l_rawjalaurence Comedies such as 'ALLO 'ALLO have a lot to answer for. While watching some of the scenes where Violette Szabo (Virginia McKenna) is interrogated by the Nazis, I couldn't help recalling parallel scenes where Herr Flick (Richard Gibson) did exactly the same thing, aided (or is it abetted) by the leggy Helga (Kim Hartman) in the Lloyd/Croft British sitcom. This offers a good example of how time can modify our perceptions of a text.On its own terms, however, Lewis Gilbert's film is a quietly understated biopic of a naive girl with a French mother (Denise Grey) who marries a Frenchman (Alain Saury) in a whirlwind romance. He loses his life at El Alamein, and Violette responds by becoming an agent parachuted into occupied France. Together with her partner Tony Fraser (Paul Scofield in one of his rare screen appearances) they accomplish one mission successfully, but things go horribly wrong when Violette embarks on her second, more dangerous assignment.The film has some good action sequences, shot in and around Pinewood Studios, but Gilbert's principal focus centers on the characters' interrelationships - between Violette and her father (Jack Warner), who knows what she is doing, but agrees voluntarily to keep it a secret. Violette's relationship with Tony could bloom into love, but both know that they could lose their lives at any moment, so they agree to keep it platonic. McKenna portrays the central character as an ordinary woman with an extraordinary inner strength giving her the courage to undertake the missions while remaining determined to resist any attempts to force vital information out of her.Her transition from ordinary homemaker to toughened agent is lucidly handled, as she is at first intimidated by and then learns to cope with her uncompromising NCO instructor (Bill Owen). It is a tribute to her strength that she learns to cope with various ordeals, of being ducked in the river, of walking home on a filthy wet night, and handling a shotgun. The training proves invaluable for her later on, when she has to take on a platoon of pursuing Nazis virtually single-handed.Despite her hopes, Violette Szabo never made it back from the War, leaving her daughter Tanya (Pauline Challoner) to collect a George Medal from King George VI. As Tanya returns to her quiet suburban home with her grandmother and grandfather, we can but reflect that it was chiefly due to Violette's selfless efforts that Britain and the Allies managed to emerge triumphant from six years of conflict.

MartinHafer This film is a true-life story about a female secret agent that worked for the British in Nazi-occupied France. She was recruited since she was fluent in the language and she willingly went into harm's way--even though she had a daughter back home staying with her parents. The film shows her recruitment, training and a couple of her missions. I would say more but I don't want to ruin the film.The film earns kudos for sticking pretty close to the real life events. It didn't change her life story to make it more glamorous or to give it a happy ending. She knew her job and did it. The choices of actors worked well, too, as again they weren't glamorous and seemed like normal folks. All in all, one of the better WWII films and it's the story of an incredibly brave lady whose exploits deserve to be remembered.

secondtake Carve Her Name with Pride (1958)A resolutely respectful and consistent movie, powerful in a quiet way, and serious to the core. These aren't really adjectives for an amazing movie--and it's not amazing. The story is amazing, since it's true, a British woman going undercover in WWII and having to suffer badly at the hands of the Nazis. And the movie depends on the story, rather than the movie, to succeed.It does, in fact, succeed. It's a moving story well told. It lacks drama, and is sometimes quietly sentimental, which is part of the point, giving a human side to the spy and war business. The leading woman is someone not well known to American audiences, a rather straight forward actress, Virginia McKenna. But you might remember her from "Born Free," a very different kind of role but needing the same sharp seriousness. She's still alive, gladly, and was even in a film in 2010. The movie here needs drama, frankly. It takes half the film to reach the German conflict in France, and it comes to the real drama, the horrors of being caught, in the last half hour. Which is to say, be prepared for lots of preparation, well done, but preliminary, and purposely undramatic. By that last part is good wartime stuff, with a woman as the main figure in the fighting and the aftermath. The prison scenes are cold and harsh in their own way, and yet I don't quite believe it would have been quite so calmly paced and deliberate, even in the hands of the Germans happily in France.

whpratt1 Never had the opportunity to view this 1958 film, however, I did have knowledge of the story behind Violette Salbo,(Virginia McKenna) and the wonderful poem she used as a code to destroy the Nazi's during WW 11. This picture clearly shows the horror of Hitler and his bunch of goons killing innocent men, woman and children in concentration camps and behind closed doors. Virginia McKenna gave an outstanding performance of Violette Salbo as a very brave woman who stood firm against the strong forces of evil and went on to be remembered in the hearts and minds of many generations to come. Don't miss this film, it is truly a great film Classic, however, it is very down to earth and rather sad and yet happy.