Undercover (1944) User Reviews (9)

Never really intended for widespread consumption....

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 15 September 2015]

This film was made for the US government to show agents and soldiers going on missions behind enemy lines. Because it was never intended to be shown to the public, it really isn't fair to give this one a numerical score....so I'll forgo it in this case.

The film is a rather dry* but comprehensive film teaching potential agents what to do and what not to do during their undercover missions. You get lots of advice and numerous examples. How good or bad this is actually is hard to tell. What I do know is that today it makes for fascinating viewing--probably more to me than most as I am a retired history teacher and film nut! The only thing that didn't make much sense is that most everyone in the film LOOKS and SOUNDS just like typical Americans. Odd...

*Like the Private Snafu cartoons, since it was NOT intended to be seen by children and women, the short is peppered with cursing.

Of Spies and Strategems.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 3 December 2014]

I wouldn't have believed it but John Ford plays an important role as an actor in this production. In the part of an interviewer dealing with an applicant for the OSS, Ford isn't bad actually. But he needed a director. Seated behind his desk, grilling the recruit, he keeps waving his hand, the one with the pipe in it, as if trying to hide his face -- the features not already hidden behind his dark glasses. Maybe it's meant as a joke because his judgment about the new recruit turns out to be mistaken.

Some of this will already be familiar to viewers, from watching James Bond movies or "The Odessa File" or "The Jackal." But some of it is rather new, and ALL of it was new in 1943, which is why I assume it was classified until the post-war years.

Basically the story of two new recruits, Al (the good one) and Charlie (the careless one). Charlie goes to "Enemyland" in La Porta, drinks, flirts with the waitresses, goofs off, and poses as a fisherman.

Al becomes a mechanic in a "Falcon" factory in Enemyland and he's cautious, leads an unassuming life -- "the kind of man who always kept to himself". It probably helps that Al has a face full of meaningless mansuetude with all the interest of a Nutrisystem Lunch.

Some of the details are interesting. A British agent reveals himself when he uses a British "hair grease". Even Al, the summum bonum of spydom, makes an error when he nervously stubs out a half-used cigarette in a country where cigarettes are a precious commodity.

It's still hard to believe we're watching Ford play such a role. The only performance he ever mentioned was that of a KKK rider in "Birth of a Nation" -- the one wearing glasses. A reporter once asked him if he'd ever considered playing the lead in one of his Westerns. "What? With MY face?"

But, really, I for one learned a great deal from this movie. I learned that after one day trying to pose as a native in Enemyland, I'd be a dead OSS agent. I hope they'd bury me in the Alter Friedhof Weimar, near Goethe.

Review - How to Operate Behind Enemy Lines

[Maxence_G · 7/10 · 28 September 2020]

That film is both pretty entertaining and instructive. Indeed acting, and production aren't incredible, but as I said it still remains more entertaining than most of what the USA army produced.

Interesting WWII Training Film

[Michael_Elliott · 1 November 2015]

How to Operate Behind Enemy Lines (1943)

*** (out of 4)

When WWII broke out Hollywood stood up and did what they could to help. Many famous actors enlisted while others made movies to help various departments of the military. Directors like John Huston, Frank Capra and John Ford made a very good number of these types of films and this one here belongs to Ford who not only directs but plays a couple different roles.

The story is pretty simple as the film is meant to teach new recruits the dangers of operating behind enemy lines and the various things they need to think about. The story of the film has two new recruits going behind enemy lines with one of them being careful and the other one not so much. As you can tell, the story itself is pretty simple as the main goal was just to show people what could happen if they weren't paying attention. The film opens and closes as a lecture and there's a nice little bit in the final seconds about a cigarette and how important it was to what we just watched.

For the most part this is an entertaining film that fans of the director should enjoy. Those who have watched a lot of these WWII films know that the quality usually isn't as high as what you'd expect in a Hollywood film but it's still quite good. The most fascinating factor here is the fact that Ford plays a couple different parts here and it's more of a distraction than anything else.

John Ford at war

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 15 June 2022]

Aka How to Operate Behind Enemy Lines. The OSS (Office of Strategic Services) recruited John Ford to direct a training film for new agents. Most of this follows two new recruits, "Student Charlie" and "Student Al".

Director John Ford is using his filmmaking skills for the war effort. The material is mostly a government film and not an entertaining movie. It makes similar points over and over again. It's all in the details and agents have to be careful. This may not be popcorn fun but it is fascinating to imagine new recruits being shown this during their training.

Don't Stick Out

[boblipton · 6/10 · 27 June 2023]

Two OSS agents are recruited, prepared, assessed and sent to enemy territory to keep an eye on local conditions. One blends in successfully. The other not so much.

Command John Ford USN -- later Rear Admiral -- did some great work for Frank Capra's Why We Fight series of propaganda movies. He also directed the infamous SEX HYGIENE and this lesser known feature for the OSS. It's a mixed bag, but makes its points pretty well, thanks to a good mixture of editing, and inexpensive film making in fairly blank sets and in urban locations. There are a couple of oddities in it, like clips of Peter Lorre as an enemy agent (even as he featured in German posters as an object of anti-semitic scorn), and that's John Ford interviewing and assessing Crane Whitley for overseas duty.

Most of the instruction is done by voice over in this movie. It's not the most distinguished work that the four-time Oscar winner ever did, but it makes its points well.

The Kindergarten of Spies

[Miles-10 · 10/10 · 15 April 2017]

I give "Undercover" a perfect score because it does exactly what it intends to do. Directed by John Ford, this film was made for the Office of Strategic Services (the predecessor of the CIA) during World War II. Its film-within-a-film structure helps us to understand how it was meant to be used. The filmmakers understand its flaws and exploit them.

The film opens with a group of men about to watch a movie. Two officers, one a moderator, introduce the movie, thus sandwiching it between this introductory scene and a closing commentary. The brief opening remarks admit that the movie about to be shown is simplistic.

The movie is about two novice spies, Al and Charles. The country that each spy is to infiltrate is not identified by name as a real country. Both spies are going to "Enemy Area", even though they might not be going to the same country. One is heading for Enemy City while the other is aiming for a seaport called El Porto.

In one scene, Al is on a train. The conductor, like all officials that both Al and Charles run across, has an armband with a checkerboard on it. (If you contemplate it, you soon realize that the "checkerboard" is really a swastika with all of its arms turned into closed boxes.) The conductor asks Al for his papers and asks a lot of other questions.

"Where are you going?"

"Enemy City", replies Al.

If he said that in real life, he would be hanging by his curlies by nightfall, but, of course, the generic place names are just the conceit of the movie. Geography is unimportant. Procedure, or what spies call "tradecraft", is everything here. (Although in the ending scene where the moderator discusses the film, he points out that in the Far East, a lot of the rules taught in the movie would have to be different.)

The plot is reminiscent of the story of the grasshopper and the ant. The grasshopper agent is overconfident and arrogant. He reads magazines instead of studying. The ant does his homework and remembers his lessons in the field. They learn some of their lessons with their handlers in the comfort of their home country, but when they get to "Enemy Area", the narrator and other characters they meet tell us what lessons they have to learn or are being reinforced on the job. The lessons can be common sense but aren't always.

Al arrives in Enemy City and must find a place to stay. First he considers a big hotel, but Al reflects that the secret police are likely focusing on the big hotels, which will be crawling with informers; the whole staff will be regularly questioned by police. Besides, his cover is that he is a machinist. What would he be doing in a fancy hotel? Rule one is to be inconspicuous.

He goes on to a private home that lets rooms. Maybe later when he gets established. For now, living with a family might be too constraining. They will ask where he is going and so on. So he moves on to a rooming-house where he might have a little more anonymity, but he overhears the landlady gossiping disapprovingly about one of her tenants. She is nosy and will watch him like a hawk.

So he goes on until he finds a small hotel. There are too many of these second rate hotels for the police to check up on all of them. It is within the budget of a machinist, and it will give him some anonymity. He takes it. There are hundreds or even thousands of little decisions like this that the spy has to make.

After the movie ends and we return to the outer story of the film, the moderator points out that the real usefulness of this movie is for a class to go over in more detail all of the points that are made superficially.

The moderator also points out some things that were not given attention but perhaps should have been. For example, didn't the grasshopper's handler make a mistake by sending him into the field knowing that the man was overconfident and had a cavalier and impetuous attitude?

Another detail: When Al is pacing nervously around his hotel room and chain smoking, he stubs out a half-smoked cigarette in an ashtray. This is probably a country where tobacco is being rationed. Might the hotel maid and others be suspicious of someone who acts as if, where they come from, cigarettes are easy to come by?

This is a kind of industrial/educational film that is explicitly meant to be studied and discussed for the insights that can be gleaned about undercover work, a very peculiar endeavor that requires a combination of training, native intelligence and attention to detail combined with an ability to think on one's feet.

The sound of this movie is poor. Captions are helpful or even essential. Without any credits you might not know that John Ford directed it or that he plays a supporting role. The two lead actors look familiar but are not named.

Secret agent man

[nickenchuggets · 8/10 · 28 February 2024]

During World War II, Germany (and other major combatants) sometimes struck at their enemies using tactics other than brute force. Sun Tzu once said all warfare is based on deception, and I think that sums up this film quite well. Otherwise known as How to Operate Behind Enemy Lines, Undercover is a film made for the Office of Strategic Services, which was an intelligence agency employed by the US during the war. Basically the forerunner to the CIA, the OSS used spies, trickery, and other underhanded strategies in order to sneak into Axis controlled territories so they can gather information on what their enemies are focusing on. During a conflict, info is power, and the more you have of it, the better. In the film, we see legendary director John Ford in his one and only speaking role. In real life, Ford was commissioned as a lieutenant commander (equivalent to a major in the Army and Marines) in the navy reserve and was also made head of the photographic unit attached to the OSS. Here, he plays an OSS officer who is tasked with making sure new spies are able to successfully infiltrate hostile territory without getting discovered. There really isn't a plot, but there are two spies involved working for the OSS (named Charlie and Al), and we see how important it is for them or any saboteur to adhere to a believeable story when it comes to being an agent. For instance, before Al is sent off, he has to tell his superior what his background is just in case a Gestapo officer in Nazi Germany stops him. He says how he used to work at GM in the 20s, then moved to germany and started working there. His entire story seems like it would fool a cop, except for one thing: he mentions at the end how he has something wrong with his back. Al's boss says you should never say anything you can't prove, as this can sometimes jeopardize your entire mission. Remember, cops, the government, bartenders, and even landlords being in league with counter-espionage agencies isn't unique to nazi germany, and if you act suspicious, you can get reported and your cover will be blown. In another example, a german spy lands in Canada, saying he's from the western province of British Columbia. His disguise and way of speaking fools pretty much everyone, and it looks like he's going to get away with spying until he pays for his drinks. Without thinking, he hands the bartender an out of date canadian dollar, which is a fraction of an inch longer than the more recent ones. He is arrested shortly after. Across the Atlantic, Hitler's ruthless bodyguard detail, the SS, are questioning a brit they suspect to be a spy. The latter has a convincing backstory as to what he does for a living, but he makes a fatal slip when his interrogators find hair grease on his head: a british product not seen in germany for years. After seeing how such slight details can fatally punish you, it's no secret why the OSS repeatedly tells its recruits that it's not enough to look like the person you're disguised as, you have to conform yourself to his identity. If you're sneaking into germany as a mechanic, you should never carry anything incriminating on you. You also shouldn't ask random vehicles on roads to pick you up, as there's a good chance a government official is driving. If you plan to stay at a hotel, it needs to be one well within the price range of what a mechanic can afford, and if you plan to enlist the help of someone to find your way around, you better be careful. People who are part of the anti-nazi French Resistance are a safe bet, but anyone asking for cash in exchange for showing you where you are is not to be trusted, since they're only loyal to money. While not mentioned in the film, it's worth noting the OSS ran a campaign of making fake articles for german audiences that claimed soldiers on leave could sleep with any woman in germany. The OSS infuriated nazi high command so much that Hitler ordered any agent taken alive to be executed. This was quite an interesting thing to sit down and watch. Being a spy during ww2 was no easy task, and is in my opinion the most difficult role on the battlefield to master. All the things and prying eyes you have to work around, the dangers you throw yourself in the center of, etc. It's not easy, but they played a crucial part since keeping their eyes on what the enemy was doing allowed america to change its tactics depending on the situation. No single strategy is the best one.

Spy v Spy

[GeoPierpont · 8/10 · 16 September 2015]

WOW!! I had no conception of how difficult it is to be a spy. If I only smoked half of my cigarette, why would I not be conserving a precious commodity?? Hmmm, some suggestions to blend in seem counter- intuitive. These guys look like zombies with their shoulders hunched up, walking irregular, and that stare would cause much suspicion imho.

I found it fascinating that this would even be shown on TV and first thought it was a tongue-in-cheek fictionalized training program. But the OSS was the pre-cursor to the CIA I believe and figured this espionage deal was new?? HUH? Didn't our dear General Washington use spies consistently to get a heads up on the British positions and spread disinformation like no tomorrow??

High recommend for anyone who has an interest or ever read Spy stories, magazines, TV shows or films. Hilarity ensues round every corner, these guys are terrible and prove no example that would prevent capture, torture, and well, demise. Thanks TCM for fascinating entertainment!