Yellow Canary (film)
| Yellow Canary | |
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Theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Herbert Wilcox |
| Produced by | Herbert Wilcox |
| Written by | P. M. Bower Miles Malleson DeWitt Bodeen |
| Starring |
Anna Neagle Richard Greene Albert Lieven |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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95 minutes (UK) (also given as 98 minutes) 84 minutes, edited (U.S.) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Yellow Canary is a 1943 British drama film, directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Richard Greene and Albert Lieven. Neagle plays a British Nazi sympathizer who travels to Halifax, Canada, trailed by spies from both sides during the Second World War. Neagle and director/producer Wilcox collaborated on a number of previous film projects.
In the Second World War, Sally Maitland (Anna Neagle) appears to signal Nazi planes to bomb England after murdering an innocent citizen in his home. The next morning, Sally boards a ship bound for Canada. Two of her fellow passengers, Jim Garrick (Richard Greene) and Polish officer Jan Orlock (Albert Lieven), seek her acquaintance, despite her long-time and well-known admiration for Nazi Germany. It soon becomes common knowledge that Jim is in British intelligence. Sally rebuffs his advances, but welcomes Jan's attention. Sally is, in fact, a deep cover British agent on a secret mission shadowing her quarry: Jan. Unbeknownst to Sally, Jim has been assigned to help and protect her.
The ship is stopped in mid-ocean by the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, and a boarding party takes Jim prisoner. To the puzzlement of the ship's captain, the cruiser allows the ship to continue on its way. It turns out that the Germans have captured an impostor, when Jim emerges from hiding.
When they reach Halifax, Nova Scotia, Jan introduces Sally to his invalid mother, Madame Orlock (Lucie Mannheim). Jim uses his contacts to have Sally appear to be a true Nazi sympathizer by having Canadian government men expose her and warn the Orlocks to stay away from her due to her Nazi leanings. Sally pretends to try to break off their relationship to avoid trouble for them.
Jan reveals that he is working for the Nazis and recruits Sally into his spy ring on the night of their greatest exploit. Sally has been waiting for this chance to find out who his fellow conspirators are, especially their leader. To Sally's surprise, the leader turns out to be Madame Orlock, who is not Jan's mother. She reveals that one of the ships of an incoming convoy has been secretly replaced by another filled with explosives, which is to be detonated when they reach Halifax, wrecking the vital port, a plan inspired by a devastating accident of the First World War.
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