GB
1943
1hr 39mins
Dir: Lance Comfort
Starring: Eric Portman and Ann Dvorak
A German agent is parachuted into occupied Belgium to create anti-British propaganda
This World War II spy drama was exceptionally well received by critics on its release, with Picturegoer’s Lionel Collier naming it ‘one of the best spy melodramas yet made’, and The Cinema declaring: ‘The air-sequences, made with official Air Ministry co-operation, are among the most actionful and breath-taking ever screened’. The Monthly Film Bulletin spoke of ‘a cast that is of the highest order’ and summarised the film as ‘an exciting story, well scripted and produced with tremendous attention to detail’. Sadly, despite this praise and popularity, there is no further record of the film ever being reshown after its original release. The British Film Institute has been unable to trace a print for inclusion in the BFI National Archive and currently classes the film as ‘missing, believed lost’. Squadron Leader X is a vital missing piece of filmography and is named the third ‘most wanted’ of all by the BFI. The film is known to have included scenes filmed at London Waterloo station through help and co-operation from the Southern Railway, but it is not known to what extent these appeared.