Written by these two as well, and (uncredited) by Emeric Pressburger (it's an Archers production - though not in their league).
Owner of Dutch shipyard Ralph Richardson agrees to work with Nazis building submarines, faces hostility from the locals - but he's secretly 'Piet Hein' and leads resistance to sabotage the subs. Emeric's original 12 page treatment had more persecution from the fellow Dutchmen but that was toned down, as well as the murder of innocent civilians 'and in came Esmond Knight playing the Nazi commander as a humorous buffoon. It was exactly the type of polite, anodyne war film which Emeric had been reacting against and he withdrew his name from the writing credits.' ('Emeric Pressburger and the Life and Death of a Screenwriter' by Kevin Macdonald. This book reveals Richardson and Pressbuger became firm friends; Emeric made a 45 minute film with Ralph as a clumsy theatre dresser who becomes an experienced pilot: The Volunteer. It's on the Criterion release of 49th Parallel.)
Richardson's great; rest of cast mixed.
With Googie Withers, Beresford Egan, John Longden, Ivor Barnard, Kathleen Byron. Photographed by Erwin Hillier, production designed by Alfred Junge and music from Alan Gray.
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