Odette

Dir: Herbert Wilcox

1950

*****

Odette is a 1950 British war film based on Jerrard Tickell's Odette: The Story of a British Agent, which tells the true story of French-born Special Operations Executive agent Odette Sansom, who was captured by the Germans in 1943, condemned to death and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp to be executed. However, against all odds she survived the war and testified against the prison guards at the Hamburg Ravensbrück trials. She was awarded the George Cross in 1946, the first woman ever to receive the award and the only woman who has been awarded it while still alive. The film was directed by Herbert Wilcox and jointly produced by he and his wife Anna Neagle. Neagle was originally reluctant to play the role so Wilcox offered it to Michèle Morgan and Ingrid Bergman, both of whom turned it down. Eventually when the real Odette suggested Neagle play her, Neagle agreed. Both Odette Sansom (by then Odette Churchill) and Peter Churchill served as technical advisors during the filming, and the film ends with a touching written message from Odette herself. Both Odette and and Anna Neagle spent considerable time in France, visiting locales associated with the story. Odette later said that Neagle "was absolutely into it. In fact it took one year after the end of the film to get back to normal, she was more upset by doing that film than I was reliving the experience." Odette said that she lobbied intensely for the film not to be made in Hollywood, for fear that it would be fictionalised, and that she was pleased by the result. Personally I found the start of the film to be rather stifled but it soon found it pace. In response to a radio broadcast request for photographs of France, mother of three Odette Sansom sends a letter to the Admiralty, but an addressing mistake brings her to the attention of the Special Operations Executive, who need French people to go back to their homeland as espionage agents. She completes her training in September 1942 and is sent to France. She travels to Cannes, where she is met by Captain Peter Churchill (Trevor Howard), her superior. She also meets "Arnauld" (Adolphe Rabinovitch – played by Peter Ustinov), another agent. Her first assignment is to go to Marseilles to pick up plans for the docks there. Barely warned in time of a raid organized by Abwehr Oberst "Henri" (Hugo Bleicher), Odette, Peter and Arnauld are forced to relocate to St. Jorioz, where they rendezvous with Jacques. Learning of the Maquis, Peter requests arms, medicines, etc. for them. He is then recalled to London. A large airdrop of supplies is arranged. Later, however, Henri contacts Odette. From a captured agent, he has learned all about Odette's network. He claims that he and others disaffected with Hitler wish to make contact with the British. However, she suspects otherwise and orders the other agents to disperse. Then she and Arnauld wait for Peter's return by parachute drop. However, she and Peter are captured by Henri and eventually taken to Fresnes Prison, near Paris. Arnauld was away when the hotel where they were staying was raided so avoided capture. Odette is tortured by the Gestapo, but does not break and is sentenced to death. An apologetic Henri visits her; at her request, he arranges for her to see Peter one last time, though she hides her fate from him. She is then taken to Ravensbrück concentration camp on 26 July 1944 and immediately placed in solitary confinement. The Germans believe Odette's lies about Peter, that he is related to Winston Churchill and that she was the brains of the network, while he was a playboy dilettante, and he is merely imprisoned. With Germany invaded and collapsing, on 16 April 1945, the camp commandant is ordered to execute his prisoners, but he orders a subordinate to see to Odette's safety. When the inmates learn that Hitler is dead, they riot. A guard comes for Odette and she believes she is to be executed, but the commandant instead takes her to the advancing Americans, believing another of her lies, that she is Peter's wife and therefore related to the British Prime Minister. Back in England, Odette contacts her children, explaining that she is no longer working away and will be home with them shortly. In a rather teary and heartwarming scene, she is finally reunited with Peter. The end of the film contains a title card saying as follows: "It is with a sense of deep humility that I allow my personal story to be told. I am a very ordinary woman to whom a chance was given to see human beings at their best and at their worst. I knew kindness as well as cruelty, understanding as well as brutality. My comrades, who did far more than I and suffered far more profoundly, are not here to speak. It is to their memory that this film has been made and I would like it to be a window through which may be seen those very gallant women with whom I had the honour to serve." - Odette Churchill.

The film is exciting and full of suspense and ends with a beautifully touching scene. The personal message by the real Odette comes as a heartwarming but sharp reminder, that all of this is true, as unbelievable as it seems all these years later. Anna Neagle and Trevor Howard are perfect together and Peter Ustinov is brilliant in his supporting role. It’s an important Second World War film in that it deals with the very personal risk of a few, rather than the guns-blazing action films that would follow. It is a wonderful tribute and an accurate telling of a true story – sadly a rarity within the genre.