''Undercover'' is a 1943 British war film produced by

Ealing Studios Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever s ...

, originally titled ''Chetnik''. It was filmed in Wales and released on 27 July 1943. Its subject is a guerrilla movement in German-occupied Yugoslavia, loosely based on

Draza Mihailovich Daraza ( sd, درازا) is a word taken from the Persian "Dar-e-raaz" meaning the door to divine secrets. It was once a state consisting of 17000 acres, and is now a village that is also called Daraza Sharif. This village is located near the ...

Chetnik The Chetniks ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Четници, Četnici, ; sl, Četniki), formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationa ...

resistance movement. The film was produced by

Michael Balcon Sir Michael Elias Balcon (19 May 1896 – 17 October 1977) was an English film producer known for his leadership of Ealing Studios in West London from 1938 to 1955. Under his direction, the studio became one of the most important British film ...

and directed by

Sergei Nolbandov Sergei Nolbandov (1895-1971) was a Russian-born screenwriter, film producer and film director, director. Nolbandov was born in Moscow in 1895. He later moved to Britain where he worked in the British film industry. He died in Lewes, Sussex in 1971.S ...

. It stars John Clements, Mary Morris, and Stephen Murray, with Michael Wilding and 15-year-old Stanley Baker. The film was released in the United States in 1944 by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

under the title ''Underground Guerrillas''. It is similar to the

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

wartime film ''

Chetniks! The Fighting Guerrillas ''Chetniks! The Fighting Guerrillas'' is a war film made by Twentieth Century Fox in 1943. The film starred Philip Dorn, Anna Sten, and Martin Kosleck. The film was originally titled ''The Seventh Column''. It was directed by Louis King and is b ...

'' (1943), made in the U.S.

Background

The film is based on the Yugoslav resistance movement under the command of General Draza Mihailovich. But politics overtook the situation because Mihailovich and the Royalists were about to be abandoned by the British government - as parts of the Chetnik movement co-operated with the Nazis - in favour of the Communist and Stalinist leader

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

. Speaking in Parliament on 22 February 1944, the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, said: "General Mihailovic, I much regret to say, drifted gradually into a position where his commanders made accommodations with Italian and German troops…" The screenplay, by

John Dighton John Gervase DightonCollections"John Dighton"''British Film Institute''. Retrieved 30 August 2020. (8 December 1909 – 16 April 1989) was a British playwright and screenwriter. Dighton was born in London to Basil Lewis Dighton, of West Ken ...

and

Monja Danischewsky Monja Danischewsky (28 April 1911 – 16 October 1994) was a British producer and writer, born in Archangel into a Russian-Jewish family who left Russia for England in 1919 and who produced and wrote the films '' Topkapi'' and ''Rockets Galor ...

, was accordingly amended, and the film was re-edited. It ended up as a black and white war film, 80 minutes in length.

Plot

The film focuses on the fictional Petrovitch family in Belgrade, Serbia. One brother, Milosh, a Yugoslav military captain (John Clements) forms an anti-Nazi guerilla movement in the mountains of Serbia. His brother, Dr. Stephan Petrovitch (Stephen Murray), poses as a Nazi collaborator to obtain information for the guerrillas while working directly under General von Staengel (Godfrey Tearle), commander of the German occupation force. Using information obtained by Stephan, Milosh and his guerrillas are able to ambush a German train and free Yugoslav PoWs, while wounding General Staengel in the process. Stephan operates on the wounded General, saving his life, and gaining the General's trust. Milosh's wife, Anna Petrovitch (Mary Morris), a schoolteacher, is taken prisoner and interrogated, but she escapes, with the help of some of her students, and joins Milosh in the mountains. In retaliation, German troops under Colonel von Brock (Robert Harris) execute six schoolchildren. Later, Stephan uses his credentials as a Nazi sympathizer to plant explosives on a German train, timing them to go off in a mountain tunnel. The film's climax is a pitched battle between the Germans and guerrillas. Afterwards, the Serbians retreat into the mountains to continue their campaign of terror and resistance against Axis occupation.

Cast

* John Clements as Milosh Petrovitch * Mary Morris as Anna Petrovitch * Stephen Murray as Dr. Stephan Petrovitch * Tom Walls as Kossan Petrovitch * Rachel Thomas as Maria Petrovitch * Michael Wilding as Constantine * Stanley Baker as Petar * Godfrey Tearle as General von Staengel * Robert Harris as Colonel von Brock *

Niall MacGinnis Patrick Niall MacGinnis (29 March 1913 – 6 January 1977) was an Irish actor who made around 80 screen appearances. Early life MacGinnis was born in Dublin in 1913.

as Dr. Jordan * Ivor Barnard as Stationmaster * Terwyn Jones as Danilo *

Finlay Currie William Finlay Currie (20 January 1878 – 9 May 1968) was a Scottish actor of stage, screen, and television.McFarlane, Brian (28 February 2014). ''The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition''. Oxford University Press. pp. 175-176; He re ...

as Priest * Ben Williams as Dragutin

Crew

* Director:

* Producer:

* Associate Producer: S.C. Balcon * Script:

, Monja Danischewsky, Sergei Nolbandov (uncredited), and Milosh Sekulich (uncredited). Based on a story by

George Slocombe George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President ...

, Milosh Sekulich (uncredited), and Sergei Nolbandov (uncredited) * Cinematography:

Wilkie Cooper Wilkie Cooper BSC (19 October 1911 – 15 December 2001) was a British cinematographer. Cooper was born in London, the son of the silent era cinematographer Douglas Percival Cooper. His early career included ''Green for Danger'' (1946) ...

* Art Direction: Duncan Sutherland * Editing: Eileen Boland * Supervising Editor: Sidney Cole * Special Effects: Roy Kellino * Technical Advisors: Milosh Sekulich, W.E. Hart * Music:

Frederic Austin Frederic William Austin (30 March 187210 April 1952) was an English baritone singer, a musical teacher and composer in the period 1905–30. He is best remembered for his restoration and production of ''The Beggar's Opera'' by John Gay and Joha ...

Sources

* Barr, Charles. ''Ealing Studios: A Movie Book''. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1999. * Barr, Charles. (1974). "Projecting Britain and the British Character: Ealing Studios, Part II." ''Screen'', 15(2), pages 129-163. * Dick, Bernard F. ''The Star-Spangled Screen: The American World War II Film''. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2006. p. 164. * ''Undercover'' on the citwf database: http://www.citwf.com/film365195.htm

External links

* * {{Michael Balcon 1943 films 1943 war films British war films 1940s English-language films Films directed by Sergei Nolbandov Films set in Serbia Films set in Belgrade Ealing Studios films War films set in Partisan Yugoslavia World War II films made in wartime Films produced by Michael Balcon British black-and-white films History of Serbia on film Cultural depictions of Serbian men Cultural depictions of Serbian people Guerrilla warfare in film