A Call to Spy [DVD]

This was an entertaining thriller highlighting the roles of three female spies who fought against Nazi occupation in Europe during WWII. These women were true historical figures we never learned about in history class but Sarah Megan Thomas, who wrote the screenplay, produced and stars in the film, is sure to make us never forget them. Virginia Hall is an American whose plans to become a foreign diplomat are thwarted by her disability of a prosthetic leg. This doesn't stop her from being inducted by the Brits in the first ever effort to place female spies in Nazi-controlled France. Vera Atkins was the Romania-born Jewish intelligence officer who joined the Special Operations Executive as a secretary, rose to the be the assistant of Head Colonel Buckmaster, and was placed in charge of recruiting and deploying 37 female operatives into Nazi-occupied France as couriers and wireless operators. Atkins was not yet a British citizen at that time and could have been considered the enemy, once Romania joined with Hitler. Her Jewish heritage was another source of conflict. Noor Inayat Khan was the first female wireless operative sent into France by Atkins and as an Indian Muslim sought to distinguish herself in the fight against Nazi tyranny, hoping such an act would help bring the English and the Indians closer. All three women, who faced challenges above and beyond their sex and gender at a time of unspeakable danger and terror, are brilliantly brought to life for us on the big screen. The story is a beautiful reminder of the sacrifices people of all backgrounds made in the fight for freedom. This film should be especially well received by viewers looking for real-life examples of strong women who persevered for what they believed was right in the face of incredible obstacles. Great role models for girls and anyone who feels marginalized.

I liked that the movie was based on real women who risked, and gave their lives for, the love of their country, and freedom.They were brave, dedicated, intelligent, trained, individuals who performed a dangerous job during a time when many thought women were unable to fight, and incapable of bravery, and honor. They were wrong on all fronts, as we now know, because of these and other women. One of the characters went on to become the first female CIA agent. Two of the main characters also earned medals and recognition from France and the United States for their work in France during that time.Now, women fight and participate in all areas of our military, and fight alongside men. Hopefully, soon, even America may have a women only a step away from leading the country.A warning for today exists: in watching the movie, I saw how much what the Nazis were doing in France was to spread lies and disinformation in order to destabilize the country, even using religious and political leaders.This is not unlike what Russia is doing in the United States, and other democracies, in today's times. They use "alternative" truth spread through social media, to sew civil unrest in an attempt to cause damage to our country and its people. They have successfully managed to divide us to the point some are willing to kill other Americans without Russians having to put any spies on American soil, it's all done via the internet by factories of Russians with computers making up memes , posts, and YouTube videos to put online for Americans to become angered by, and click, and share, so we ourselves continue the Russians work unaware of how we are being led and the damage it is doing to our country.I hope people will start finding out what is true by fact checking it before believing anything they read on the internet, and spreading hate, just as Nazi Germany did against the Jews.

I read about Virginia Hall in the book "A Woman of No Importance" by Sonia Purnell. Virginia was braver, more successful and more accomplished than any British spy in the field. In this film, you can't even understand what she does in France to establish the most successful spy network during WWII. She was a vibrant and charismatic figure, fluent in many languages, but in this film, she has no personality at all. The actress who plays her is completely flat, speaks no French and has the worst costumes. Virgina was, in fact, a master of disguise, which is why the nazis only had a sketch of her, not a photo for the wanted poster. Worse yet, the writer even downplayed how she lost her leg and made it seem more mundane that it actually was. Why do that? Why not show how truly remarkable it was for a woman to be involved in a hunting accident in Turkey when very few women were in the foreign service? Virginia Hall and the other two women deserve their stories to be told in all their glory, instead of this insipid film.

This historical accuracy of this film is commendable. Having raad about Vera Atkins and Virginia Hill, I enjoyed the efforts of the writer.to obtain accuracy. The film was well acted; enjoyed Stana Katic's performance and those of the actress/writer who played Virginia Hill. It is a film that will hold its place in the film archives of the future.

Amazon only offered English subtitles; however there are significant portions of the movie where French is only spoken (a couple with German spoken exclusively). These scenes were integral to understanding the movie plot. NOT worth the rental fee. The movie seemed fine - just couldn’t tell for certain.

An exciting gripping tory of very brave women from various ethnicities who volunteered to spy in France for SOE, Churchill's developed sry agency to supply information on German plans and faciliate the rescue of Allied fighers and their transpition to Britain. An excellent film, companion piece to the equally brilliant TV series Wih Me Luck. Film starts with formation of SOE, series carries story through from 1942. A duel examination of women's invaluable contribution to the ultimate defeat of Germany. Both this film and the TV series are a must buy if you value the hidden female war effort.

This is 1941 as seen with 2020-eyes and suffers accordingly. Like it or not; 1941 was different from 2020 and the attitudes then different from attitudes now. Why the story of these true heroines had to be half-fictionalized, apparently to suit the filmmakers' own ideas of how things should have been, is beyond me - and a disgrace. The lack of attention to detail is another downer; no black-out, wrong uniforms, SS apparently being the only occupation force in France etc etc. Read a good book on the subject instead and learn the true story of the heroines and heroes of SOE's French section. Or if you want to watch a film, try 'Carve Her Name With Pride' (with a much more realistic Vera Atkins), 'Odette' or the semi-documentary 'Now It Can Be Told'.

This film is shockingly BAD. It is a work of complete fiction and disrespects the brave men and women who gave their lives for us. It is a disgrace and should not have been made using real agents names when their stories are not portrayed accurately. I thought that Allied was the worst film that I have ever seen on the subject but this is far worse. I wish that I had not wasted money on it. It corrupts history 👿

This film tries to do too much, and doesn't do it very well. By connecting the stories of Virginia Hall and Noor Inayat Khan it completely messes up Khan's story, setting much of it in Lyon before the German occupation of the Free Zone, despite the fact that Khan didn't arrive in France until 1943, and was never I believe in Lyon. The result is that a film that is the first attempt at a biopic of Khan effectively turns her into a secondary character, hardly depicts anything factual about her time as an agent and skims through her period of imprisonment (including her dramatic attempted escape over rooftops, which is totally omitted) and death. The portrayal of conditions in the Sicherheitsdienst HQ at 84 Avenue Foch (which, incidentally, had so many German offices in it it was nicknamed 'Avenue Boche' by Parisians) is highly generic, which is a shame as we know a lot about it, and it wasn't the way most people would imagine a Gestapo (actually SD) interrogation centre. By contrast, the Klaus Barbie torture scene in Lyon is genuinely disturbing and has the ring of truth.Thomas is good as Hall, and Apte as Khan (though I doubt Khan had such a noticeable Indian accent in English - her father was Indian but she was educated in England and France), Katic as Vera Atkins rather less so. Atkins and Buckmaster are sometimes given rather unconvincing Americanisms/modernisms to say by the script.They clearly had a very limited budget. Unlike the 1980s TV series 'Wish Me Luck' (which is also better as a feminist narrative, at least in its first season), or the dreadful 'Allied', they couldn't afford to hire a Lysander, so Noor arrives in France in some sort of tiny artillery spotter plane. The film is also dreadful at portraying convincing urban enviroments. Wartime London has very un-British looking traffic (I suspect it was filmed in the USA), is largely limited to a couple of building frontages, and has neither anti-blast tape on the windows nor a blackout. Dorset Street has a street sign placing it in the Borough of Westminster, thus writing the pre-1965 Borough of St. Marylebone out of history. France is worse, using Budapest as both Lyon and Paris, following the usual post-1990 logic that it is a) cheaper, b) more old-fashioned looking (though this is increasingly probably not the case) and c) Anglophone audiences cannot tell one Continental architectural style from another. The river and high ground make Budapest just about work for Lyon, though, apart from one scene of the German entry in November 1942, we don't get much in the way of urban vistas. Paris is awful, with no sense of place and the Eiffel Tower seemingly very close to the Gare de Lyon! This is a shame, since Noor Inayat Khan knew Paris well and we know a lot about her movements there in her short time in the city in1943. The overall effect is far less convincing as 1940s Paris (or Lyon) than the use of Budapest as 1950s Paris in the 1990s ITV 'Maigret' series, and at times comes perilously close to the portrayal of Occupied France in the ridiculous but fun Canadian SOE series 'X Company '.A better script, a bigger budget and a story concentrating on Atkins and Hall or Khan but not all three would have been needed to make this three or four stars.

Personally I don't like to see "reviews" similar to what I am about to write, but to me this is important. The reverse of the DVD case clearly staes ENGLISH SUBTITLES. - NO there are NO Subtitles. I should add that Subs are not mentioned here on the Amazon site. If you need them - No luck! And why is that? A brand new film. Baffling. Sorry about the star rating. I had to give it one, but as my wife really needs Subs we were unable to watch it.

Heard this was being released via Hailey Atwell on SpyScape's Instagram page. Couldn't wait to see it.Irrespective of some of the dismissive reviews on here, this is actually a very good film.Arguably it's cut in places that needed more breathing space, but on the whole this tells a well threaded fictional tale of real people and real events.The bringing together of four of the most active characters at the early stages of the SOE's forming, to produce a rounded but difficult account of the harrowing, overwhelming and dangerous situations these early ventures into spying for one's nation would inflict upon these remarkable women.Much as there is more story than what is shown here, it's meant to be an opening into an otherwise unknown and untold world.These accounts were just not and still are not told to students.A worthy film to the spy collection, with a very small behind the story docu in the extras.