Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

tieman64 Written and directed by Thorold Dickinson, "Secret People" (1952) finds Maria Brenatano (Valentina Cortese) and her younger sister (Audrey Hepburn) escaping a fascist dictatorship and fleeing to 1930s London. Once in London, the duo live with friends and attempt to adjust to local customs.Early in "Secret People", Maria meets Louis (Serge Reggiani), a childhood sweetheart who works for a radical group intent on assassinating the unnamed dictator Maria's family has fled. This dictator is visiting British dignitaries, and so Louis requires Maria's assistance to smuggle a bomb into his presence. Maria thus finds herself torn between loyalty to her adopted homeland and loyalty to Louis' terrorist group. The film ends with Maria betraying Louis and admonishing those who would bring violence to the shores of a kindly, all inclusive, democratic nation like Great Britain. As Britain's long had ties to fascist regimes, as it has long operated fascist groups as the strong-arm of its ruling class, and as it specialises in backing terrorists, dictatorships, theocracies and far-right groups (everything from Mussolini to Charles Maxwell Knight, a proud fascist and wartime head of MI5), the film's creepy message reeks of hypocrisy.If "Secret People" has a bright spot, it's young Audrey Hepburn who twirls her way through Dickson's film like a ray of sunshine. Svelte and chirpy, Hepburn's role here would get her noticed by director William Wyler, who'd cast her in "Roman Holiday". The rest's history.6/10 – See "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold".

blanche-2 Simply put "Secret People" is about terrorism.Maria Brentano (Valentina Cortese) and her younger sister Nora (Angela Fouldes/Audrey Hepburn) are sent to live in London with a friend of their father's; he is ultimately killed by a European dictator, Galbern. Maria becomes a citizen and changes her name to Brent and works in her guardian's restaurant, while Nora pursues a career as a dancer. Seven years pass, and their guardian takes them for a weekend in Paris. There, Maria sees her boyfriend Louis (Serge Reggiani), from whom she has been separated for seven years.Serge and his group are now plotting the assassination of Galbern, who is visiting London. He arranges for Nora to be hired for a private party which will be attended by Galbern, and Maria will be a guest. He pressures her at the last minute to carry a bomb and pass it to someone who will be at the party. The plan goes awry and a waitress is killed. Horrified, Maria goes into a sort of witness protection and is sent back to help capture Louis and his group.Terrorism coming into and hurting ordinary people, fanatics who believe in their cause -- it resonates today. The acting is very good. Valentina Cortese is excellent as a loving and protective woman drawn into something by the man she loves. Audrey Hepburn is sweet and very girlish as Nora, and Serge Reggiani as the smooth Louis does a great job. This role must have hit close to home for Reggiani; his father was a prominent anti-fascist and fled Mussolini in order to protect his family. Everyone in the film is good.Valentina Cortese was interviewed for the Audrey Hepburn biography on which I worked. She adored Hepburn, and the two of them used to go to nightclubs together and even at one point tried smoking cigars. So it was especially interesting for me to see this film. Despite some negative reviews here, I found this a worthwhile film.

moonspinner55 Frightened, vulnerable refugees, escaping the political tensions permeating Europe in 1930 (and, we are to assume, the escalating prominence of the Nazi party), come to stay with friends in London; seven years later, having received their British citizenship, the younger sister embarks on a dancing career while the older sister reconnects with her handsome fiancé, now a newspaperman and leader in the political underground. Well-meaning, but drab melodramatics from Britain's Ealing Studios. Late plot-twist involving plastic surgery seems to belong to a different film altogether. Audrey Hepburn, two years before her breakthrough in Hollywood, received her most substantial acting role up to this time playing the dancing darling; she's charming and poised, but the part doesn't offer much beyond showcasing her youthful eagerness. *1/2 from ****

kinekrom There were such hopes invested in this film, Lindsay Anderson wrote a book about its production, but it has never really recovered from its commercial and seemingly artistic failure. In truth, for a film that aspires to be an intelligent study of anarchists beliefs, it suffers from a timidity that some may find all too typical of the British films of its period, and from punches pulled in a manner that rather typifies the work of that almost brilliant director, Thorold Dickinson. But it is an intelligent study for all that, gripping and persuasive until one too many plot convolutions spoils it. I have never failed to be moved when seeing it, nor to be frustrated that it wasn't just a little bit better. The story revolves around European refugees in London who get caught up in the activities of anarchists. Valentina Cortese gives a haunting performance as the conscience-stricken refugee caught up in an assassination plot, and a young Audrey Hepburn is her ballet-dancing innocent sister whose life she must save.