saxon world. So why all the terrified looks and thrilling music when we discover this. Neither was listening to German radio for German girls in an Anglo-German school.

A tedious tale about not much

[dclancy-75909 · 5/10 · 30 March 2021]

It's one of those films which looks like it will be good but sadly the reality is quite the opposite. The story doesn't really go anywhere interesting and it's more about "my girls" (Judy's character) of which you don't know much about! I'd give it a miss!!

A solid movie

[generic230-1 · 7/10 · 27 July 2021]

I'm not sure what the low ratings are about but they almost made me skip this film and I'm glad I didn't. This isn't a 10, but, in my book, a solid 7. That's my lower limit of determining if a movie is worth seeing. This one is. The performances are solid, Judi Dench is brilliant and lovely, Izzard is compelling and the story is solid. If anything I think the gentle, slow pace and tone may bother some people but I thought it built well to the thrilling, twisty, hold your breath ending.

A complicated situation...

[Thanos_Alfie · 6/10 · 27 October 2021]

"Six Minutes to Midnight" is a Drama - Thriller movie in which we follow the events before WWII and more specifically the actions of an English teacher to find out what happened on his predecessor who disappeared without any notice.

I liked this movie because it was based on true events that happened some days before the start of WWII and showed how was the situation there. In addition to this, it was clearly presented how many other situations were happened at the same time on political and military level to prevent and protect the citizens of United Kingdom without them notice anything. The interpretation of Judi Dench who played as Miss Rocholl was very good and she did her best. Other interpretations that have to be mentioned were Eddie Izzard's who played as Thomas Miller, Jim Broadbent's who played as Charlie and Carla Juri who played as Ilse Keller. To sum up, I have to say that "Six Minutes to Midnight" is a simple, nice and interesting movie that due to its relatively short duration is watchable so, I recommend you to watch it because you will enjoy it and you will also learn something new.