ETO_Buff As clearly demonstrated by this film, prior to the Normandy invasion, the Allies were convinced that the Germans were manufacturing weaponized gas to use during the Second World War, just as they did during the the First World War. This assumption spawned this very typical propaganda film in which all of the Germans in occupied Czechoslovakia wear black SS uniforms with the skull and crossbones insignia of the Totenkopf Verband (the "Death's Head" Brigade was the SS unit that administered the concentration camp system) on their caps and greet each other and civilians with the Hitler salute. It's a melodramatic and very simplistic film where everything is reduced in complexity due to the näiveté of the filmmakers and the film audiences of the period. For this reason, instead of a team of well-trained saboteurs going in to execute the mission, a single tri-lingual army captain (Robert Donat) is parachuted in and has to make contact with "the Underground" in order to carry out what would be a huge, complicated mission in real life. Fortunately for our hero, the German tools in this film aren't the brightest ones in the Third Reich's shed and "the Underground" is easily convinced of his authenticity. It also doesn't hurt that one of the Underground's important members (Valerie Hobson) falls in love with him after spending an hour in his company. I should have given it three or four stars, for the lack of realism, but it is typical of the time period, so I gave it five.

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS*** With the British Foreign Office getting wind of a plot by the evil Nazis developing this new strain of poison gas that's 1,000 times more powerful then mustard & chlorine they decide to go into action to stop them. It's decided to parachute drop British bomb defusing expert and part time chemical engineer Terry Stevenson played by Robert Donat, who's been rumored to be the hair to the "Dunkin Donut" fast food empire, being dropped into Nazi occupied Czechoslavakia where the Nazis are secretly developing the deadly gas.Taking the identity, with false papers provided to him by the British Foreign Office, of deceased Romanian chemical engineer and army officer Jan Tartu Stevenson gets a job at the Czech Skoda works or factory where the poison gas is being developed. While staying in Czechoslavakia at the Palacek residence Stevenson using the name Jan Tartu then tries to get in contract the the Czech Underground, a group of real bad dudes, to help him sabotage the Nazis attempt to make the gas. The Nazis plan to put the gas into mass production to be used in terror raids by the German Luftwaffe against Great Britain. And even worse Tartu gets romantically involved with Nazi loving Maruschka Brunn, no relation to Eva, played by Valerie Hobson who if she finds out who he really is and what he's up to, destroy her beloved Nazis plans to developing the super poison gas, can blow his and the British Foreign Offices plans of stopping them out of the water!***SPOILERS*** As it later turns out the Nazi loving Maruschka is really working for the take no BS, from the Nazis and anyone else, Czech Underground and using her both beauty and charms to get vital information from the Nazi high Command, who are falling all over themselves to get a date with her, to relay back to them as well, by short wave radio, the allies. It takes a while for Tartu to convince the bad a** Czech Underground that he's the real deal a British secret agent not a die in the wool Nazi for them to go along with him on his mission. That's to blow up the Skoda Works Factory with everyone in it the Nazis and even the slave Czech worker, which considering the circumstances was a small price to pay, to keep the deadly gas from being developed and later used against the allied forces fighting a life and death struggle against Hitler's Germany. It would have been enough for Tartu to just have blown up the Skoda Works Factory but he still has a lot of work to do after that. That's in his shooting it out with the pursuing Nazis as well as hijacking a Luftwaffe plane and together with his now lover Maruschka bomb a German military anti-aircraft installation! As he, without ever taking a single flying lesson, flies to the safety of his home in the friendly British isles! That without as much as a mark or scratch, in dodging hundred of bullets and ack ack shells, on him!

jt_3d The Adventures of Tartu aka Sabotage Agent is a cut above the mass produced war movies of the 40s. The acting is very good. The sets are fantastic. Special effects are very good. And the story is pretty good even if it is just one of many, many 'go behind enemy lines to destroy X' stories. The script is very well written.Our story starts with Cpt. Stevenson being called to defuse a bomb in a hospital, which of course he succeeds in doing. Immediately after he is called to head off to Czechoslovakia on a secret mission because he grew up in Romania and speaks the language like a native, as well as speaking German. Soon enough he's off to try to contact the Czech underground, disguised as one Jan Tartu, a now deceased Romanian Iron Guard member. But before he can make contact his link to the underground is arrested and he has to try to make contact on his own.Stevenson becomes a Nazi official and keeps trying to make contact with the underground so he can get help to complete his mission before the deadline. Which leads to my favorite scene of the movie. After a great performance in a pub, Tartu/Stevenson is captured by a group of men who have to find out who he is. It's a cool scene, well conceived though I was able to figure out what was going on before it was revealed so it may have went on a bit too long.Naturally Stevenson is able to complete his mission and escape by way of a rather implausible shootout in which he never misses and the Nazis can't hit the floor with their hat. Nevetheless, this movie is somewhat better than the rest of the period, thanks mostly to Donat's somewhat comical portrayal of a Romanian Nazi puppet and his great acting. As well as the excellent sets and effects. I'd give it 8 stars but since this plot has been done oh so many times I only gave it 7/10.And by the way, Tartu only says Heil Hitler 15 times, though it seems like more because nine of them are within one 10 minute section.

mstomaso This propaganda film pits a British-born, German-educated, chemical engineer (Stevnson - Robert Donat) who speaks Rumanian, German and Russian fluently against Nazis in Eastern Europe. Captain Stevenson becomes an Iron Guard named Tartu (the real Tartu is dead) and heads off, with minimal briefing and no espionage experience, to upset a Nazi plot. Stevenson seeks to infiltrate a German chemical weapons plant but needs help from the local resistance to succeed. But how, posing as a Nazi, can he get the underground to trust him? Although the basic premise is a tad ludicrous, the film is very carefully plotted and the characters are likable, well-written and well played. Donat, Glynnis Johns and Valerie Hobson are especially good. The cinematography, directing and editing are very standard for early-mid-20th century British film - very straightforward and focused on the story - little to no experimentation and very few pans. But the pace of the film complements - or at least compensates for - the theatrical camera work fairly well.Recommended for Donat fans and those interested in WWII-era war films.