''Freedom Radio'' (a.k.a. ''A Voice in the Night'') is a 1941 British propaganda film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Clive Brook, Diana Wynyard, Raymond Huntley and

Derek Farr Derrick Capel Farr (7 February 191221 March 1986) was an English actor who appeared regularly in British films and television from 1938 until his death in 1986. His more famous roles include Group Captain John Whitworth in '' The Dam Busters' ...

. It is set in

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 ...

during the

Second World War 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 ...

and concerns an underground German

resistance Resistance may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Either of two similarly named but otherwise unrelated comic book series, both published by Wildstorm: ** ''Resistance'' (comics), based on the video game of the same title ** ''T ...

group who run a radio station broadcasting against the totalitarian Third Reich. It was shot at Shepperton Studios. The film's sets were designed by the art director Paul Sheriff.

Plot

The story begins in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

just before the beginning of the

. Dr Roder is physician to some important members of the Nazi party but prefers being at his luxurious house with his wife, Irena, and servants. Irena's brother Otto returns from Italy and they throw a party with many interesting and high-ranking attendees. During the party the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one or ...

call, requiring his immediate attendance. At his club, the main servitor, Sebastian, announces the club is closing and they will not see him again. His wife Irena is an actress, and after her performance it is related that Adolf Hitler very much admired her performance. She is offered a post in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

as Reich Director of Popular Pageantry. At church the priest decries the deposition of a fellow priest, inciting an attack by a group of SS officers including Otto who glares at the shocked doctor. The priest is killed but the press release blames the congregation. Hans Glaser is trying to get a radio sales licence and the doctor says he will try to help. He tells his fiancee Elly who runs a newspaper stall, despite various papers regularly being confiscated. Frau Schmidt is pestered by her neighbour who wants to borrow lard. The neighbour eavesdrops and hears her listening to French broadcasts. The neighbour reports her to the SS who smash her radio and arrest her just as the granddaughter Elly arrives. An SS officer assaults the girl. After interrogation she is sent to a "rest home". Dr Roder and his wife start drifting apart especially when he says the Nazi party is like a cancer. She leaves him and goes to stay in Stuttgart. Things get worse, with beatings, interrogations and book burning. The doctor asks Hans to build a secret radio. Hans first suspects a trick. The doctor explains he wants to create a "Freedom Station"... both knowing they face death if caught. They use a basement under a toy shop and smuggle parts in through toys brought for repair. He creates a secret radio station transmitting on 26.9, from which he broadcasts condemnations of Hitler and prays for a "better" Germany to arise from the ashes of his ruined country. The unauthorised broadcast is intercepted and a public announcement made saying "do not listen to 26.9" accidentally promoting the station. They broadcast each evening at 10.30pm. The birth of "Freedom Radio" sees the creation of an underground group of anti-Nazis who regard Karl as their leader. Multiple people ring the doctor to wish him happy birthday... but it is not his birthday. Captain Muller explains to his superiors how triangulation can be used to calculate where the signal is coming from. He blames Goebels for jamming the signal which then cannot be traced. Otto visits Irena when the radio is on, they both think they recognise Dr Roder's voice. Otto is asked to join Muller's detection unit. Fenner starts doing more of the live broadcasts and the doctor's voice is put onto a gramophone record for broadcast. His friend Rudolf has friends on each side. It is intimated to Rudolph in a coded message that Germany will invade Poland on the following Friday. It is discovered that Hitler will be making a major broadcast from a stadium and Hans goes to rig up a bypass to allow their own message to be broadcast instead. Ironically Irena is in charge of organising the pageantry of the huge rally. She has a special seat with Rabenau. Hitler starts to speak then it jumps to Roder... he speaks for under a minute before the power is switched off. Hans escapes dressed as an SS officer. They suspect Dr Roder and burst into his clinic. They find nothing. Meanwhile Hans gets home and finds Elly in his room.. she looks broken, like an old woman. She has been in a concentration camp. His wife returns and accuses him of being a traitor. He vows to make one last broadcast. Otto appears and chats with Mrs Roder; he overheard them talking and believes she knows where her husband is going to make the broadcast from. She is taken to Ranenau's office, but tells them the wrong place. However, they work out that Dr Roder had indicated a photo in a frame as the site of the broadcast. The SS identify it as Spiedler's cottage. As Ranenau tells Irena that there will indeed be war she goes to Dr Roder to warn him that the Gestapo are coming to the cottage. But the doctor sets up the transmitter in the back of a van. Irena joins him. The Gestapo close in and locate the van. They fire a machine gun into the van killing the doctor but not before he broadcasts their plan to invade Poland. As he is killed, first Irena takes over the broadcast, then, when she is killed, others in the group broadcast that good people were murdered that day, but that they will continue to broadcast the truth.

Cast

* Clive Brook as Dr. Karl Roder * Diana Wynyard as Irena Roder * Raymond Huntley as Rabenau *

as Hans Glaser *

Joyce Howard Joyce Howard (28 February 1922 in London – 23 November 2010 in Santa Monica, California) was an English actress, writer, and film executive. After studying at RADA, she was spotted by film director Anthony Asquith in a play at London's E ...

as Elly Schmidt * Howard Marion-Crawford as Kummer * John Penrose as Otto * Morland Graham as Father Landbach * Ronald Squire as Rudolf Spiedler * Reginald Beckwith as Fenner * Clifford Evans as Dressler * Bernard Miles as Captain Müller S * Gibb McLaughlin as Dr Weiner * Muriel George as Hanna * Martita Hunt as Frau Lehmann - Concierge * Hay Petrie as Sebastian * Manning Whiley as SS Trooper * Katie Johnson as Granny Schmidt * George Hayes as Policeman * Everley Gregg as Maria Tattenheim * Marie Ault as Old Woman Customer * Abraham Sofaer as Heini * Joan Hickson as Katie * Pat McGrath as Kurt * Wyndham Milligan as SS Guard * Bunty Payne as Ema * William Hartnell as Radio Operator

Critical reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' critic wrote that "this is a frankly propagandistic drama...The admirable emotional restraint which went into the making of several of the better British war films seen here in the past year is sadly lacking." Sky Movies called the film, "gripping, strongly cast and more subtle than most propaganda thrillers of its time...And film buffs may spot Katie Johnson, later to win fame in '' The Ladykillers'' but here, 13 years earlier, already in granny roles!" Wolfgang Gans zu Putlitz, German diplomat operating for British intelligence, recalls in his autobiography working on the film as a consultant at Shepperton in the winter of 1939–40.''Unterwegs nach Deutschland'', Berlin 1956, p. 284-285 (English translation: ''The Putlitz Dossier'', London 1957).

External links

*
Freedom Calling! The Story Of The Secret German Radio

German Peoples Radio - Wikipedia

References

{{Anthony Asquith 1941 films British World War II propaganda films Two Cities Films films Films directed by Anthony Asquith Films with screenplays by Anatole de Grunwald Columbia Pictures films Films shot at Shepperton Studios Films set in Berlin British war drama films 1941 war films 1941 drama films 1940s English-language films