Wish Me Luck - Series 1
by Bill Hays, Gordon Flemyng
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Chris Sullivan, Frank Ellis (II), Jane Snowden, Sebastian Abineri, Suzanna HamiltonDirector: Bill Hays, Gordon Flemyng
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Unknown
Format: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
DVD Release Date: 2004-02-24
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Goldhil Home Media
Movie Reviews of Wish Me Luck - Series 1
Movie Review: FANY's and WAAC's and WAAF's...oh my!
Summary: 4 Stars
"Wish Me Luck" was one of those quality British WWII dramas that turned up every now and then and resulted in an entertainment that is rarely found from other country's. The type of drama that the British have forgotten how to make as they look more and more to the US for indication of how to film drama.
It's narrative focuses primarily on two women SOE agents, Liz Granger (Kate Buffery) and Matty Firman (Suzanna Hamilton), drawn from different backgrounds and thrown into the mix of wartime occupied France. They join up for various reasons, to "do their part", but both are unsatisfied with their lives up to that point and feel they can be doing more. Liz eventually 'graduates' as a general agent and Matty as a radio operator (or a pianist) and they're dropped onto the Continent to play out the first series.
Once in France the first series develops into an episodic venture, with the plot played out over 8 parts. "Wish Me Luck" series one features fairly realistic characters in fairly realistic wartime situations. There's little 'action' in the traditional sense, but this in itself is real as the very nature of SOE ops called for quiet easy movement and information passing, rather than blowing things up. Sabotage was usually left to the various indigenous resistance groups, whose inter-rivalry is hinted at successfully throughout the series and continues into the later seasons.
"Wish Me Luck" relies more on driving characters than showing fancy gunfights and whiz-bang pyrotechnics, but one of the ways it chooses to develop character is one of the shows problems. The main writer, Jill Hyem, has seen fit to include hackneyed "mills'n'Boon" love interests to fill in the non-wartime bits and their troubled relationships are further complicated by their commitments back home. It's all a bit obvious and a little tiresome.
Also somewhat tiresome is another of the show's angles. The character of Matty Firman. There's nothing really that bad with her character except that she carry's on with English colloquialisms all the way through France and the writing for her character seems hell bent on emphasising her working class contrast to Liz's more upper class 'jolly hockeysticks' upbringing. Another tedious and obvious 'twist' is to make her Jewish. I swear, it's becoming very hard to view a Second World War film or TV series without Jewish characters in it or the mention of Jews at some point. Not that it's inherently bad to have Jewish characters or a nod to Jews in wartime dramas at all, but when they are put obligingly into every piece that's produced about the period, it's hard to a)not be cynical about it or b)not to grow tired of it. If we are to believe film and TV's recent treatment of WWII, you think it impossible to move in Europe for the number of Jews there. There's little progression on Matty's racial/religious background and little reference to it as the series unfolds, it's just a clich?d, un-necessary and awkward insertion. But it seems to be obligatory nowadays. On the plus side, in general, she's one of the more plucky gals and Matty's story is one of the more interesting paths in the first series, even if the conclusion of her characters escapades is a little silly, if exciting enough.
A more major downfall of the first series is the music used. It's never fitting and always somewhat overbearing. It seems that the music was written without the music director actually scoring the music to the film. It quickly becomes very irritating and it's a reason that the final star is knocked off. The music in the second series has changed and is a little better though, so it's obvious that the producers knew that it was a weak point in the production.
Also somewhat out of place is Warren Clarke as Colonel Werner Krieger, the head of the Abwehr in the area. His affected German accent is a little cartoonish and caused a couple of unintentional chuckles. He's not bad in the role, he (and all of the Germans) just should have spoken in his natural English accent, like the 'French' characters in the series.
The first series of "Wish Me Luck" is a worthy attempt to show a side of the war that doesn't get much of an airing, but it's leisurely pace may be off-putting to those with little or no interest in the period.
Summary of Wish Me Luck - Series 1
A wonderful British Drama about Liz Grainger, a young middle-class English woman, who undergoes brutal interrogations as part of her training for World War II intelligence work in occupied France. Liz wants to work directly against the German enemy because of her anger at the recent death in action of her brother. She meets another woman recruit, Matty, who is also in training as a resistance agent. The organization that recruits for the United Kingdom intelligence work is lead by the flamboyant and cosmopolitan Colonel James Cadogan, "Cad." The primary aim of his organization is sabotage and subversion, leading ultimately to France's liberation from Germany. The first wave of agents sent into occupied France are volunteers from the Armed Forces; however, since their numbers have been reduced by German counter-intelligence, replacements now are being recruited from among civilians.Action & Adventure DVD Video
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