Secret People (1952)

Film: Secret People (1952)

Stars: Valentine Cortese, Serge Reggiani, Audrey Hepburn, Charles Goldner, Michael Shepley

Director: Thorold Dickinson

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2024 Saturdays with the Stars series, we are looking at the women who were once crowned as "America's Sweethearts" and the careers that inspired that title (and what happened when they eventually lost it to a new generation).  This month, our focus is on Audrey Hepburn: click here to learn more about Ms. Hepburn (and why I picked her), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

Audrey Hepburn is definitely one of those stars who seems like they were famous from the very beginning of her career, and to a large part, that's correct.  After spending the war in the Netherlands, tacitly (and possibly actively...historians debate this one) supporting the Dutch resistance, her teen years and early twenties were spent studying ballet, but given she'd never be able to be a prima ballerina (due to her malnutrition during the war), she went into acting, first the London theater, then bit parts in movies, and then eventually playing the title role of Gigi on Broadway.  Roman Holiday was her first leading role, and would make her an overnight sensation (and win her an Oscar), but before that she had one relatively large supporting role in a British drama called Secret People, which I chose to kick off our month with Audrey because I wanted to see what it was like for her to not get the lead role, a spot she'd assume in all of the Classical Hollywood films she'd make after.

(Spoilers Ahead) Maria Brentano (Cortese) moves with her sister Nora (Hepburn when the character is an adult) to London fleeing from her home country after her father is arrested (and eventually killed) for defying the country's dictator.  They are raised by Anselmo (Goldner), a sweet restaurant owner, and eventually both girls contribute to the household, with Maria as a cook, and Nora as a promising young dancer.  Maria's old flame Louis (Reggiani) comes to town, and she learns that he is part of a resistance movement fighting against the dictator who killed her father.  Maria wants to stay clean, but he pressures her into an assassination attempt on the dictator when he's in town.  In the process, she doesn't kill the dictator but accidentally kills a waitress, and she feels wracked with guilt over it, particularly when she learns that this is commonplace for those fighting the dictator.  She goes to the police, and assumes another identity, but goes back for one last look at her sister dancing, and realizes that Louis is trying to recruit Nora into his criminal enterprise (and it's somewhat hinted at that he's also started to have a love affair with her too).  In the end, one of Louis's associates kills Maria, but this is enough to convince Nora that their path is wrong, and Louis is arrested before the end credits roll.

The film's politics are pretty complicated, and definitely would be handled with more nuance in a different era.  The dictator is fictional, but it's hard not to assume it's based on Generalissimo Francisco Franco, who was in charge of Spain at the time, and killing thousands.  Today, the resistance fighters would be seen as heroes in this situation, or at the very least complicated martyrs, but here they're seen as brutal thugs, particularly toward the end where it feels less like a political cause and more like a criminal enterprise.  This makes the film hard to sort through, and it also makes it very heavy-handed, particularly when it comes to Cortese's character.  Is she at all sympathetic to the cause, even in the end, knowing that the man they're going after killed her father?  Or is she only capable of seeing the world in absolutes?  Cortese is not a subtle actress, and much of that gets lost here...in the 1970's, this would've been a better movie.

Hepburn's role here isn't large, but it's notable.  Hepburn's airy screen presence is a really strange counter to Cortese's heavy ACTING, and they are not believable as sisters (they don't even have matching accents), but she's quite good, particularly when she dances (something she'd only do in a handful of pictures).  I get why this would've gotten her noticed by casting directors, as well as William Wyler, as this film directly connected to her eventually getting the lead part in Roman Holiday.  Next week, we'll take a look at Hepburn at the peak of her fame, already armed with an Oscar.