Secret Command (1944)

Sam Gallagher (Pat O'Brien), a former foreign correspondent and now a United States Government agent, gets a job through his brother Jeff (Chester Morris), whom he has not seen in seven ... See full summary »

Director:

A. Edward Sutherland

Writers:

Roy Chanslor (screenplay), John Hawkins (story),

Stars:

Pat O'Brien, Carole Landis, Chester Morris

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Cast overview:
Pat O'Brien	...	Sam Gallagher
Carole Landis	...	Jill McGann
Chester Morris	...	Jeff Gallagher
Ruth Warrick	...	Lea Damaron
Barton MacLane	...	Red Kelly
Tom Tully	...	Colonel Hugo Von Braun aka 'Brownie' Brownell
Wallace Ford	...	Miller
Howard Freeman	...	Max Lessing
Erik Rolf	...	Ben Royall
Matt McHugh	...	Curly
Frank Sully	...	Shawn
Frank Fenton	...	Simms
Charles D. Brown	...	James Thane
Carol Nugent	...	Joan
Richard Lyon	...	Paul

Storyline

Sam Gallagher (Pat O'Brien), a former foreign correspondent and now a United States Government agent, gets a job through his brother Jeff (Chester Morris), whom he has not seen in seven years, in the Seaboard Shipyards as a "pileback" in order to track down a gang of Nazi spies who are plotting to sabotage the shipyards. Jill McCann (Carole Landis),an FBI agent, poses as Sam's wife, and two children, 6-year-old Paul (Richard Lyon), and 4-year-old-Joan (Carol Nugent),complete his "cover family." THe set-up looks fishy to Jeff, and he imparts his suspicions to Lea Damoran (Ruth Warrick, the girl both brothers had courted in the old days. Meanwhile, Sam works hard and makes friends with most of the men in his crew. He gets a line on the saboteurs and one by one, their identities are revealed to him. The Nazis, led by Brownell (Tom Tully)who, in reality, is Colonel Von Braun of the German Gestapo, plan to blow up the yard while an aircraft carrier is docked there. Jeff's noisy ...

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Plot Keywords:

melodrama | brother | damsel in distress | sabotage | aircraft carrier | 

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Taglines:

Adapted from the SAturday Evening Post Story "THe SAboteurs" by John Hawkins and Ward Hawkins (all poster sand print ads)

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Genres:

Action | Drama | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 July 1944 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Obra Destruidora

Company Credits

Production Co:

Torneen Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Red Kelly (Barton MacLane) first meets Jill McGann (Carole Landis), he says, "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Kelly," which is HIS character's last name. A moment later, he calls her by her 'proper' name, Mrs. Gallagher.

User Reviews

WW II Spy thrillah

World War II spy thriller, taking place in a ship-building plant, with Pat OBrien, who made a whole lotta movies, mostly war times. Carol Landis, who made a good number of movies, but committed suicide at an early age, shortly after making, ironically, "The Noose". Secret Command was nominated for an Oscar, but was up against "30 seconds over Tokyo" (S Tracy, V Johnson,R Mitchum), so of course, it didn't have a chance. I thought the suspense-full high crane scenes were actually pretty good, considering when this was made, in spite of the liberal use of back-mats throughout the film. The sound also cuts out several times, and I wondered if it was dialogue editing, poor recording quality, or the fault of my local cable company. (was shown on Turner Classic Movies in June 2007). see my entry in message boards for this film for additional observations and shortcomings in the script.