Lilli Marlene (1950)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Arthur Crabtree

Writer:

Leslie Wood (writer)

Release Date:

23 July 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

WWII | Character Name In Title

Cast

Hugh McDermott	...	Steve
Lisa Daniely	...	Lilli
John Blythe	...	Holt
Stanley Baker	...	Evans
Russell Hunter	...	Scottie
Arthur Lawrence	...	Lieber
Irene Prador	...	Nurse Schmitt
Aud Johansen	...	Nurse Melk
Estelle Brody	...	Estelle
Carl Jaffe	...	Propaganda Chief
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Cecil Brock	...	O'Riley
Kenneth Cleveland	...	Security Officer
Rufus Cruikshank	...	Sgt. Bull
Barbara Cummings	...	Shirley
Marcel Doncin	...	Lestoque
Leslie Dwyer	...	Berry
Walter Gotell	...	Herr Direktor
Philo Hauser	...	Fratzell
Stuart Lindsell	...	Maj. Phillips
Richard Marner	...	SS Colonel (unconfirmed)
Richard Murdoch	...	Capt. Wimpole
Olaf Olsen	...	Nazi Officer
Lawrence O'Madden	...	Col. Wharton
Conrad Phillips	...	Security Officer
Martha Tilton	...	Singer - Lili Marlene
Judith Warden	...	Auntie
Michael Ward	...	Wintertree
Ben Williams	...	Brownie

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Company:

William Gell Productions

Movie Connections:

Remade as Lili Marleen (1981)

Not a very interesting movie.

I had been looking for this somewhat obscure little movie because it is an early film of Stanley Baker.

The picture is set in North Africa before El Alamein when the British and German armies moved backwards and forwards across the same territory on several occasions. The story is partially narrated by an American radio man who keeps the story moving.

Stanley Baker has a small part playing a Welshman....surprise! Anyway when the Germans retake the "pub" in which so much of the action takes place they find on interrogating the staff that the daughter of the house is called Lilly Marlene and is none other than the original on whom the song is based.

This seems like a big coup for the Nazis until they find she is a very patriotic Frenchwoman who refuses to sing the song in German until her parents are threatened.

Well the Brits retake the place and Lilly is momentarily saved but there are still hidden dangers. The movie unspools in a predictable fashion and before the end we are treated to a couple of Vera Lynn songs (not sung by her).

The movie is available on an NTSC VHS.