Wwii Espionage Film

[Fellwanderer]

Can anyone answer this question that came up in a newsgroup?



"It was set in the second world war and involved a female radio operator

who was sent behind enemy lines to radio back (via morse) troop movement

etc. to the UK.



She is captured and the Germans decide to keep her alive and use her

knowledge and radio to transmit wrong information. One scene has the

Germans using her radio and the British listening in - unsure if it her

or the Germans on the other end.



They ask a diagnostic question like "Who dances around the fire" and she

answers in a way that the British know she is present, but captured (she

says a "Gipsy princess" instead of "Arabian princess ... something like

that).



I'm not sure, but I think it starred Michael York ... but searching IMDB

gives me no hints. Googling draws a blank too"



When I began reading it, my first thought was "Carve Her Name With Pride" but that was dispelled.



FELL

[Jim]

Originally posted by Fellwanderer@Sep 1 2005, 06:17 PM

Can anyone answer this question that came up in a newsgroup?



"It was set in the second world war and involved a female radio operator

who was sent behind enemy lines to radio back (via morse) troop movement

etc. to the UK.



She is captured and the Germans decide to keep her alive and use her

knowledge and radio to transmit wrong information. One scene has the

Germans using her radio and the British listening in - unsure if it her

or the Germans on the other end.



They ask a diagnostic question like "Who dances around the fire" and she

answers in a way that the British know she is present, but captured (she

says a "Gipsy princess" instead of "Arabian princess ... something like

that).



I'm not sure, but I think it starred Michael York ... but searching IMDB

gives me no hints. Googling draws a blank too"





When I began reading it, my first thought was "Carve Her Name With Pride" but that was dispelled.



FELL

It's not The Riddle of the Sands is it? Oh no, that was WWI though!!

Sorry Fell!

[Fellwanderer]

Originally posted by JIM@Sep 5 2005, 01:11 PM

It's not The Riddle of the Sands is it? Oh no, that was WWI though!!

Sorry Fell!

If it had been Riddle of the Sands, I'd have known that for certain



FELL

[Liger]

(Fellwanderer @ Sep 1 2005, 07:17 PM)

Can anyone answer this question that came up in a newsgroup?



"It was set in the second world war and involved a female radio operator

who was sent behind enemy lines to radio back (via morse) troop movement

etc. to the UK.



[...]"



FELL

Could this be a Sidney Gilliat / Frank Launder film? Or do I have the production era wrong?

[ollapodrida]

(Fellwanderer @ Sep 1 2005, 06:17 PM)

Can anyone answer this question that came up in a newsgroup?



"It was set in the second world war and involved a female radio operator

who was sent behind enemy lines to radio back (via morse) troop movement

etc. to the UK.



She is captured and the Germans decide to keep her alive and use her

knowledge and radio to transmit wrong information. One scene has the

Germans using her radio and the British listening in - unsure if it her

or the Germans on the other end.



They ask a diagnostic question like "Who dances around the fire" and she

answers in a way that the British know she is present, but captured (she

says a "Gipsy princess" instead of "Arabian princess ... something like

that).



I'm not sure, but I think it starred Michael York ... but searching IMDB

gives me no hints. Googling draws a blank too"



Sounds like "



When I began reading it, my first thought was "Carve Her Name With Pride" but that was dispelled.



FELL

Sorry if I messed up your post, I'm just about computer illiterate but I think the movie could actually be a made for TV miniseries "A Man Called Intrepid" starring the stil intrepid at 60-something Michael York.

[Fellwanderer]

(ollapodrida @ Oct 3 2005, 05:48 AM)

Sorry if I messed up your post, I'm just about computer illiterate but I think the movie could actually be a made for TV miniseries "A Man Called Intrepid" starring the stil intrepid at 60-something Michael York.

Thanks for your suggestion. The original questioner in the newsgroup seems to have lost interest now.



FELL

[samkydd]

(Fellwanderer @ Sep 5 2005, 01:31 PM)

If it had been Riddle of the Sands, I'd have known that for certain



FELL

The Eagle Has Landed?

[Fellwanderer]

(samkydd @ Oct 4 2005, 11:23 AM)

The Eagle Has Landed ?

Now, now - you're having a laugh.



You know I know you know I'd have known for certain if it had been The Eagle Has Landed



Of course, I could just watch it again to make absolutely certain.



FELL

[bart]

Can anyone answer this question that came up in a newsgroup?



"It was set in the second world war and involved a female radio operator

who was sent behind enemy lines to radio back (via morse) troop movement

etc. to the UK.



She is captured and the Germans decide to keep her alive and use her

knowledge and radio to transmit wrong information. One scene has the

Germans using her radio and the British listening in - unsure if it her

or the Germans on the other end.



They ask a diagnostic question like "Who dances around the fire" and she

answers in a way that the British know she is present, but captured (she

says a "Gipsy princess" instead of "Arabian princess ... something like

that).



I'm not sure, but I think it starred Michael York ... but searching IMDB

gives me no hints. Googling draws a blank too"



When I began reading it, my first thought was "Carve Her Name With Pride" but that was dispelled.



FELL

I think the film might be "odette" i cannot remember the actors regards bart

[Steve Crook]

name='bart']I think the film might be "odette" i cannot remember the actors regards bart

Odette starred Anna Neagle, Trevor Howard & Peter Ustinov with Marius Goring as a baddie. They didn't try to get her to do any transmissions after she was captured. Not in the film or in real life. She wasn't a radio operator anyway. Not many of the women in SOE were, most were couriers. Some got promoted to run circuits of their own.



It's odd you should mention "Arabian Princess" because one of the few female radio operators in the field was Noor Inayat Khan. She was a Sufi princess. The third of the three women of SOE to be awarded a George Cross (after Odette and Violette Szabo). But I don't know of any films made about Noor. She's been discussed in a few documentaries and there are some very good books about her that have been published just recently. But I don't know of any dramas.



Steve

[Steve Crook]

name='ollapodrida']Sorry if I messed up your post, I'm just about computer illiterate but I think the movie could actually be a made for TV miniseries "A Man Called Intrepid" starring the stil intrepid at 60-something Michael York.

A Man Called Intrepid was mainly dealing with the North American side of things. Intrepid (William Stephenson) set up a spy network in America and trained a lot of people at "Camp X" near Toronto. A lot of what he did in North America was to counter the German-American Bund and to help persuade the isolationists that they should join the war. That and to help set up the OSS (forerunner of the CIA) with "Wild" Bill Donovan.



I don't think that there was any direct confrontation with the German Nazis in the mini-series.



Steve

[Quiller]

It sounds like that Anthony Asquith film, based on a true story. I'm sure it was on TV pretty recently, too:



Freedom Radio (1941), woman working the radio during the resistance in France.

[Steve Crook]

It sounds like that Anthony Asquith film, based on a true story. I'm sure it was on TV pretty recently, too:



Freedom Radio (1941), woman working the radio during the resistance in France.

Freedom Radio was about a German doctor trying to broadcast the truth about the Nazi regime. It was set in Germany not France and it was about a clandestine radio station broadcasting counter-propaganda, not about secret agents.



I didn't think it was based on a true story.



Steve

[swimming]

> They ask a diagnostic question like "Who dances around the fire" and she

> answers in a way that the British know she is present, but captured (she

> says a "Gipsy princess" instead of "Arabian princess ... something like

> that).



I have been trying to find out which movie/series it was for several

years now, but to no avail. I have seen it on TV, probably in the late

70s or early 80s.



If I remember correctly, the captured girls says "Arabian princess"

intead of "Indian princess".

[Jack Gurney]

Totally vague and pointless suggestion, but it's not CARVE HER NAME WITH PRIDE by any chance, is it? It probably isn't, but it's all I could think of in sheer desperation...

[Steve Crook]

name='Jack Gurney']Totally vague and pointless suggestion, but it's not CARVE HER NAME WITH PRIDE by any chance, is it? It probably isn't, but it's all I could think of in sheer desperation...

A film that's always worth watching, but it wasn't that one.

Violette wasn't a radio operator.



Steve

[JamesM]

Hanna's War ?

[ringsider]

name='Fellwanderer']Can anyone answer this question that came up in a newsgroup?



"It was set in the second world war and involved a female radio operator

who was sent behind enemy lines to radio back (via morse) troop movement

etc. to the UK.



She is captured and the Germans decide to keep her alive and use her

knowledge and radio to transmit wrong information. One scene has the

Germans using her radio and the British listening in - unsure if it her

or the Germans on the other end.



They ask a diagnostic question like "Who dances around the fire" and she

answers in a way that the British know she is present, but captured (she

says a "Gipsy princess" instead of "Arabian princess ... something like

that).



I'm not sure, but I think it starred Michael York ... but searching IMDB

gives me no hints. Googling draws a blank too"



When I began reading it, my first thought was "Carve Her Name With Pride" but that was dispelled.



FELL

Seaching for posts on "Hanna's War" I came across this question (sorry, only 3 years late).

The film in question is DEFINITELY the TV miniseries "A Man Called Intrepid", as someone suggested. David Niven and Michael York starred as the spymaster (Sir William Stephenson) and spy pupil respectively. Barbara Hershey played a character called Madelaine - a part closely based on the real life Noor Inayat Khan. York falls for Hershey at spy training camp in Canada and during their intimate conversations she confides some tale about dancing around a fire.

When, subsequently, Hershey is captured by the Germans and they try to persuade her to cooperate she refuses. The Germans do have her transmitting codebooks (as in real life) and they try to convince London that Hershey is still free and operating her own radio. The phrase 'who dances around the fire' is used by London to test whether Hershey is really transmitting freely, and when it is answered incorrectly, London know the sad truth.

Great story, well acted and well worth searching out - unfortunately the only copies I have found are badly recorded from US TV and are way too dark.



Regards - Bernard



P.S. If anyone does read this late post, I failed in my search for posts on "Hanna's War". I am sure I previously read one criticising the overly-jewish nature of Hanna and her story. I have just watched the film again and I cannot agree with the criticism. Hanna is very jewish but, without wishing to sound too much like a Sun headline, her courage is universal. Did anyone else enjoy Hanna's War? Or if not, why not?

[Hackett]

Sounds like one of the storylines from the old London Weekend TV series "WISH ME LUCK" 1987. Was it the Suzanna Hamilton character who gets caught and the Germans use her radio to send false massages.

[theuofc]

name='Fellwanderer']Can anyone answer this question that came up in a newsgroup?



"It was set in the second world war and involved a female radio operator

who was sent behind enemy lines to radio back (via morse) troop movement

etc. to the UK.



She is captured and the Germans decide to keep her alive and use her

knowledge and radio to transmit wrong information. One scene has the

Germans using her radio and the British listening in - unsure if it her

or the Germans on the other end.



They ask a diagnostic question like "Who dances around the fire" and she

answers in a way that the British know she is present, but captured (she

says a "Gipsy princess" instead of "Arabian princess ... something like

that).



I'm not sure, but I think it starred Michael York ... but searching IMDB

gives me no hints. Googling draws a blank too"



When I began reading it, my first thought was "Carve Her Name With Pride" but that was dispelled.



FELL

Hi, Fell,



Pretty sure this is not the film, but I thought I'd throw it in the ring with the other female spy titles mentioned, Shining Through (1992) with Michael Douglas and Melanie Griffith, both spies in WW2 Germany. Not surprisingly, the film received widely varying reviews, but there is some agreement that Gielgud and Otto Dietrich turned in good performances.



Barbara