The Moviegoer

Alan Ladd, second only to Humphrey Bogart in consecutive hours of gun toting on the screen, tensely blows up tunnels, sends coded radio messages, and outwits the gestapo for Uncle Sam in "O.S.S." Based on actual events and produced under government supervision, Ladd's efforts as a spy in France just before and after the Normandy invasion generate a steady, if low, level of interest.

The picture opens with a glimpse at the type of training the Office of Strategic Services gave its men before sending them off with false credentials, fancy bombs, trick cameras, and guns disguised as pipes to befuddle the Germans. All sorts of little things, such as being sure to keep the fork in the left hand on account of that's the way Europeans eat, were impressed on the trainees. One hopeless jackass got tortured and killed later on in the movie because he slipped up on this very detail. Ladd, however, doesn't make any mistakes, and is the one member of the team "Applejack," sent to France to destroy a key railroad tunnel and to pick up sundry vital information, who comes out alive.

Among those killed by the gestape are Geraldine Fitzgerald, who looks like Joan Crawford, talks like Katharine Hepburn, and gives a restrained and sound performance. As the only woman member of "Applejack" she performs many indispensable tasks, such as working her wiles on German colonels, with admirable results. In fact, her function in the picture is totally professional except for a few mildly affectionate scenes with Ladd squeezed in between auto chases and gun fights.

The second feature is called "It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog." It shouldn't. J. R.