Uncensored (film)

Uncensored is a 1942 British war drama film directed by Anthony Asquith starring Eric Portman, Phyllis Calvert and Griffith Jones. The film was produced at Gainsborough Pictures by Edward Black, with cinematography from Arthur Crabtree and screenplay by Rodney Ackland, Wolfgang Wilhelm and Terence Rattigan based on the 1937 novel of the same title by Oscar Millard. The film was shot at the company's Lime Grove Studios in Shepherd's Bush, with sets designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky.

Uncensored
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAnthony Asquith
Written byRodney Ackland
Terence Rattigan
Wolfgang Wilhelm
Based onUncensored by Oscar Millard
Produced byEdward Black
Maurice Ostrer
StarringEric Portman
Phyllis Calvert
Griffith Jones
CinematographyArthur Crabtree
Edited byR. E. Dearing
Music byLouis Levy
Hans May
Production
company
Distributed byGeneral Film Distributors
Release date
24 August 1942
Running time
108 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Uncensored is set in occupied Belgium and shares the propagandistic tone of many British films of its era. While its reception was mainly positive, it was criticised in some quarters for its unrealistic portrayal of the occupying German forces as bungling, incompetent and easily outwitted buffoons.[1]

On its original UK release Uncensored ran for 108 minutes; for overseas distribution, however, it was trimmed to 83 minutes and the cut version subsequently became more widely circulated.

Plot

Before the Nazi occupation of Belgium, Brussels nightclub owner André Delange (Portman) used to publish an anti-Nazi newspaper called La Libre Belgique (Free Belgium) which was distributed secretly. In the aftermath of the German occupation, his underground colleagues in the Belgian resistance suggest reviving the newspaper, to which Delange agrees. With the help of his chief assistant Julie Lanvin (Calvert) and a small band of helpers, La Libre Belgique once more begins to circulate. When the Germans find out of its existence, they offer a reward to anyone who is prepared to identify those responsible for its publication.

Delange's business partner Charles Neels (Peter Glenville), disgruntled with their business relationship and jealous of Delange's relationship with the attractive Julie, betrays the whereabouts of the newspaper's makeshift office. The premises are raided and those present in the building arrested, but Delange and Julie manage to avoid capture. The Germans announce to the populace that La Libre Belgique is no more and its perpetrators are in custody; however Delange and Julie succeed in printing and distributing another edition, making the Germans look foolish and leading them to assume that the information given to them by their informant was false. They release those arrested, who they now believe not to be the people they were looking for, and vow to continue searching for the real culprits. Meanwhile the group led by Delange comes together again, and their work continues.

Cast

References
  1. "Uncensored - Anthony Asquith's new picture". The Glasgow Herald. 24 July 1942. Retrieved 4 August 2010.

Bibliography
  • Ryall, Tom. Anthony Asquith. Oxford University Press, 2013.
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