Wish Me Luck:Vol 3

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful series
Review: A well-written, well-produced series about two ordinary Englishwomen who join the Resistance in occupied France. It never drags; you can't wait to see what happens next. I loved it. I also loved the brilliant score, written by Denis King, who did the music for "We'll Meet Again." It's difficult to imagine someone not liking this series.

Rating:
Summary: Wish Me Luck
Review: Based on the true stories of "ordinary" British women who risked their lives to go undercover for the Resistance in Nazi-occupied France, this riveting series will have you on the edge of your seat! Well-written, historically detailed and accurate, superbly acted; don't miss this one.

Rating:
Summary: It could have been better
Review: I cannot fault the locale, sets, costumes and most of the cast, but the background music is abominable. It sounds like something from a trite 60s action series. I keep expecting Peter Gunn or one of his ilk to appear. Just when you are finally able to get involved in the story line along comes background music so jarring that it totally destroys the mood the actors and director worked so hard to evoke. You are suddently, and all too abruptly aware that they are merely playing at recreating one of the most dramatic periods of the last century.

Rating:
Summary: The Reality of Special Operations Comes Through
Review: I couldn't believe it when I saw these videos in a mail order catalog. I had no idea anyone had done a program on SOE apart from documentaries. I had no idea anyone in the country knew what SOE was but us! My husband and I are WWII re-enactors and at living history events, we portray agents for the Special Operations Executive in occupied Belgium. We explain to the public that this branch of the British military recruited civilians to train, supply, and communicate with local Résistance forces (with varying degrees of success). This is a great series to show our fellow re-enactors when they are just beginning to learn the impression. The videos are a bit melodramatic and it's entirely a fictional account (none of the characters portrayed are real, although they have copied some stories straight from the SOE files). But Bob and I agree that they get alot of things right (Résistance's distrust of SOE and vice versa, the unavailability of good equipment and timely drops, the quarrelling between SOE and normal forces...). It's the fictional story of two women who go through training together and are eventually posted as a courier and wireless operator on the same team. Still it's not overly romanticized. The constant fear of discovery comes through very well. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Undercover in occupied France
Review: I have this series on VHS and, after having watched it at least three times, still really enjoy it. I find it well-written, well-acted, well-paced, and an interesting take on the usual male spy story. As a woman, I admittedly enjoy stories about women who succeed at difficult tasks. The two women who star in this series face an extremely difficult task--to pass as Frenchwomen in occupied France, despite having spent the majority of their lives in England, while passing secrets under the noses of the ever-watchful Germans. Unlike another reviewer, I won't try to say whether members of the other sex will like it or not. I don't see it as a chick flick at all--simply as a story about spies in WWII which features the women who were spies, as well as the men. Jill Hyem is a fine writer and this is fine WWII drama. If you're looking for lots of battle scenes, however, this isn't it. This is about people, not weapons, and life among the enemy. I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Good soap-ok drama--worth watching
Review: This is a decent series--but don't expect "Enemy at the Door"-a similar type melodrama-with superior stories and acting. However, if you like WW2 stories-this is a nice set to watch and rent/own. There's nothing particularly bad about these stories-but events sometimes strain credulity-example--Matty doesn't know how to ride a bicycle-but manages to keep up with Liz without problem on a lengthy bicycle journey after arriving in France--a few of the escapes from capture are a little unbelievable as well-at one point Liz detours her bicycle through the woods--eventually losing it and making her way on foot--but somehow managing to evade and escape the Germans and the dogs that are chasing her--but these are minor flaws. All in all-the series is worth watching-though I would recomend rental rather than purchase--if you can find a video store that rents it!
Honestly, I would recomend either "Enemy at the Door" or "Piece of Cake" over "Wish Me Luck"--but if you've seen those two series and enjoyed them-chances are you would enjoy this one as well

Rating:
Summary: Good soap-ok drama--worth watching
Review: This is a decent series--but don't expect "Enemy at the Door"-a similar type melodrama-with superior stories and acting. However, if you like WW2 stories-this is a nice set to watch and rent/own. There's nothing particularly bad about these stories-but events sometimes strain credulity-example--Matty doesn't know how to ride a bicycle-but manages to keep up with Liz without problem on a lengthy bicycle journey after arriving in France--a few of the escapes from capture are a little unbelievable as well-at one point Liz detours her bicycle through the woods--eventually losing it and making her way on foot--but somehow managing to evade and escape the Germans and the dogs that are chasing her--but these are minor flaws. All in all-the series is worth watching-though I would recomend rental rather than purchase--if you can find a video store that rents it!
Honestly, I would recomend either "Enemy at the Door" or "Piece of Cake" over "Wish Me Luck"--but if you've seen those two series and enjoyed them-chances are you would enjoy this one as well

Rating:
Summary: A spy series for the gels
Review: WISH ME LUCK, a British telly miniseries that aired in the late 1980s, revolves around the perils facing English agents working with the Resistance in WWII occupied France.

Female viewers are the target audience for this melodrama. Real Men need not tune in. The shtick to draw in the gels is the fact that the two main protagonists are women. Liz Grainger (Kate Buffery), a young English housewife and mother, whose husband is serving with the Royal Army in Egypt and whose brother has been killed flying for the RAF, volunteers for clandestine duty as a courier in Normandy while leaving her pre-pubescent daughter with Mum. Half-French, half-English Matty Firman (Suzanna Hamilton), who escaped the German invasion with her French mother to live with her English grandfather in Stepney, is teamed with Liz as a radio operator, even though she has a tendency to leave mission-sensitive material lying about. A third member of the team is Colin Beale, played by an adolescent Jeremy Northam. Women in the audience will think him cute.

While there are tense moments as our heroines find themselves in dodgy spots, the plot focuses mostly on emotional relationships: Matty with Liz, Matty with Colin, Liz with her husband, Liz with her daughter, and Liz with her control behind the lines.

Beyond the touchy-feeliness, which may leave male eyes glazed over, this is too obviously a low budget production - except for the rather striking period hairstyles on several of the female characters. The cheesiness is in the details. The Teutonic invaders are less Aryan and more out of UK central casting. And when they speak Deutsch among themselves, the awkward tone and overly careful pronunciation is reminiscent of memorized speech drills in first year German. Moreover, though Liz and Matty are exhorted in spy school to act like Frenchwomen when on assignment, the latter in particular, once in enemy territory, punctuates loud conversations with Bloody This, Bloody That, and Sod This - all potentially within the hearing of any leather-coated Gestapo ape skulking on the nearest street corner.

A decidedly more clever and much better spy series from the UK is THE SANDBAGGERS, broadcast in the late 70s and featuring an MI6 covert operations team. And if you want to see a truly excellent WWII period piece enjoyable by both sexes, I recommend FOYLE'S WAR, currently in it's third season, the first two of which are available on DVD.