bkoganbing They Raid By Night is a wartime propaganda film on the cheap side from PRC Pictures. It follows the Hollywood's first rule about casting American actors in the lead, make them Canadian.Lyle Talbot plays a Canadian leading a British commando raid into Norway to rescue a Norwegian army general who presumably will lead a Norwegian liberation army, possibly become a Scandinavian DeGaulle. As we know that never happened.They sneak in and get to the camp to rescue Paul Baratoff playing the general. Along the way they are betrayed twice. One of the members of Talbot's team is George Neisse who is Norwegian who left a girl behind played by June Duprez. She's made herself quite comfortable with the new rulers and twice she betrays them. That's something that someone there should have figured out.Victor Varconi plays the German colonel who just can't seem to get good help among his troops from the Fatherland.All and all They Raid By Night strained credulity in 1942. I doubt we'll see a remake demanded.

mark.waltz Unlike 1943's "Edge of Darkness", a Warner Brothers war movie about how the residents of a Norwegian fishing village fought back against the Nazi's, "They Raid By Night" is the story of the Commandos, a small group of American and British military personnel, who posed as Nazis to get a Norwegian General out of a German prison camp. They present the Nazis as pretty dumb here, not recognizing the American or cockney dialects of the men in their own uniforms. While there are some interesting twists (particularly the use of a grenade as part of a suicide bombing), the film is overall pretty silly, even with its nice use of stock footage apparently of the Norwegian coastline. Of the cast, only leading hero Lyle Talbot and June Duprez (in a rather unnecessary role) have any name recognition. The Nazis are appropriately snarly, but altogether, the film feels rather rushed together and is ultimately unsatisfying.

MartinHafer This film stars a man well acquainted with B-movies, Lyle Talbot. He is cast as the head of a commando team that is to infiltrate Nazi-controlled Norway in order to rescue a beloved Norwegian general—a man who could then lead the Free Norwegian troops in the fight against the Axis. By the 1940s, Talbot was no longer the action hero type but he was the paunchy B-movie type—and was frequently seen in various low-budget films. At times you can see the low budget, such as the German soldiers with not even a trace of a German accent (or accents like Bela Lugosi's), winter scenes where the actors are obviously walking past a film screen with the snow scene projected behind them, too many uses of stock footage and some very stiff acting (note: this is only an asset if you are making a porno movie). In fact, nothing about this action film is particularly action-packed, as the Nazis are mostly morons and the good guys PERFECTLY toss grenades and manage to make every bullet count—so there isn't really much suspense or sense of realism. It's clearly a cut-rate WWII propaganda film…very cut-rate. As a result, it's not especially watchable—especially when there are so many better films like it already. This is clearly NOT another "Heroes of Tellemark"! Dumb and unconvincing—and my score of 3 is perhaps a bit charitable!

wes-connors Lyle Talbot (as Robert "Bob" Owen) fights Nazis in Norway, during World War II. Helping him out are native son George N. Neise (as Erik Falken) and British wisecracker Charley Rogers (as Harry Hall). Mr. Neise's old acquaintance June Duprez (as Inga Beckering) adds femininity and intrigue to the cast. Once engaged to Neise, Ms. Duprez has hooked up with properly accented Victor Varconi (as Otto von Ritter). Mr. Varconi gets the line, "My men have vays of making you talk." Spencer Gordon Bennet's "They Raid by Night", subtitled "A Story of the Commandos", features a very catchy theme song, and is good for a few unexpectedly good laughs. ** They Raid by Night (6/19/42) Spencer Gordon Bennet ~ Lyle Talbot, June Duprez, Victor Varconi, George N. Neise