Secret People

source: Secret People

Talk about things coming full circle? Maria (Valentina Cortese) and her sister "Nora" (Audrey Hepburn) are in Paris seven years after their father was murdered. Surprisingly, she encounters her ex-boyfriend "Louis" (Serge Reggiani) who just happens to be plotting to visit the same comeuppance on the dictator who committed that very murder. Reluctantly, "Maria" agrees to carry the bag that contains a bomb, and to leave it adjacent to their quarry, but their timings go awry and soon the police are looking for the murderer of an innocent party guest. Wracked with guilt, she finds herself trapped between the authorities and her erstwhile friends who are determined she is to keep her mouth shut. As a drama it isn't really up to much, but this does feature a strong performance from Miss Cortese as a woman conflicted. Her principles and idealism are suddenly compromised when the her own safety is on the line - and this actress carries that off quite well. Reggiani is also quite effective as the manipulative freedom fighter for whom nothing but the cause is his motto, and there is a decent supporting cast including Irene Worth, Megs Jenkins and Charles Goldner to keep a familiar feel to the thing too. It's a rather uninspiring title for a better than average and characterful film that is worth watching - if just for an on-form Cortese.

British thriller from Ealing Studios and director Thorold Dickinson. In 1930, Maria (Valentina Cortese) and her little sister Nora (Audrey Hepburn) are sent to London from Italy to protect them from the rising militarism there. By 1937, the two women have acclimated to their new lives, although Maria is becoming restless in her cafe job. When she runs into Louis (Serge Reggiani), a young man that she knew back in Italy, Maria quickly becomes enamored with him, and fails to see that he is using her for a sinister purpose. Also featuring Charles Goldner, Angela Fouldes, Megs Jenkins, Irene Worth, Reginald Tate, Norman Williams, Michael Ripper, and Athene Seyler. This murky espionage thriller is short on thrills but not completely without merit. Cortese isn't bad as a woman in over her head. Hepburn, as an aspiring ballet dancer, has her biggest pre-Roman Holiday role. She's cute, but her role isn't fleshed out enough for her to make any sort of acting impression.

The main action of the film takes place in 1937 in London, and inevitably it brings to mind Hitchcock's "Sabotage" of the year before, exposing the same problem: a terrorist act goes wrong and innocents go down as casualties, leading to crushing problems of remorse and conscience. Valentina Cortese is the great actress and character here, coming to England with her younger sister as political refugees apparently from Italy after her and her sister's (Audrey Hepburn's) father has been assassinated by a fascist general. They manage well in England and become British citizens, and everything is perfect, until Valentina's former lover comes too England to partake in an assassination attempt on the very general that killed her father, as he comes for a visit. He persuades her to deliver the bomb, she is extremely reluctant to it but is persuaded, and she knows it is wrong and does it anyway for his sake. That's the knot that cannot be untied, since the consequences turn out not according to plan. Audrey plays herself here as the ballerina she actually first trained herself to be, and every minute of her is worth gloating on. Charles Goldner also makes a great performance as their guardian, "adopted uncle", watching carefully over the sisters and understanding too much of what is going on. It is not as great a film as Hitchcock's "Sabotage" but indeed next to it and a worthy following up on the eternal problem of the justification or not of political crimes against tyrants.

Another Ealing Studios/Rank production from 1952... opens with a title card describing an "inner person" within each of us...foreshadowing of some sort. We are told that it takes place in 1930 London, just prior to England and WW II. A man reads a letter from an old friend, warning of troubles to come, and asking him to look after his children... Really, the only big name (that I recognize) is Audrey Hepburn, as "Nora", one of the daughters. The next two films she would make were Roman Holiday and Sabrina, and her voice sounds more like a little girl in this one, as she was still only about 21. Co-star Serge Reggiani, who apparently was a famous artist, singer, actor, poet, even boxer in Europe, plays "Louis". We follow along as Nora and her sister "Maria" (Valentina Cortese) make good and bad decisions. Lots of underground war-time spying and espionage.... the photography and sound are quite good for the 1950s. The film has a good script, but lacks a spark and some big names. A good entertaining film, if no real "electricity. Written and directed by Thorold Dickinson, this would be one of the last films he made. This film is not at all connected to the "Secret People" documentary made in 1998.

Valentina Cortese, daughter of pacifist anti-fascist, makes the best of exile in England with sister Audrey Hepburn. When the strongman who killed her father comes to England, will she resist the entreaties of her father's political friends to help them, or will she join THE SECRET PEOPLE? This is quite a good film -- but it is much more a character study of a woman who suddenly finds her ideals and her peace of mind threatened because of her position - then it is a straightforward spy vs spy drama. Audrey Hepburn, on the cusp of stardom, is given a role that highlights her talents without taxing her abilities. (She plays young and dangerously innocent beautifully. Her ability to do this is what makes the end of the film work.) But the movie rests on the ability of Valentina Cortese to seem intelligent but scared, vulnerable and terribly conflicted. This is a really good role that gets a really good performance. Is this a classic for the ages? Not quite -- I like the characterization of one of the commenters as "near masterpiece". There's a deliberate lack of suspense in the film -- the results of one of the key actions in the film is so telegraphed in advance that the sequence surrounding it might be the dullest patch of the film, and the build up to the final climax is oddly lacking. But, if you have a dog- eared copy of Conrad's Secret Agent, you'll recognize the dark but dowdy milieu, and appreciate that Ealing's dedication to the use of location filming is put to good -- if very un-Ealing like -- use here. Worth the time.

Gifted film-maker Thorold Dickinson's wholly fascinating, densely layered assassination plot roiling at the blackened centre of 'Secret People' makes for an uncommonly gripping, tautly scripted, insidiously paranoid political thriller, emboldened with some exquisite ensemble acting from a talented cast, with an especially luminous, visibly limber turn from a sweetly youthful, delightfully vivacious Audrey Hepburn. 'Secret People' has a remarkably dark and gritty atmosphere, having some darkly delicious, nerve-jangling tense interludes, coming to a genuinely thrilling, palm-swealtering exciting conclusion, and it would be foully remiss to ignore the starkly menacing performance by charismatic Italian cinema icon Serge Reggiani as the increasingly dastardly, cruelly manipulative 'Louis', who all too effectively playing the masterfully murderous agitator!

Maybe the most important thing about Secret People is the fact that William Wyler took a look at this film and decided that his next film Roman Holiday would star an unknown Audrey Hepburn. Hepburn plays a supporting role as the younger sister of Valentina Cortesa. Both are refugees from some unknown eastern European country where the two of them had their father killed by the local dictator. Audrey was still a kid when she and Valentina came over, but now she's grown up and an aspiring dancer. As for Cortesa she's content enough until Serge Reggiani shows from the old country. He's with the opposition to the dictator and they want to kill him in London while he's on a state visit. So far it sounds like the plot of Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. But this film is told from the point of view of the conspirators and how slowly Cortesa is drawn into their web of intrigue despite a lot of misgivings. Every agonizing thought so registers with Cortesa and her performance even after Hepburn who has adjusted well to Great Britain and wants to pursue a career in dance. As for Reggiani the years have turned him into quite the fanatic. Today he would be called a terrorist. Secret People is done a bit unevenly in pace, there are spots it drags. But Cortesa and Reggiani carry it through and it's a milestone of sorts for Audrey Hepburn.

Frightened, vulnerable refugees, escaping the political tensions permeating Europe in 1930 (and, we are to assume, the escalating prominence of the Nazi party), come to stay with friends in London; seven years later, having received their British citizenship, the younger sister embarks on a dancing career while the older sister reconnects with her handsome fiancé, now a newspaperman and leader in the political underground. Well-meaning, but drab melodramatics from Britain's Ealing Studios. Late plot-twist involving plastic surgery seems to belong to a different film altogether. Audrey Hepburn, two years before her breakthrough in Hollywood, received her most substantial acting role up to this time playing the dancing darling; she's charming and poised, but the part doesn't offer much beyond showcasing her youthful eagerness. *1/2 from ****

Written and directed by Thorold Dickinson, "Secret People" (1952) finds Maria Brenatano (Valentina Cortese) and her younger sister (Audrey Hepburn) escaping a fascist dictatorship and fleeing to 1930s London. Once in London, the duo live with friends and attempt to adjust to local customs. Early in "Secret People", Maria meets Louis (Serge Reggiani), a childhood sweetheart who works for a radical group intent on assassinating the unnamed dictator Maria's family has fled. This dictator is visiting British dignitaries, and so Louis requires Maria's assistance to smuggle a bomb into his presence. Maria thus finds herself torn between loyalty to her adopted homeland and loyalty to Louis' terrorist group. The film ends with Maria betraying Louis and admonishing those who would bring violence to the shores of a kindly, all inclusive, democratic nation like Great Britain. As Britain's long had ties to fascist regimes, as it has long operated fascist groups as the strong-arm of its ruling class, and as it specialises in backing terrorists, dictatorships, theocracies and far-right groups (everything from Mussolini to Charles Maxwell Knight, a proud fascist and wartime head of MI5), the film's creepy message reeks of hypocrisy. If "Secret People" has a bright spot, it's young Audrey Hepburn who twirls her way through Dickson's film like a ray of sunshine. Svelte and chirpy, Hepburn's role here would get her noticed by director William Wyler, who'd cast her in "Roman Holiday". The rest's history. 6/10 – See "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold".