Against the Wind (1948)

British agents engage in hazardous duty behind German lines.

Director:

Charles Crichton

Writers:

J. Elder Wills (story), Michael Pertwee (adaptation)

Stars:

Robert Beatty, Simone Signoret, Jack Warner

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Beatty	...	Father Philip
Simone Signoret	...	Michèle
Jack Warner	...	Cronk
Gordon Jackson	...	Duncan
Paul Dupuis	...	Picquart
Gisèle Préville	...	Julie
John Slater	...	Emile Meyer
Peter Illing	...	Andrew
James Robertson Justice	...	Ackerman
Sybille Binder	...	Florence Malou
Hélène Hansen	...	Marie Berlot
Gilbert Davis	...	Commandant
Andrew Blackett	...	Frankie
Arthur Lawrence	...	Verreker
Eugene Deckers	...	Marcel Van Hecke

Storyline

Philip Elliot, refugee Belgian priest, reports to a secret school in London for spies and saboteurs behind German lines. After training, he and two others parachute into Belgium to help destroy a records office. This mission leads to German capture of an important resistance leader; four more agents (Emile, Max, Scotty, and Michele) go in on a rescue mission. But one of them is a traitor; and other things go wrong...

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Plot Keywords:

belgium | priest | parachute | saboteur | spy | 

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Taglines:

They played macabre jokes - lively but deadly.

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Genres:

Action | War | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 June 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

Enantia ston anemo

Filming Locations:

Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ealing Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title of the film is taken from a quote from 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by Lord Byron- "Yet, Freedom! yet thy banner, torn, but flying. Streams like the thunder-storm against THE WIND" (Canto iv, Stanza 98).

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Crazy Credits

Closing credits epilogue: "Yet, Freedom! yet thy banner, torn, but flying. Streams like the thunder-storm against THE WIND"

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Soundtracks

Mariette
(1911) (uncredited)
Music by Arthur Courquin and Sterny
Lyrics by Emile Rhein

User Reviews

Horse dung in the wind

A group of uninteresting people are sent into Belgium to blow up a records office and rescue some bloke from prison. Can they succeed?

Unfortunately, there is no-one in the cast that anyone can identify with who is in the film for long enough. Gordon Jackson is dreadfully annoying as "Johnny", the schoolboy explosives expert who is out of his depth. Paul Dupuis is the best of the cast as "Picquart", the undercover Gestapo officer who sticks his neck out to help the very annoying Gordon Jackson. Simone Signoret is OK as "Michele" the radio operator but this role could equally have been played by Gisele Preville who played "Julie".

Indeed the film has 3 good sections that stick in the mind. One is the shot of "Julie" lying in the field after her parachute jump, staring at the sky and obviously very dead. It's the most shocking image from the film. The second is the scene where "Michele" discovers that her colleague is a traitor while they are sharing a quiet moment in their hideout. And the third is the scene where "Picquart" is trapped in his Nazi office and has to act quickly. That's it. Most of the rest of the film is dull and unengaging. It takes an hour or so before anything of interest happens.

A mention goes to Jack Warner as "Max". How on earth did England win a war with lard buckets like him in the army. What a heffalump! And what is the romance between "Michele" and "Johnny" all about? A complete nonsense. There are a few interesting sections but the film disappoints overall.