''Unpublished Story'' is a 1942 British black-and-white

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by

Harold French Harold French (23 April 1897 – 19 October 1997) was an English film director, screenwriter and actor. Biography After training at the Italia Conti School, he made his acting debut age 12, in a production of ''The Winter's Tale''. As an ...

and starring

Richard Greene Richard Marius Joseph Greene (25 August 1918 – 1 June 1985) was a noted English film and television actor. A matinée idol who appeared in more than 40 films, he was perhaps best known for the lead role in the long-running British TV series ' ...

and

Valerie Hobson Babette Louisa Valerie Hobson (14 April 1917 – 13 November 1998) was a British actress whose film career spanned the 1930s to the early 1950s. Her second husband was John Profumo, a British government minister who became the subject of the Pro ...

. It was produced and co-written by

Anthony Havelock-Allan Sir Anthony James Allan Havelock-Allan, 4th Baronet (28 February 1904 – 11 January 2003) was a British film producer and screenwriter whose credits included ''This Happy Breed (film), This Happy Breed'', ''Blithe Spirit (1945 film), Blithe Sp ...

. The film served as a

propaganda film A propaganda film is a film that involves some form of propaganda. Propaganda films spread and promote certain ideas that are usually religious, political, or cultural in nature. A propaganda film is made with the intent that the viewer will ad ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The film has two main plots. The first one involves a journalist whose stories are repeatedly censored by the Ministry of Information. The second one involves a

pacifist organisation A Pacifist organization promotes the pacifist principle of renouncing war and violence for political ends. They are distinguished from organizations concerned only with removing nuclear weapons from war, though those organization may call for suspe ...

, whose members are actually agents of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Plot

In May 1940 Bob Randall (Greene), a war correspondent with a (fictional) London

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

, the ''Gazette'', is evacuated with British troops from the beaches of

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.

. He writes a hard-hitting story about his experiences, but it is censored by the Ministry of Information. Randall goes to see Lamb (Radford), the official responsible, but Lamb will not change his decision. As London burns in

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

and the newspaper struggles to stay in business, Randall writes several more eyewitness articles, and then learns of People For Peace, a pacifist organisation. He suspects that its members are tools of the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

and investigates the group. He finds the ''Gazette''s fashion journalist, Carole Bennett (Hobson), at the group's meeting, also there after a story. Later, following up the story at the group's offices, Randall is surprised to see Lamb there and obviously familiar with the leading members. Afterwards Lamb tells him that he is with British counter-intelligence and that Randall's suspicions are correct, but with the group under official investigation he must drop his coverage of the story. Trapes, one of the group's members, changes his views after his own home is bombed and sends Bennett a statement denouncing the organisation, but, still suffering from shock, he naively informs his fellow "pacifists". Revealing themselves to be Nazi agents, they force him to contact Bennett in an attempt to retrieve the letter. However, at the rendezvous they are captured after a shoot-out with the authorities. The two reporters think they have a great story, but Lamb makes it clear that the incident must remain unpublished. The closing scene shows Randall and Bennett, now lovers, kissing and posed against the backdrop of war-damaged London.

Cast

Afs Film Actors- the Filming of 'unpublished Story' at Denham Film Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK, 1941 D4223

as Bob Randall *

as Carol Bennett *

Basil Radford Arthur Basil RadfordAdam Greaves, "Radford, (Arthur) Basil (1897–1952)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, May 201available online Retrieved 3 August 2020. (25 June 189720 October 1952) was an English charac ...

as Lamb *

Roland Culver Roland Joseph Culver, (31 August 1900 – 1 March 1984) was an English stage, film, and television actor. Life and career After Highgate School, he joined the Royal Air Force and served as a pilot from 1918 to 1919. After considering other c ...

as Stannard *

Brefni O'Rorke Brefni O'Rorke (26 June 1889 – 11 November 1946) was an Irish actor, both on the stage and in movies. Early life O'Rorke was born as William Francis Breffni O'Rorke at 2 Esplande Villas in Dollymount, Clontarf, Dublin on 26 June 1889, and bap ...

as Denton * Miles Malleson as Farmfield * George Carney as Landlord *

Muriel George Muriel George (29 August 1883 – 22 October 1965) was an English singer and film actress. She appeared in 55 films between 1932 and 1955. She also appeared on the variety stage and sang on radio with her second husband Ernest Butcher for thir ...

as Landlady *

André Morell Cecil André Mesritz (20 August 1909 – 28 November 1978), known professionally as André Morell, was an English actor. He appeared frequently in theatre, film and on television from the 1930s to the 1970s. His best known screen roles were as ...

as Marchand * Frederick Cooper as Trapes * George Thorpe as Major Edwards *

Renee Gadd Renee Gadd (1908–2003) was an Argentine-born British film actress. She acted mostly in British films. Early life Gadd was born on a ranch in Bahía Blanca, Argentina in 1908 to immigrants from Jersey. Her father Talbot Gadd was a railway execut ...

as Miss Hartley * Claude Bailey as George Roddington *

Ronald Shiner Ronald Alfred Shiner (8 June 1903 – 29 June 1966) was a British stand-up comedian and comedy actor whose career encompassed film, West End theatre and music hall. Career Early life and career When he was seventeen, Shiner joined the Royal Nor ...

as Agitator *

Wally Patch Walter Sydney Vinnicombe (26 September 1888 – 27 October 1970) was an English actor and comedian. He worked in film, television and theatre. Biography Vinnicombe was born in Willesden, Middlesex and began working on the music hall stages i ...

as Taxi driver at Victoria Station *

Edie Martin Edie Martin (1 January 1880 – 22 February 1964) was a British actress. She was a ubiquitous performer, on stage from 1886, playing generally small parts but in high demand, appearing in scores of British films (although often uncredited). ...

as Mrs. Duncan (uncredited)

Critical reception

The ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves ...

'' noted, "Richard Greene was seconded from the Army to star in this flag-waver, which bears a passing resemblance to ''

Foreign Correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locat ...

''," and concluded that the film was "Diverting rather than involving, this is of primary interest nowadays for its splendid supporting cast."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Unpublished Story 1940s war drama films British black-and-white films British war drama films British spy films British World War II propaganda films 1940s English-language films Films about censorship Films about journalists Films directed by Harold French Films produced by Anthony Havelock-Allan Films set in 1940 Films set in London Films with screenplays by Anatole de Grunwald Films with screenplays by Patrick Kirwan Two Cities Films films 1942 drama films 1942 films