Odette (film)

Odette is a 1950 film British war film based on the true story of Special Operations Executive French-born agent Odette Sansom, who was captured by the Germans in 1943, condemned to death and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp to be executed. However, against all odds she survived the war and testified against the prison guards at the Hamburg Ravensbrück Trials. She was awarded the George Cross in 1946; the first woman ever to receive the award, and the only woman who has been awarded it while still alive.

Anna Neagle plays Odette Sansom and Trevor Howard plays Peter Churchill, the British agent she mainly worked with and married after the war. Peter Ustinov plays their radio operator. Colonel Maurice Buckmaster, who was head of the SOE's French Section, played himself in the film, as did Paddy Sproule, another FANY female SOE agent.

The film was directed by Herbert Wilcox, and the screenplay by Warren Chetham-Strode was based on Jerrard Tickell's non-fiction book Odette: The Story of a British Agent. It was jointly produced by the husband and wife team Herbert Wilcox and Anna Neagle.

Both Odette Sansom (by then Odette Churchill) and Peter Churchill served as technical advisors during the filming, and the film ends with a written message from Odette herself.

Main cast

• Anna Neagle as Odette Sansom
• Trevor Howard as Captain Peter Churchill
• Marius Goring as Colonel Henri
• Bernard Lee as Jack
• Peter Ustinov as Lt. Alex Rabinovich
• Maurice Buckmaster as Himself
• Alfred Schieske as Camp Commandant Fritz Suhren
• Gilles Quéant as Jacques
• Marianne Walla as SS Wardress
• Fritz Wendhausen as Colonel

Reception

The film was the fourth most popular movie at the British box office in 1950.

External links

• Odette at IMDb