The Film:
If you had to hazard a guess on which event has triggered the making of the most films, what would you guess? Well, this is something I have thought a lot about and I can't think of any such event higher than World War II. With many war films following a rather formulaic feel good plot, it is usually the true stories based on certain people that give us the better, more gripping films. This film is one such story.
Carve Her Name With Pride is based around the true story of Violette Szabo (played in this adaptation by Virginia McKenna), a young women living in England with her English father and French mother who met in World War I. At the beginning of the film we get a few small scenes to highlight her life before she became involved in the war. She marries French soldier Etienne Szabo (Alain Saury - Marie of the Isles) shortly after meeting him and together they have a daughter, Tania Szabo. We then see her attend an interview and she is quickly conducted into the SOE (Special Operations Executive) where she learns many skills including self defence and parachuting. It isn't long before she is called into action but before she can do anything, she hurts her ankle during a parachute jump. It is in a small argument with her father at home as she is resting her foot that he finds out what she is really doing when he finds her parachuting emblem/badge on the floor as she storms off to her bedroom. It is from here that the film starts to focus on the more interesting details of this war-hero. When she lands in France, the first thing she does is re-organise a resistence that blows up bridges and sends reports to the SOE of the weapon factory activities. It isn't to long however before she is captured and the most dramatic parts of the film take place as she is kept in a German concentration camp.
Carve Her Name With Pride is a good film, but can be a bit slow moving at times. The script from Vernon Harris and director Lewis Gilbert is based on the book by R.J. Minney but as the story progresses you can't help but feel that the film is missing some vital elements of Szabo's mission (I've never read the book, so this is definately just a gut feeling). The acting is reasonable but not oustanding and the cast list also includes an uncredited role for future star Michael Caine. The only standout performance, really, is that of Virginia McKenna as Szabo. At the end of the day it is a great story in essence, but doesn't live up to the expectations of that on the big screen. It could've been so much more. Recommended to fans of war films and people interested in true stories from WWII.
The DVD:
Video:
Unfortunately the film has been provided non-anamoorphically at the OAR of 1.66:1. I'm happy to say, it is a reasonable effort but it's certainly not outstanding. There is minor grain throughout aswell as some minor scratches but none that are too intrusive. The picture also appears a bit darker than perhaps what it should be. Maybe Network have been treating us so well lately with bringing British classics to DVD with fantastic picture that I was expecting yet another infallible print, but I have to say I am a little disappointed here. Still a little better than average for films of this age though.
Audio:
Network have provided us with the original English Dolby Digital Mono here and like the picture, it isn't without problems. The music levels are consistent but unfortunately the dialogue is sometimes muffled and I was having to go back over certain scenes so I could fathom on to what it was they were saying. I would've also liked to see a Surround track for this (even just a 2.0 one) but beggars can't be choosers. As usual there are no subtitles included on this release, not even for the the scene where a bit of French is spoken between Violette and Etienne.
Extras:
We start with a full length audio commentary with actress Virginia McKenna and editor John Shirley. Whilst it is great to see Network putting commentaries on these films, this one is very boring. Neither seem to remember too much about the film though they do try there best. To be honest, I just don't think they are entirely sure on how to conduct themselves in a commentary more than anything. I think a commentary with some sort of historian or war expert would've benefited this release more and maybe make me think a little better of the film.
The rest of the extras are an image gallery (1:13) and a theatrical trailer (3:42).
