Search - Against the Wind on DVD

Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1948 Format: DVD SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 36 mins Studio: Video Canal Members Wishing: 0 Genres: Spy Film, Action, War, War Drama

Set in World War II times, this drama involves a highly trained bunch of British soldiers who must parachute into Nazi-held Belgium on a rescue and destroy mission. Documentary film footage is included in the early parts of the film as the trainees get prepared for the task ahead. Robert Beatty plays the priest, Father Phillip, and Simone Signoret appears as an insurgent who falls in love with another of the trained resistors. ~ All Movie Guide

Robert Beatty - Father Philip Elliot
Simone Signoret - Michele Denis
Jack Warner - Max Cronk
Gordon Jackson - John "Scotty" Duncan
Paul Dupuis - Jacques Picquart
James Robertson Justice - Ackerman

Charles Crichton's Against the Wind (1948) is one of the grimmer and more realistic espionage movies of the postwar period, in many ways recalling Henry Hathaway's 13 Rue Madeleine. It's not nearly as well known in America as it is in England, possibly because of its downbeat tone and the absence (apart from Simone Signoret, who wouldn't be famous overseas for a few years yet) of any major star names. The movie is out of copyright in the United States and for a long time has been shown exclusively in substandard editions, faded, dupey, usually dark prints. This DVD from Video Canal is a real treat, fully licensed and made from a proper 35 mm negative and a clean magnetic soundtrack that shows us everything we've been missing. The Region 2 disc (playable in Europe, the Middle East, and Japan, and on computers and all-region players anywhere) looks as good as the movie is ever likely to, with every hair on Simone Signoret's head standing out in her close-ups, even in the dark. The only flaws in the source come up about 32 minutes into the movie, amid some stock footage depicting a parachute jump, then at 34 minutes in, during a scene in some woods, and then at 45 minutes in. There are also a few instances of damaged individual frames, but generally the movie looks sharp and clean, and the audio is mastered loud, almost to the point where the music comes close to distortion. The movie has been given a generous 20 chapters, which easily cover the ins and outs of the plot. The disc opens on a simple two-layer menu with the "play" option pre-selected. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide