''Against the Wind'' is a

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

British film directed by

Charles Crichton Charles Ainslie Crichton (6 August 1910 – 14 September 1999) was an English film director and film editor, editor. Born in Wallasey, Cheshire, he became best known for directing many comedies produced at Ealing Studios and had a 40-ye ...

and 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 fil ...

, released through

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 ...

in 1948. ''Against the Wind'' is a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

sabotage/resistance drama set in occupied

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, starring

Robert Beatty Robert Rutherford Beatty (19 October 1909 – 3 March 1992) was a Canadian actor who worked in film, television and radio for most of his career and was especially known in the UK. Early years Beatty was born in Hamilton, Ontario, the son of ...

, Jack Warner and Simone Signoret (in her first English-language film role).

Plot

Roman Catholic priest Fr Elliott goes to the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

to meet a section-head in the wartime British

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

. On accepting his offer to train for covert operations behind enemy lines in Belgium, he meets a disparate group of existing recruits, including Michèle the Belgian émigrée (Signoret), whose sweetheart has died after the occupation of Belgium, Emile, who misses his family, and Julie, who flirts with Fr Elliott despite his celibate status. Michèle's motives are initially questioned before she is finally given the green light for operations abroad. On completion of their training Fr Elliott and Julie are parachuted into Belgium, briefed to destroy a Nazi records office in Brussels and to spring prominent SOE agent Andrew from custody, but Julie is killed during the drop. A wanted man in Belgium after past missions, Emile is sent for plastic surgery to allow him to go on another. He finds out that his wife has in fact managed to leave occupied Belgium and goes to meet her, risking his dismissal. However, as he didn’t speak to her and was not recognised by her, he is given the benefit of the doubt by his section-head. In the meantime another agent, Max, goes to meet his contact with the Germans, to whom he is willing to betray the Belgian network for money. As Max, Emile, wireless operator Michèle and explosives expert Scotty are flown to Belgium, the police inform SOE that the contact, who is Irish, is on their 'watch list' and that Max is thus a double-agent. It is too late to recall the plane and the whole group parachutes into Belgium as planned, but soon afterwards Michèle executes Max after receiving a radio message revealing his treachery. She also begins to fall in love with Scotty. The records office is successfully destroyed and Jacques, another SOE agent working undercover as a Belgian Fascist

Quisling ''Quisling'' (, ) is a term used in Scandinavian languages and in English meaning a citizen or politician of an occupied country who collaborates with an enemy occupying force – or more generally as a synonym for ''traitor''. The word ori ...

, manages to get word to Fr Elliott on Andrew's prison arrangements. Their attempt to spring him from jail is foiled by an untimely RAF bombing raid, however, and Scotty begins suffering from toothache due to his damp hideout in a church crypt. The group attempt to get him to a dentist, but his poor French accent leads to his arrest by the Gestapo. Jacques manages to effect Scotty's escape, but at the cost of his cover and life. The remaining agents then manage to hijack the train taking Andrew to Germany, evade the Germans pursuing them and finally get him safely on a night-flight back to Britain.

Cast

as Father Philip Elliot * Simone Signoret as Michèle Denis * Jack Warner as Max Cronk * Gordon Jackson as Scotty Duncan * Paul Dupuis as Jacques Picquart *

Gisèle Préville Gisèle Préville (1918–2006) was a French film actress and beauty contestant. She entered the film industry after being crowned Miss Paris in 1934 and Miss France in 1935. While she mainly featured in French films, she also starred in the Bri ...

as Julie *

James Robertson Justice James Robertson Justice (15 June 1907 – 2 July 1975) was a British actor. He is best remembered for portraying pompous authority figures in comedies including each of the seven films in the '' Doctor'' series. He also co-starred with Greg ...

as Ackerman *

André Morell Cecil André Mesritz (20 August 1909 – 28 November 1978), known professionally as André Morell, was an English actor. He appeared frequently in theatre, film and on television from the 1930s to the 1970s. His best known screen roles were as ...

as Abbott * Eugene Deckers as Marcel van Hecke * John Slater as Emile Meyer *

Peter Illing Peter Illing (4 March 1899 – 29 October 1966) was an Austrian-born British film and television actor. Selected TV series * '' Deadline Midnight'' (1961) as Captain Dnieprovsky * '' The Saint'' (1962) as Inspector Buono Filmography * '' The S ...

as Andrew *

Sybille Binder Sybille Binder (5 January 1895 – 30 June 1962) was an Austrian actress of Jewish descent whose career of over 40 years was based variously in her home country, Germany and Britain, where she found success in films during the 1940s. Career Bi ...

as Florence Malou * Andrew Blackett as Frankie * Arthur Lawrence as Capt. Verreker

Reception

''Against the Wind'' performed only modestly at the box-office and received a mixed critical reception, with reviews ranging from the favourable ("This little film about a batch of saboteurs in wartime Belgium is...tense and artistic. It is a pleasing and worthwhile film") to the unimpressed ("''Against the Wind''...has the aspect of contrived melodrama and a minimum of the truth behind the sabotage of World War II. Despite an experienced cast, ''Against the Wind'' is unconvincing fare.")''Against the Wind'' review by A.J.
''New York Times'', 27-06-1949. ''Retrieved 23-07-2010'' A frequent criticism levelled at the film was that the early scene-setting section was somewhat jerky in style, with sketchy attempts to provide back-stories for the main protagonists leaving many viewers rather confused as to what exactly was going on. The performances of the lead actors tended to be commented on in vague faint-praise terms such as "competent" and "proficient".

References

External links

* *
Review of film
at ''Variety'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Against The Wind 1948 films 1940s spy films British spy films British war films Ealing Studios films 1940s English-language films British black-and-white films Films directed by Charles Crichton Films produced by Michael Balcon Films set in Belgium Films set in London Belgium in fiction Films about the Belgian Resistance World War II spy films 1948 war films British World War II films 1940s British films