"Everything is thunder" 1936 PoW escape film

[Moonraker]

YouTube

 

(Other listings exist; on the first one I watched the sound disappeared towards the end.)

 

During the First World War a Canadian officer escapes from a prison camp and reaches Berlin, where he and a streetwalker plan to reach Holland. The streetwalker is played by Constance Bennet, in the early 1930 the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, as well as one of the most popular.

 

Said to be based on the experiences of Major J L 'Hoppy' Hardy,  who escaped from four different German PoW camps and eventually made it back to Allied lines. I suspect that Hoppy did not have the luck that "Hugh McGrath" had in the film, finding refuge in Constance Bennet's bed.

 

IMBD review

 

TBH I nearly gave up watching, as I found the Constance Bennet content most improbable and tedious.

 

Moonraker

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

1 hour ago, Moonraker said:

TBH I nearly gave up watching, as I found the Constance Bennet content most improbable and tedious

 

Now you're sounding like the "1917" critics

[Moonraker]

At least there wasn't (AFAIK) any gratuitous and contrived sex interest in "1917".

 

(The IMBD content notes that Miss Bennet's hairstyle is very 1930s.)

 

Moonraker

[Dust Jacket Collector]

Based on this book published by Bodley Head in 1935.

[Moonraker]

Pennies take time to drop at my age, but the book's author is the J L Hardy mentioned in my opening post.

 

Wikipedia on the film

 

'Writing for The Spectator in 1936, Graham Greene gave the film a generally good review, describing it as "good entertainment, very ably directed and admirably acted by two of its three international stars". Greene deigns to praise the starring acting of Constance Bennett, however he attributes the lack of acting to the complexities involved in avoiding the British Board of Film Censors. Comparing the novel upon which the film is based and the film itself, Greene notes the superiority of the novel over the film which lacked a psychological element, and concludes that "the book was not sentimental: the film is".'

 

Moonraker