Deeply moving dramatisation of the heroism of the English nurse Edith Cavell and her Belgian supporters, who smuggled about 200 Allied soldiers and airmen out of German-occupied Belgium until she was caught, tried and on 12 October 1915 shot at dawn. Notable for the immense restraint and dignity shown by Anna Neagle in the title role, caring equally for wounded German troops and completely unafraid of blustering German officers. A devout Anglican, above her duty to her country she placed the overriding duty of saving life.
Diplomats at the Brussels embassy of the neutral USA made huge efforts to save her life once captured but the Germans were implacable. After the war, her disinterred remains were given a state funeral in Westminster Abbey and then reburied at Norwich Cathedral. This film came out as sacrifices were again being asked from English women, while the USA watched Belgium being crushed a second time by an even more vicious German regime.
Diplomats at the Brussels embassy of the neutral USA made huge efforts to save her life once captured but the Germans were implacable. After the war, her disinterred remains were given a state funeral in Westminster Abbey and then reburied at Norwich Cathedral. This film came out as sacrifices were again being asked from English women, while the USA watched Belgium being crushed a second time by an even more vicious German regime.