"The Adventures of Tartu." Sounds like a children's movie, doesn't it? Maybe about an orphan elephant or a unicorn. But it's more serious than that. Robert Donat is a British chemist sent into Rumania, through Germany, into Czechoslovakia to sabotage a huge industrial plant where the Nazis are manufacturing vast amounts of poison gas. Since he is fluent in Rumanian and German, he is able to impersonate a real Rumanian "Iron Guard" officer named Jan Tartu. In Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, whence "Pilsener" beer, he lodges with a patriotic Czech family, along with Valerie Hobson, the soul of elegance. The youngster in the family, a factory worker, is the teen-aged Glynis Johns, she of the wide brow and slanted eyelids.
Donat is given one of those black Nazi uniforms with the tight boots and wide riding breeches that the movies required of the Nazis at that time, and he is appointed supervisor of the workers at the plant. He needs the help of the Czech underground but he doesn't know how to get in touch with them. Can he trust Valerie Hobson, who seems like a closet patriot under all that arrogance? The Gestapo keep nosing around though, so he must be ever vigilant.
Identities get mixed up. Mistakes are made. Glynis Johns is caught sabotaging some of the shells being manufactured in the plant and is executed. But Donat succeeds in his mission, blows the plant to smithereens, and makes a suspenseful escape with Hobson and a few other patriots in a Junkers 88.
For such a complicated yet slight tale, the story generates a good deal of suspense. And it's an appealing piece of work, due in large measure to Donat's performance as the ersatz Iron Guard officer. He overplays the womanizing trait of the character but that's a problem with the script and the direction, not Donat's performance. He's charming in the role and seems a likable kind of guy. The rest of the cast consists of seasoned players and provides good support.
The story seems a little trite now. There were so many like it during the war. Errol Flynn's "Desperate Journey" was a lot more fun, and Fritz Lang's "Hangmen Also Die" did a better job of capturing the ethos of occupied Czechoslovakia. Still, this is not a bad example of the genre.
It's too bad that Czechoslovakia has been split into the Czech Republic and that other independent nation whose name I can never remember. It makes one of the London Times' crossword puzzle entries obsolete. Quick -- name a major seaport in the middle of Czechoslovakia.
Oslo. CzechOSLOvakia. Get it? What can you do with a name like The Czech Republic? "Name a British saloon near the end of The Czech Republic"? That's ridiculous.
Donat is given one of those black Nazi uniforms with the tight boots and wide riding breeches that the movies required of the Nazis at that time, and he is appointed supervisor of the workers at the plant. He needs the help of the Czech underground but he doesn't know how to get in touch with them. Can he trust Valerie Hobson, who seems like a closet patriot under all that arrogance? The Gestapo keep nosing around though, so he must be ever vigilant.
Identities get mixed up. Mistakes are made. Glynis Johns is caught sabotaging some of the shells being manufactured in the plant and is executed. But Donat succeeds in his mission, blows the plant to smithereens, and makes a suspenseful escape with Hobson and a few other patriots in a Junkers 88.
For such a complicated yet slight tale, the story generates a good deal of suspense. And it's an appealing piece of work, due in large measure to Donat's performance as the ersatz Iron Guard officer. He overplays the womanizing trait of the character but that's a problem with the script and the direction, not Donat's performance. He's charming in the role and seems a likable kind of guy. The rest of the cast consists of seasoned players and provides good support.
The story seems a little trite now. There were so many like it during the war. Errol Flynn's "Desperate Journey" was a lot more fun, and Fritz Lang's "Hangmen Also Die" did a better job of capturing the ethos of occupied Czechoslovakia. Still, this is not a bad example of the genre.
It's too bad that Czechoslovakia has been split into the Czech Republic and that other independent nation whose name I can never remember. It makes one of the London Times' crossword puzzle entries obsolete. Quick -- name a major seaport in the middle of Czechoslovakia.
Oslo. CzechOSLOvakia. Get it? What can you do with a name like The Czech Republic? "Name a British saloon near the end of The Czech Republic"? That's ridiculous.