Tonight We Raid Calais
Picture:
C+ Sound: C Extras: C Film: C
John
Brahm’s Tonight We Raid Calais
(1943) is an ambitious, but ultimately failed drama about a British agent (John
Sutton) penetrating Nazi-occupied France to eliminate a Nazi munitions
factory. A French farmer (Lee J. Cobb)
helps them and the race is on not to be caught and hurt a source of weaponry
that can only be a good thing.
Unfortunately,
the film is very sluggish and melodramatic, never really adding up like it
should. Stunningly, this is written by
the great Waldo Salt, whose Midnight
Cowboy is a classic and one has to wonder how much of a work for hire
(censorship included) this really was.
His writing makes this a curio, but I would enjoy seeing how the script
draft(s) and final films compare.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.33 X 1 image is the highlight of the disc, clean and
clear, though still with its soft points.
Still, the cinematography by Director of Photography Lucien Ballard is
good and Fox has restored this nicely enough considering its age. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono and Stereo are
flatter and less dynamic than many films we have worked on from the time. The only extras are trailers and stills.
- Nicholas Sheffo
