"O.S.S." (1946)

Today is the 106th anniversary of Alan Ladd being born.  You all know I adore him.  Everyone I meet knows this.  I mean, not sure I've had a header on this blog that hasn't featured him since sometime in 2016 :-)  Three-and-a-half years, and he's still my celluloid steady date.

Anyway.  Today, I'm going to tell you all about one of his actiony war suspense pictures.  Although it's focused on secrets and those that keep them, the title gives away the whole ballgame as to what this movie's about.

Did you know that the CIA didn't always exist?  In fact, until WWII, the United States didn't have a permanent intelligence-gathering agency.  In 1941, the government created the Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI), then in 1942, that morphed into the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which went through a couple more names and forms before settling into the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1947.

Guess which one of those this movie is about?

A couple of years ago, I went to a presentation about the OSS given by the author of a book about female spies in WWII.  I asked her if she'd seen this film, and if it was at all accurate.  She'd seen it, and she said it was accurate, but simplistic.  So... that's nice to know.

Our story opens with a handsome chap going by the name of John Martin (Alan Ladd) who's charming his way into the R&D department of an electronics factory in Baltimore.

His ID convinces the uniformed, armed guard to let him in.

Once inside, he casually scans papers left out on a desk, lights a cigarette, swipes a paper that looks like Something Important, and leaves.  People there realize Something Important has gone missing, and he gets apprehended.

Next thing we know, he's getting grilled under a spotlight in a dark room.

He looks pretty worried.  Maybe even a little penitent.  What are we to make of this guy?  Is he a criminal?  An enemy spy?  Is this going to be one of those movies where Alan Ladd plays a baddie who gradually reforms?  That would be fun, as he's perfectly wonderful in those roles.

Well, before much more can happen to him, a guy in a dark suit shows up with authorization to take him into custody, and that's the end of the interrogation.  Man, it was just getting interesting, and nobody'd even smacked Alan Ladd yet.  This doesn't bode entirely well, as the best Alan Ladd movies tend to involve him getting beaten up at some point.  Weird, but true, y'all.  Weird but true.

Anyway, surprise!  He's actually a spy in training, and he was supposed to steal Something Important as part of his spying lessons.  So... not a baddie who gradually turns good.  Oh well. He still leans deliciously in random doorways, and that's always a good time too.

He does get to have that hard-and-cynical-guy vibe, at least.  John Martin Doesn't Play Well With Others.  Nobody makes hard-and-cynical look lovable like Alan Ladd.

John's got the makings of a good spy, so they train him even though he's kind of a jerk.  Which means we get treated to a Training Montage!

Join the OSS, and you too could learn to operate a radio and send coded messages!

You could learn to use nifty gadgets like tiny cameras!

They might even give you a simple pipe, perfect for a cozy smoke while reading a novel on a long winter evening.

Nope, totally a pistol!  Who doesn't want a pipe-pistol, right?

The filming in this is mostly pedestrian, but once in a while they throw in a really cool shot, just to keep things visually interesting.  Like this one, which I may or may not have spent several minutes trying to capture so I'd have allll the shadows in it.

The OSS needs all sorts of people to be spies, including beautiful artists like Elaine (Geraldine Fitzgerald).  Are you a beautiful artist with a tragic story about how your husband got killed and stuff?  Join the OSS!

A team of spies gets sent to London, including John and Elaine, who cordially dislike and distrust each other, but get along well with their other teammates. (Join the OSS and see the world!)

No reason for this shot except that I like it.  (Join the OSS and have random fangirls ignore you while they take screencaps of Alan Ladd for no reason!)

Anyway, they all parachute into France to meet up with Resistance workers and put their spying skills to good use.  (Told you that you'd get to see the world if you joined the OSS.)

In France, they face lots of dangers, including Nazis.

Also, rain storms.  And perfect hats making Alan Ladd look even more handsome.  Very dangerous stuff.

Random nice image of London to switch locations.  I like all the fog and silhouettes.  Even though that background is totally fake.  Still pretty.  (Like spies!  Always faking stuff, but so pretty.)

In London, there are lots of female radio operators taking coded messages from spies.  One of them is nicknamed Sparky (Gloria Saunders) and adds some Spunky Cuteness to the mix.  (All spy films require Spunky Cuteness at some point.)

Our spy friends do a lot of spying.  This involves dangerous activities like reading magazines in French.  Even if they don't actually speak French.  I never saw a part in the training montage where they taught John to speak French, so I'm just assuming he's faking it.  Elaine does cuz obviously, all artists speak French.

It's not long before they have lots of Resistance members to work with.  They pretend to meet for art classes given by Elaine.  (Ooooh, another reason to join the OSS!  You could learn about art.)

And then in wanders the Fly in the Ointment, a Nazi colonel who thinks he's super artistic and attractive and awesome.  Elaine humors him on all three counts.

Guess who's not happy about that?

The Nazi colonel is suspicious of Elaine at first, but her artistic skills impress him.  Also, he thinks she's hot.  And he thinks artists are easy.  There's really no end to the depths of the colonel's wrongness.

Elaine sculpts his likeness as a reason to hang out with him and get military info she can pass on to the rest of the team.

John is jealous, but pretends he's totally not.  Look how hard he's pretending not to be jealous!  I'm convinced, aren't you?

Lots of plot happens, involving blowing up trains and exchanging shots with Nazis.

After the Allied landing on D-Day, they still have plenty of spying to do, keeping tabs on the Nazis as they retreat and make plans for counterattacks.

Another shot I put here just cuz I like it.  Lots of plot stuff happens, but I'm not going to delve into it because it's a spy movie, and I don't want to spoil everything.  And it's hard to delve into plot stuff for a spy movie without spoiling it.  Even when that spy movie comes across more like a recruitment film than an actual movie.

We get treated to the fairly rare sight of a SCRUFFY Alan Ladd toward the end!  You almost never get to see him be anything but clean-shaven, so that's pretty fun.  Especially if you like scruffy menfolks like I do.  He's only barely scruffy, but I'll take what I can get.

Finally, John and Elaine get called back to England.  They finally admit their feelings for each other and start planning a happy future together.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut plot stuff happens.  Again.  Always with the pesky plot stuff.

Unhappy, pesky plot stuff.  Awwww, poor John.

John ends up weary and resigned, but he doesn't give up on Fighting For Freedom, Truth, and the American Way, so hey, that's something, right?  Join the OSS, learn to care about people, lose people, find yourself!  Good times in store for all!

I actually really enjoy this movie -- please don't take my fairly flippant tone in this review to mean that I don't.  It's just that it only has a wispy plot, held together by the brute strength of Alan Ladd's charisma, so... yeah.

This has been my first entry for The Alan Ladd Blogathon hosted by Pale Writer.  Tune in tomorrow for my review of another Ladd movie about the OSS!  Spoiler alert:  it has an actual plot.

EDIT: I forgot to talk about whether or not this movie is family friendly.  It's very tame.  Some suspense and violence, but that's it.  No cussing, barely any kissing, no gore.