morrison-dylan-fan After an impressive run for most of 2016,I've been disappointed that the BBC have been showing less of the more obscure RKO creations. Taking a quick look at the film section on BBC iPlayer,I was thrilled to see that they had unearthed a rare RKO British Spy flick,which led to me getting this canary out of the pit.The plot: Going deep undercover for the British, blonde Sally Maitland boards a ship to Canada. On the ship Maitland meets Jan Orlock,who unknown to Maitland has been secretly sent to protect her. During the journey,the ship is stopped by a Nazi heavy cruiser that kidnaps Orlock,which leads to Maitland realising how deep in the pit of espionage this yellow canary is. View on the film:Flying in during the war,director Herbert Wilcox (who would soon get married to the star!) & cinematographer Mutz Greenbaum are unable to fully shake off the limitations of the times,with scenes in trains and chases being played out stage-bound instead of the great outdoors. Working within the limitations, Wilcox and Greenbaum display sharp eyes for building a Spiv atmosphere with stylised shots seeding doubt on who side Sally Maitland is on,from impressive tracking shots that go down every level of the boat,to overlapping shots following Sally's double dealing.Partly based on the real Hitler devotee Unity Mitford,the screenplay by P.M. Bower/Miles Malleson and DeWitt Bodeen delivers a clear message of the British public needing to be on the lookout for Nazis in their midst. Following Wilcox's path,the writers cut through the propaganda with an impressive level of ambiguity Spiv Film Noir,via allowing Sally to swing the pendulum of trust between the Nazis and the British. Pulling the feathers in every scene, Anna Neagle gives a fantastic performance as Sally,thanks to Neagle subtly using facial expressions to give doubt over which side this canary sings for.

blanche-2 Anna Neagle stars with Richard Greene, Albert Lieven, Nova Pilbeam, and Margaret Rutherford in the British film "The Yellow Canary" from 1943,Anna Neagle is Sally Maitland, a woman from a good family, estranged from them, who is a known Nazi sympathizer. She is forced to move to Halifax, Nova Scotia. On the ship, she meets a Polish aristocrat, Jan Orloch (Albert Lieven) and is also chased around by a British naval intelligence officer, Jimmy Garrick (Richard Greene). Once on dry land, she agrees to meet Jan's mother (Lucie Mannheim) who was blinded when the Nazis bombed their home.Garrick, meanwhile, is supposed to watch her every move. Enjoyable spy movie, with Neagle, the hugely popular British star, in fine form as a glamorous and somewhat snobby woman in this film, which has many twists and turns.Handsome Richard Greene was signed by 20th Century Fox, but went back to England during the war and served in the Royal Armoured Corps of the Twenty-Seventh Lancers, rising to Captain. His career never got off the ground again, but he is best known by us old-timers in the states for being Robin Hood in the British TV series, which made him filthy rich and well known. After that, he became a country gentleman, raising thoroughbreds. Here he is pleasant and earnest.Nova Pilbeam, who worked with Hitchcock, plays Neagle's mother in a small role.The smallest role is Margaret Rutherford, who is a riot and a real scene-stealer.If you see this is going to be on TCM, try and catch it.

JohnHowardReid Based on the case of Unity Mitford-Freeman, a blonde British lady whom Hitler took a fancy to, and who it now appears was a British agent all along, this story concerns a British socialite, Sally Maitland, who is reputed to be in the employ of the Third Reich. True, the real identities and characters of all concerned in this war-time, morale-boosting, spy thriller are obvious and the plot developments are as predictable as the dot of an "i", but it's well produced and by Herbert Wilcox's usual plodding standard, directed with pace and flair.Anna Neagle has bravely chosen to play her part the difficult way and she comes through with a success that makes it all seem easy. Lucie Mannheim is also impressive, but by and large, most of the other players tend to over-act, especially Greene, Lieven, Rutherford and Bailey. Admittedly, the Boys Own Paper dialogue is partly to blame, but then Neagle and Mannheim manage to surmount this obstacle to give restrained, realistic and convincing performances.Max Greene's superb cinematography with its elaborate noir lighting effects, especially in the ship-board and Halifax château scenes, was undoubtedly a key factor in the vigor of Wilcox's direction. The adroit skill of Vera Campbell's film editing with its elaborate dissolves effectively joining together short strings of tracking shots, must also be mentioned.There's a fair amount of action but much of it is spruced up with fairly obvious stock footage. Despite a few half-hearted attempts at comic relief and romance, the pace is commendably brisk — at least in the U.S. version, though it does disappointingly reduce Nova Pilbeam's role to a small bit at the finale!

reve-2 This film is pretty typical of the WW II spy genre. Performances are okay but nothing special. Most of the story takes place in Canada, where the RCMP are responsible for catching enemy agents. The entire scenario is very easy to figure out so there are no real surprises as the various characters show their true loyalties. The ending is neatly wrapped up in a satisfying manner.