A British foreign correspondent is plunged into espionage when he uncovers a Nazi U-boat operation in neutral Norway.
At the start of World War II, racing journalist Colin Metcalfe (Hugh Williams) is sent to Norway as a foreign correspondent. There he meets sea captain Alstad (Finlay Currie) and his daughter, Kari (Deborah Kerr), who reveal the location of a secret German U-boat base. After surviving a submarine attack and the indifference of a Nazi-sympathizing local police inspector, Metcalfe heads to Oslo to file his story. He is promptly kidnapped by the Germans but rescued by a British vessel carrying wounded soldiers from France, among them his mortally wounded friend Lockwood (Ralph Richardson). Back in Britain, Metcalfe accepts a dangerous mission to return to Norway and help Allied bombers destroy the submarine pen.
One of Britain’s most effective wartime propaganda films, this tense drama benefits from a subtle script co-written by playwright Terence Rattigan. The story avoids simple jingoism, grounding its espionage plot in the personal toll of the conflict. Director Harold French gives the proceedings a powerful sense of authenticity by incorporating actual war footage into the film’s climax. The narrative convincingly portrays the quiet determination required to combat an encroaching enemy, a theme given weight by a strong cast of British character actors. In the United States, the film was released under the title The Avengers.
Production Co: Paul Soskin Productions / 98 minutes / 1942
Director: Harold French
Screenplay: Terence Rattigan, Anatole de Grunwald, Patrick Kirwan
Cinematography: Bernard Knowles
Main Cast: Hugh Williams (Colin Metcalfe), Ralph Richardson (Frank Lockwood), Deborah Kerr (Kari Alstad), Finlay Currie (Capt. Alstad), Francis L. Sullivan (Kommandant Ulrich Wettau), Roland Culver (Cmdr. Pittwaters), Griffith Jones (Police Inspector Gunter)
