This is one of those films that are impossible to overrate. Everything is overwhelmingly good about it - the story, the acting, the music, the photography, the direction, the suspense and the universal message - it's simply 100% all the way and heart-rending at that - it almost becomes unbearable at certain moments when the children have their say.It's interesting to observe, that Lilli Palmer and Albert Lieven met once before in leading roles in the screening of Stefan Zweig's "Beware of Pity" 13 years earlier. In that film Albert Lieven was an Austrian officer at the mercy of Lilli Palmer as an invalid terrorizing her environment, and somehow Lilli Palmerr repeats her feat of getting the upper hand of the officer also here but in a very different manner - here she is the survivor. This is also one of those films that always should be reminded of, as its message couldn't be more sincerely and timelessly vital, how human concerns always must be the main priority in life however hard and pressing the circumstances, and that it's only the heart that can lead you right.

A local chapter of nuns in Italy do their bit for good by giving refuge to Jewish children who they smuggle out of an Italian internment camp. Their actions are noted by the camp commander but he and his men turn a blind eye to it. However when Mussolini is disposed the Germans take over the area and the camp. When one of the nuns is shot dead outside the camp, it is evident that the stakes have been raised but yet Mother Katherine is determined to preserve.(Edit: another user correctly spotted that I had mistaken the work of this Thomas with that of his brother Gerald, but since it was a mistake I made, I have left it in all its glory). With "Carry On" and "Doctor" series director Ralph Thomas at the helm I wasn't exactly hoping for much from a film that otherwise looked like it could be an engaging drama about the fate of children during the war. As it is though the film is played very straight and has nothing in common with the type of films that Thomas is more famous for. Of course this is not to say that it is brilliant because, in being so straight, it is surprisingly bland. Everything is painted in black and white (no nun pun intended) and the emotions are very basic and broad. The situation itself may make it interesting for some but to me I got tired of the very obvious struggles and relationships within the story and must admit that none of it really captured my imagination or my heart.Thomas delivers it with a constant air of sincere seriousness throughout but yet this is part of the problem as he seems afraid to do anything too complex or interesting with it. The script doesn't help him as it is full of flat lines and cloying sentiment. Maybe I'm being unfair to expect more but these two things prevent it from being anything better than a basic family drama. The cast generally aren't able to step up beyond this. The officers are generally quite colourful characters but the nuns are mostly dull and lacking character. Palmer is the stern one and there are pretty ones, older ones, disapproving ones c; none of them have much to work with and the performances match the basic level of the performance. The children are the poshest and most English "Italian Jews" that I have ever seen and they simply don't convince and show a real laziness in the casting side of things.Overall then a sincere and serious drama that plays it all very straight and offers nothing complex, challenging or interesting to work with. The cast plod along with this approach and aren't able to do much to counter the safe material served up. Undemanding families will maybe enjoy it as a matinée.

I first saw this movie in 1960 when I was 10 and was taken to see it with my mother on our weekly Monday night visit to the Cinema. I didn't go out of choice, It was just for me and my mother to get out of my Fathers way so he could get on with jobs about the house. I can't remember many films that I saw at that time but this was one of the few that stuck in my mind. I suppose it was that I could identify with the Children as they were about my age and that it was about the war. Those of us born in the 40's and 50's grew up with stories about the war. It was certainly a topic for discussion I'm our household as my Father had been a radio operator in the RAF from 1939 onwards.I can remember being deeply moved and disturbed by it even at that young age especially at the climatic ending. Since then I have seen it on TV as it occasionally pops up on UK TV often in the afternoons. The last time it appeared about 18 months ago I took the opportunity to record it on Video. I watch it when I need to renew my faith in mankind as it proves that even in the darkest times, there are people who will risk all for others and their beliefs and that goodness eventually triumphs over evil.

I saw this film when I was young, and I have never forgotten it. There are certain scenes of compassion and courage that have been with me ever since. The decision to do the right thing in spite of the consequences is upheld in the portrayal of the nuns, the priest, the rabbi and even the soldiers ordered to shoot the nuns. The lesson that to be good and godly means to personally involve oneself in direct,compassionate intervention on behalf of those in need is clearly shown and lauded, as is the truth that love and compassion can know no ethnic nor religious boundaries. It is a good movie, especially for the young. I would hope that it could be made available for purchase.