Against the Wind

The first half is a bit on the slow side but the second half makes up for it.Simone Signoret gives a marvelous performance.Jack Warner is effectively cast against type,which was not to happen again.Gordon Jackson is an unlikely agent.I doubt that an agent who could not speak French fluently,would have been chosen to be dropped into Occupied Europe.

People die with their eyes open and commit suicide and a traitor is ruthlessly despatched in this sombre Ealing resistance drama about a group of saboteurs parachuted into occupied Belgium, which sits honourably with Jean-Pierre Melville's 'L'Armee des Ombres' twenty years later. Melville almost certainly saw it and if so it would be interesting to know what he had to say about it.

Simone Signoret shines as does James Robertson Justice. In fact JRJ I have been impressed by JRJ often yet his acting is rarely praised. A modern film about the SOE would be welcome.

I learned as a child - when I was taken to see them regularly by my parents - not to expect too much from British films so when I bought this DVD on the strength of Simone Signoret's star billing I was prepared to be disappointed and the film didn't let me down. Whoever cast Gordon Jackson as Signoret's 'love interest' deserves some kind of ineptitude Award; it's a bit like casting Alain Delon and Diana Dors as lovers. Lots of the usual suspects are wheeled out; Jack Warner, John Slater, James Robertson Justice, Robert Beatty et al but Charlie Chrichton is just not an 'action' director and this has to rank as one of the most woeful entries on Ealing's distinguished roster.

AGAINST THE WIND is an all but forgotten slice of WW2 adventure, with a quartet of resistance fighters heading into occupied France in order to help battle the Nazis. The usual complications arise from developing relationships between the agents, along with the unwelcome realisation that at least one is a traitor. The biggest surprise is that this straight-laced drama is from Ealing Studios and director Charles Crichton. It's an appropriately murky affair, with character work in the first half giving way to espionage thrills in the second, brought to life by a game cast including Jack Warner, Simone Signoret and Gordon Jackson.

I did not know this film about French Belgian resistance army. I did not know either that Chuck Crichton made such non comedy features, and I am not disappointed at all. And Simone Signoret gives here one of the three French partisan character she had - and maybe more, I don't exactly know - in her career. Before Jean-Pierre Melville's ARMEE DES OMBRES and René Clément's LE JOUR ET L'HEURE. She is awesome here and I don't understand the reviews against this movie. I just discover it after decades of film passion. Later is better than never.

Despite the usual budgetary restrictions, this manages to convey a sense of the danger and great sacrifice made by these brave people who fought for our freedom. Charles Crichton brings out the human story rather than the all-action tale of some movies. Scenes with John Slater visiting his wife seems slightly corny now, but then must have seemed so close to events (just 3 years after the end of WW2). And the outcome later makes it all the more poignant. I thought a movie like this would be good to show in schools, as a part of history lesson. I love all those character actors they were part of my childhood, and they were such real actors and people. (Take note Arnold, et al) And I still haven't got over Jack Warner's Max (our own Dixon of Dock green) who would have adam 'n' eved it!