A Call to Spy

This succeeds in highlighting the important (and often under-looked) true story of female spies in WWII. I was already familiar with Vera Atkins and Virginia Hall and it was nice to see their stories put to film. It was great learning the heroic story of Noor Inayat Khan too. "A Call To Spy" is the kind of film that gets you researching the true events after. More people should know about these women. As a film itself, it definitely had a TV-movie vibe. The script was rather woeful at times and occasionally the acting came across quite wooden. It still did enough to tell the stories though, while keeping my interest. I would have thought a film depicting the heroic actions of spies in WWII would have more tension and better pacing though. It felt a bit too long at times, and during the first 20 minutes, I wrestled whether to abandon it entirely. I felt the story of these women deserved my time though, so I persisted and I'm mostly glad I did. Sarah Megan Thomas delivered a particularly good performance as Virginia Hall. You could easily tell she was passionate about this film and the story of these women. Stana Katic had great chemistry with her too. A few months ago I watched the reality docuseries "Churchill's Secret Agents: The New Recruits", which depicted the SOE in WWII. I highly recommend watching that series before watching this, as it gave a fantastic education and background to the roles of these brave men and women. As a movie? "A Call To Spy" is rather lacklustre and has its share of shortcomings. As a story? Everyone should know about it.

THis is a copy of another review and says it all: "Yes, I get it. Women are, and always have been brave and important, but often haven't been recognised for their achievements or efforts. I knew this before watching the film, so in that respect it revealed nothing. But in trying to ram that point home, this film just comes across as insincere and amateur. The characters should be 3D but are at best 2D. Another wasted opportunity. " Does no one any good and poorly told badly constructed and not compelling or entertaining.

I love Stana Katic but she can't make this film about the brave female spy's of the SOE better than "Female Agents" which has the near identical plot. Here, the main agent Sarah Thomas is heroic beyond words But in "Female Agents" Sophie Marceau is just outstanding in her role as the leader of a team dropped into France. I thought "Female Agent's" was much grittier, more suspenseful, and satisfying.

Use of a wireless telegraph is integral to the plot. There are dozens of scenes with a person using a telegraph key to send messages in Morse Code. What is jarring is that EVERY scene show the operator using the telegraph key improperly. The key isn't banged with the index finger as portrayed, but rather held with the index finger always in contact with the key and the thumb and middle finger. The key is used by flexing the wrist.

This film start with a woman "Virginia" been tortured, and the flashbacks of 3 months earlier scene! As turnout, this film is about Virginia leading a bunch of spies in France to undermine the Gestapo, and she eventually become a wireless expert! Entire film full of boring conversation, and annoying overuse scene! Such as, overuse of the smoking scene, overuse of the drinking scene, overuse of the clicking wireless scene, and overuse of the typing scene! Make the film unwatchable! Barely intense is, Virginia slice at a German police officer's stomach! At the end, Virginia assisting the American wireless team! Still have an article indicate Virginia become the first female CIA agent! That's it! Another disappointed film!