gridoon2024 Review of Carve Her Name with Pride

Carve Her Name with Pride (1958)

Old-fashioned, to be sure, but still quite stirring

[6/10 · 26 November 2016]

This fictional account of Violette Szabo's life is old-fashioned (especially in its use of music) and ultra-patriotic, but it's still quite stirring and absorbing, mostly thanks to Virginia McKenna's commanding performance, and Lewis Gilbert's sure & steady direction. The training sequences at the start are a little too comic-booky, but the film gains some grit as it progresses, and the reconstruction of occupied, bombed-out France in the English Pinewood studios is impressive. Trivia note: this is the second war film I watch in a couple of days that has a woman spraining her ankle, but at least this time she continues moving on her own and does not get carried along! **1/2 out of 4.