Behind Enemy Lines

13 Rue Madeleine (1947) Directed by Henry Hathaway

By Christina Harlin, your Fearless Young Orphan

Soon after the end of World War II, the escapades of the Allied espionage network came to light, and stories were leaked of the brave sacrifices made by those commissioned by our government to fight the war in secret. This is nothing to make light of– real espionage is a dangerous, tricky business and requires a level of patriotism and nerve that few can summon. The story of one particular secret mission is told here, introduced by one of those loud, bossy old school narrators who use pronunciations different from any other dialect, taking us through the halls of Washington DC to the National Archives, where top secret records are stored.

Bear through the narrator’s shouting, the blaring band music and rah-rah adjectives until you arrive at the story, which is an early version of the CIA recruitment movie and a pretty damn good one, at that. It’s great to have a history lesson and I did enjoy watching the workings behind the selection and training of volunteers to be secret agents. I even learned some things I never knew. Here’s one thing I found fascinating: did you know that telegraph operators can distinguish between senders by the style of the telegraphing? That may be the most damn interesting thing I’ve heard in months. Now that I think about it, that makes sense (though it’s all dots and dashes, isn’t it? But maybe there truly is a different way of dotting and dashing for everyone), but of course I’d never considered such a thing before. Being able to recognize a sender was actually quite an important part of spy craft at the time, and I’m impressed as hell. Most of the details we are given in the film are of this sort: real, simple and yet vital. The movie states in its introduction that it is going for realism and hell yeah, I believe it.

In this old film’s setup and payoff you will recognize many of the spy films of today – the missions are great but the real draw seems to be in the training of these extraordinary people. What does it take to make it to the program, and what does it take to pass? It’s like watching astronaut training – we’d all like to be astronauts, but most of us couldn’t make the cut, and spying is not much different. They’d know right off the bat that I can’t keep a straight face.

Well anyway, after the rather lengthy introduction, during which Section 077 is selected and trained (worth the watch, even with the noisy narrator), we get to the meat of the story. James Cagney stars as Bob Sharkey, the commander of the unit, a famous soldier and spy in his own right. He plans to lead this team to a major espionage coup, where they can feed false information to the Germans about the Second Front while simultaneously learning what the Germans are up to on the French coast (hint: it’s something bad!). The problem is that there is a German agent planted in Section 077, a man who has spent a long time in deep cover trying to earn himself exactly such a spot. Strangely enough, the commanders of 077 know there is a German agent, and know who it is, but choose to leave him in place so that he can be fed incorrect intelligence to pass along. The German agent discovers that he’s being set up, though, and a shocking death results – one of Sharkey’s key agents is murdered just as they are dropping into Occupied France. Sharkey takes the blame for the failed operation hard, and determines that he will go into France to complete the endeavor himself.

James Cagney doesn’t look like much, just on a face-to-face basis, and he’s always managed to surprise me when able to burst into song and dance, or, Just as easily, into sick violence. Oddly, he surprises me every time, as if I forget in between views what a great athlete and actor he was. His tight physicality is well-used here, like when he is effortlessly demonstration to trainees how to roll out of a fall, as is his quick, clever acting, such as when he improvises characters to convince others he belongs where he certainly does not. Sharkey is a real and believable American hero, fearless even when it seems likely that he will not return from this mission, so high are the stakes. “Don’t even try it, Burt. I can totally tell it’s you.” Sharkey drops into France and makes contact with the agents who managed to get there before him, in spite of the botched mission. He gets in touch, perilously, with the French Resistance. This requires a complicated method of proving his identity, especially difficult after he has rather thoroughly convinced them all that he’s a Nazi sympathizer. But finally, narrowly convinced, they all work together to get the vital information out of the country. It is classic spy adventuring, free of sugar- coating or feel-good moments. This hard-line view of the real dangers of spy work is why here, in the last half hour, you might have forgotten about that staunch, mouthy narrator and his strangely pronounced declarations. 13 Rue Madeleine is the address of the Nazi headquarters in France, and it will become the film’s major target, in a way that’s tough to watch. In fact, the ending might be a great deal darker than you would expect from the era, even though James Cagney ends with a merry laugh indeed.

This is a film worth your time, especially to fans of the spy genre. You’ll be surprised at how contemporary it feels, telegraphs and all. Some things don’t change much.