''Secret Command'' is a 1944 American

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by A. Edward Sutherland and starring

Pat O'Brien Pat O'Brien may refer to: Politicians * Pat O'Brien (Canadian politician) (born 1948), member of the Canadian House of Commons *Pat O'Brien (Irish politician) (c. 1847–1917), Irish Nationalist MP in the United Kingdom Parliament Others *Pat O'Br ...

and

Carole Landis Carole Landis (born Frances Lillian Mary Ridste; January 1, 1919 – July 5, 1948) was an American actress and singer. She worked as a contract player for Twentieth Century-Fox in the 1940s. Her breakout role was as the female lead in the 1940 ...

. It was nominated for the

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

for Best Effects ( David Allen, Ray Cory, Robert Wright, Russell Malmgren, Harry Kusnick) in 1945.

Plot

Sam Gallagher lands a job at a shipyard during World War II with the reluctant help of his brother Jeff. Unbeknownst to Jeff, Sam is actually an undercover intelligence officer looking for

saboteurs Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identiti ...

among the workers. Jeff is Sam's boss at work. Their relationship is strained; Sam did not reply or come home when Jeff sent him a letter telling him their mother was dying. Another complication is the fact that Jeff's girlfriend Lea used to be Sam's. Lea is at first glad to see Sam, until she learns that he is "married", with two children. Thane, Sam's superior, assigns him Jill McGann to pretend to be his wife, and refugee orphans Joan and Paul his children. Miller is another of Thane's agents; he is in fact a

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organ ...

, first recruited by Germany but now loyal to the Allies. He tells Sam that the Germans are plotting to destroy the entire shipyard, though he does not have any details yet. He also points out the two men he knows are enemy agents. One of the saboteurs loosens a large bolt on a crane. When the crane is being used to move a large piece of machinery, the bolt falls off. Jeff tries to fix it high above the water, but one of the saboteurs, who is holding one of the steadying ropes, pretends to trip and lets go of the rope. Jeff falls into the water; Sam dives in and rescues his unconscious brother. Miller tells Sam that Lessing (the big boss at the yard) and the safety inspector are both enemy agents. They are planning something big the day after an aircraft carrier is brought in. However, Simms, another of the saboteurs, recognizes Sam (who was held in a German concentration camp, but managed to escape) and vice versa. Simms follows Sam home and holds Sam and Jill at gunpoint, but Sam manages to grapple with him, and Jill strikes him with an object, killing him. Simms' death is staged to look like a car accident. However, this spooks the spies. The entire espionage ring meets in a remote location and learns the identity of their real leader, Gestapo Colonel Hugo Von Braun, aka "Brownie" Brownell, a seemingly loyal shipyard worker. Von Braun knows that Simms' death was not accidental, so he keeps everyone together so as not to endanger the culmination of their mission the next day. Miller telephones Sam, but Von Braun kills him before he can say anything of importance. The spies go to Sam's home, but in the darkness, Von Braun mistakes Red Kelly for him and shoots Red. Before he dies, Red is able to tell Jill it was "Brownie". Thane and his men catch all the saboteurs - that they know of - in the act and arrest them. Jill rushes up and tells Sam that Brownie is one of them. Von Braun manages to activate a bomb, but Sam finds him and, after a fight that ends up in the water, drowns him. Then he stops the bomb from going off just in time. Afterward, Sam decides he wants to keep his pretend family, so he proposes to Jill, and she accepts.

Cast

as Sam Gallagher *

as Jill McGann *

Chester Morris John Chester Brooks Morris (February 16, 1901 – September 11, 1970) was an American stage, film, television, and radio actor. He had some prestigious film roles early in his career, and received an Academy Awards, Academy Award nomination ...

as Jeff Gallagher *

Ruth Warrick Ruth Elizabeth Warrick (June 29, 1916 – January 15, 2005) was an American singer, actress and political activist, best known for her role as Phoebe Tyler Wallingford on ''All My Children'', which she played regularly from 1970 until her d ...

as Lea Damaron *

Barton MacLane Barton MacLane (December 25, 1902 – January 1, 1969) was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He appeared in many classic films from the 1930s through the 1960s, including his role as General Martin Peterson on the 1960s NBC ...

as Red Kelly *

Tom Tully Thomas Kane Tulley (August 21, 1908 – April 27, 1982) was an American actor. He began his career in radio and on the stage before making his film debut in ''Northern Pursuit'' (1943). Subsequently, he was nominated for an Academy Award for hi ...

as Colonel Hugo Von Braun, aka "Brownie" Brownell *

Wallace Ford Wallace Ford (born Samuel Grundy Jones; 12 February 1898 – 11 June 1966) was an English-born naturalized American vaudevillian, stage performer and screen actor. Usually playing wise-cracking characters, he combined a tough but friendly-fac ...

as Miller *

Howard Freeman Howard Freeman (December 9, 1899 – December 11, 1967) was an American actor of the early 20th century, and film and television actor of the 1940s through the 1960s. Biography Freeman was born in Helena, Montana, and began working as ...

as Max Lessing * Erik Rolf as Ben Royall *

Matt McHugh Matthew O. McHugh (January 22, 1894 – February 22, 1971) was an American film actor who appeared in more than 200 films between 1931 and 1955, primarily in small cameo parts. Career McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents ran a s ...

as Curly *

Frank Sully Francis Thomas Sullivan (June 17, 1908 December 17, 1975), known professionally as Frank Sully, was an American film actor. He appeared in over 240 films between 1934 and 1968. Today's audiences know him best as the dumb detective in the ''Bost ...

as Shawn * Frank Fenton as Simms *

Charles D. Brown Charles D. Brown (July 1, 1887 – November 25, 1948) was an American stage and film actor. Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Brown wrote and directed a single short film in 1914. As an actor, he appeared in more than 100 films, stretching fro ...

as James Thane *

Carol Nugent Carol Lou Nugent (born July 7, 1937) is an American actress who began her career as a child. Nugent appeared in over 20 feature films and 11 television programs during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Her 1959 marriage to actor Nick Adams ended with ...

as Joan * Richard Lyon as Paul

References

External links

* {{A. Edward Sutherland 1944 films 1940s war drama films American spy films American war drama films American black-and-white films Films directed by A. Edward Sutherland World War II spy films Columbia Pictures films 1944 drama films Films scored by Paul Sawtell 1940s English-language films 1940s American films