This fictional account of Violette Szabo's life is old-fashioned (especially in its use of music) and ultra-patriotic, but it's still quite stirring and absorbing, mostly thanks to Virginia McKenna's commanding performance, and Lewis Gilbert's sure & steady direction. The training sequences at the start are a little too comic-booky, but the film gains some grit as it progresses, and the reconstruction of occupied, bombed-out France in the English Pinewood studios is impressive. Trivia note: this is the second war film I watch in a couple of days that has a woman spraining her ankle, but at least this time she continues moving on her own and does not get carried along! **1/2 out of 4.

This film is a true-life story about a female secret agent that worked for the British in Nazi-occupied France. She was recruited since she was fluent in the language and she willingly went into harm's way--even though she had a daughter back home staying with her parents. The film shows her recruitment, training and a couple of her missions. I would say more but I don't want to ruin the film.The film earns kudos for sticking pretty close to the real life events. It didn't change her life story to make it more glamorous or to give it a happy ending. She knew her job and did it. The choices of actors worked well, too, as again they weren't glamorous and seemed like normal folks. All in all, one of the better WWII films and it's the story of an incredibly brave lady whose exploits deserve to be remembered.

This film is all pleasure. The story is well told and has good casting with many famous British actors. I enjoyed this film many years ago and the latest DVD release with Virgina McKenna and John Shirley giving a commentary adds a lot of viewing pleasure. There is comedy, tragedy and a whole host of facts presented in this film of the womens SOE during war time. The public at the time of the film release must have been very interested in SOE and now at this time there is a renewed interest. Virginia McKenn got a BAFTA nomination for Best British Actress in 1959, and this was well deserved. The music is also an important part of the film and is composed by William Alwyn and Alec Wilder.

Central and RADA actors provided the backbone of British cinema during the 50s and were noted for their awful "cockerney" accents. McKenna is no exception and she is a bit all over the place where she might have been better sticking to her own voice. However she and Schofield along with Jack Warner give good performances.The development of the back story is overly long by modern standards and the scene in France rushed and lacking in action. The rebuilding of the resistance network and the operations in her first drop seem to have been more extensive. In the film you almost feel like she's done a weekend Eurostar shopping trip to Paris.