The W Plan
| The W Plan | |
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Theatrical Poster
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| Directed by |
Victor Saville Marjorie Gaffney |
| Produced by | Victor Saville |
| Screenplay by | Victor Saville Miles Malleson Frank Launder |
| Based on | the novel, The W Plan by Graham Seton |
| Starring |
Brian Aherne Madeleine Carroll Gibb McLaughlin Gordon Harker |
| Music by | John Reynders |
| Cinematography |
René Guissart Freddie Young |
| Edited by | Maclean Rogers |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by |
Wardour Films (United Kingdom) RKO Radio Pictures (USA) |
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Release date
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Running time
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87-105 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The W Plan is a 1930 British spy film produced and directed by Victor Saville, from a screenplay which he also co-wrote with Miles Malleson and Frank Launder, based on the novel of the same name by Graham Seton. It starred Brian Aherne, Madeleine Carroll, Gibb McLaughlin, and Gordon Harker. When this film was released in the United States, Aherne was appearing in The Barretts of Wimpole Street on Broadway, and receiving praise for his performance as Robert Browning. The film was a critical success, but did not do well at the box office.
Colonel Duncan Grant (Brian Aherne) is a British officer during World War I. When the British high command get wind of a German plan, titled The W Plan, from the lips of a dying German officer, Major Ulrich Muller (George Merritt), they send Grant behind enemy lines to learn the details. After successfully being dropped by airplane near the German town of Essen, where he makes his way to home of the dead German who was responsible for the plan. Grant is chosen because he speaks fluent German, having spent a significant amount of time in Germany prior to outbreak of hostilities. While in Essen, he runs into an old girlfriend, Rose Hartmann (Madeleine Carroll). When he and Rose go to a nearby café, he is approached by German officers and asked for his papers. While he has the documents taken from Muller, the Germans become suspicious, and Grant has to make a quick getaway. Unfortunately, the plane he is supposed to meet with to make his escape is shot down, after which Grant is arrested for desertion.
When he is about to be shot, he is instead sent to the very project he had been sent to Germany to learn about, The W Plan. It consists of a very elaborate series of underground works which are being dug beneath the British controlled territory, in order to collapse their lines. Grant succeeds in destroying a vital portion of the German underpinnings, and makes his escape back to British territory. The film ends with the allusion that he will meet up with Rose in Switzerland in the coming days.
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Wikipedia