Starring Merle Oberon, Brian Aherne, Carl Esmond, Isobel Elsom, Fritz
Leiber, Larry Parks
Directed by Dorothy Arzner

Print: black/white
Runtime: 88 min.
Genre: drama
Print Quality: B

With Dorothy Arzner in the director's chair, it's no wonder that First
Comes Courage has a more feminist slant than most WWII "underground"
films. Merle Oberon plays Nicole Larsen, a member of the Norwegian
resistance. To obtain important war information, Nicole romances Nazi
major Paul Dichter Carl Esmond, enduring the slings and arrows of those
villagers unaware of her motives. Her mission is further complicated
when she is reunited with British commando Allan Lowell Brian Aherne,
with whom she'd had a prewar affair. Forced to choose between love and
duty, Nicole makes the only decision possible under the circumstances.
First Comes Courage was based on The Commados, a novel by Elliot
Arnold.