Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Forumrxes Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

l_rawjalaurence One always feels a sense of.duty while watching an Anna Neagle film. She tackles important subjects, as well as doing musicals with Errol Flynn, but she always plays the same role - la Neagle. Here she is a Resistance heroine based on a real figure, but one can't help feeling that Virginia McKenna did the role far better in 1957's CARVE HER NAME WITH PRIDE. Nonetheless this film has its moments, and passes away a wet afternoon agreeably enough.

rdolan9007 The film Odette, I think, is less well known than 'Carve her name with pride' - a film that deals with fairly similar wartime themes and is also based on a true story. I do think that Odette probably suffers, but only slightly in comparison, as it is a little too stolid in places. Both films would make excellent companion pieces, however, and 'Odette' is certainly well worth watching.Odette is about a French women (Odette) who is sent to France as part of SOE. She has initially been sent to work with the French resistance around the important wartime port of Marseille. Whilst there she gradually falls in love with a British resistance man (Trevor Howard) who is also working undercover in France. Their relationship builds slowly through the film, surviving both prison and torture by the Gestapo, until after their terrible experiences they are reunited in Britain.The love story is mostly understated, but underscores the nature and real danger of 'resistance' work in France. The film is sometimes a little stiff upper lipped and can be a little jarring, but the important scenes are done very well.Those scenes include the torture of 'Odette' although the violence to her is not shown. The menace is there though in the framing of the scene, and you see a gestapo man take a red hot poker out of a stove, with the clear implication that he will burn her back with it. She also has her toe-nails pulled out, although we do not see that portrayed in the film. While the suggestion of Gestapo violence is palpable, it is the scene after her torture that sticks in the mind. You can see the pain seemingly etched in her face, her hair bedraggled, and clinging with sweat to her forehead.It is a very powerful scene, which works extremely well in expressing the torment she went through. Strangely and unfortunately enough the film probably doesn't exude enough menace early on. The acting is good as you might expect from Trevor Howard. Anna Neagle who plays Odette is good as well. There is a nice cameo from Peter Ustinov as a French and occasionally grumpy wireless operator.There is some attempt not to simply have all the Germans as one dimensional. The main German antagonist (Marius Goring) does portray a more complex German. He does not like the Gestapo and their methods, even if, as is pointed out, he goes along with what they do.The other notable scene includes the concentration camp 'Ravensbruck' were the story becomes even darker. Odette is tortured by being imprisoned in solitary confinement with little or no food, and with the heating deliberately turned up to as hot as possible. She nearly dies from this, although she is given slightly better treatment after that. The sadism of the German women guards is hinted at in the film, although not in its probably horrifying detail. Odette is eventually rescued by the camp commander, who tries to save his own skin by releasing her to the advancing Americans.There is some humour despite the dark material in the film, but it is mostly rather forced and stilted. I think the film is probably overlong, and the script lacks bite early on. The film is of its time, and the film probably softens some scenes that a modern audience would probably expect to see.It does a mostly successful job, however, of explaining 'Odettes' story; she did receive a well deserved 'George Cross' for her bravery. I think this is an important film, not simply for its look at her work in the French resistance, but for her confinement in Ravensbruck, were many brave women would not survive the war in that camp. They were often executed there, or basically left to die.If you are interested there is a Wikipedia page dedicated to the prominent women who died in Ravensbruck, and it also contains more sobering detail on the nature of the suffering they endured.I don't this film ranks as one the great war films, the script is a little leaden at times, and until later on in the film there is not that feeling or menace your might expect. I would recommend it none the less, the story is compelling enough to overcome the difficulties with the script.

Jonathon Dabell A truly inspirational real-life war hero(ine), Odette Sanson's story is so dramatic and fascinating that it's eventual translation to the cinema screen is as inevitable as night following day. Tastefully done yet still powerful – with strong performances from Anna Neagle, Trevor Howard, Marcus Goring and Peter Ustinov – the film is a good, solid bio-pic all-round.During WWII, mother of three Odette Sanson (Anna Neagle) offers to work for British Intelligence. She is given a new identity and back-story, and dispatched to France where she comes under the command of top Allied spy Peter Churchill (Trevor Howard). Churchill has within his jurisdiction a small spy network working furtively and endlessly against the German war machine, among them the impetuous and courageous Alex Rabinovich (Peter Ustinov). Odette proves her own worth smuggling some vital documents out of Marseille, and is soon hailed as one of the most invaluable members of the team. Later she is captured and tortured by the Gestapo, but stubbornly refuses to yield any information, simultaneously surprising and infuriating her Nazi captors. After various trials and tribulations, she returns to England a bona fide war hero(ine) when the fighting ends in 1945.After a stodgy and rather clumsily handled opening, Odette picks up pace, interest and drama as it gets going. Neagle handles the title role pretty well, conveying the stubborn pride and inner courage of the character most effectively; Howard too is solid (if a little underused) as her superior and eventual lover. The film is crisply shot, sometimes on the studio backlot but quite often on authentic continental locations, and generates an evocative sense of atmosphere in its dangerous world of wartime skulduggery and military intrigue. The torture sequences manage to be extremely distressing without showing everything in nauseating detail (a trick modern film-makers would do well to learn from), and a good level of tension is sustained pretty much throughout as Odette carries out her clandestine deceptions in this riskiest of times and places. All-in-all, Odette is a good film in the old-fashioned mould.

hkatchay I first saw Odette when I first arrived in the United States at age 12. I was captivated by television and watched old movies and old television reruns after school. I was just developing a love for history and world war 2 history at school when I saw Odette for the first time. The story, authentic scenery and realistic performances completely drew me in. This movie will keep you on the edge of your seat for it is extremely intense and Anne Neagle draws you completely into the dark world experienced by Odette Sampson. Trevor Howard is strong, convincing and underplays just enough to allow Miss Neagle to shine, while conveying the strength of his character. I highly recommend this film if and when it can be seen again. The historians in the world would love the chance to add this film to their collection. Waiting patiently for the video and DVD.