Secret Command (1944) is an espionage thriller released by Columbia Pictures at the height of America's fight in World War II. Just so the stakes are not easily forgotten, the film opens with voice-over narration explaining that this is a "drama of the homefront about men and women building an American Victory fleet...built for America's own fighting forces to carry them into battle and bring them back, victorious."

A one-time foreign correspondent in the wartime employ of the FBI, Sam Gallagher (Pat O'Brien) is a Naval Intelligence agent who is sent to intercept a planned Nazi sabotage of an important American shipyard. His base of operations sets him up with an assumed name and a cover; that of a perfectly normal American Joe, married to "wife" Carole Landis, with two kids and a small house. When Gallagher's brother Jeff (Chester Morris) shows up, he becomes suspicious of Sam's situation, threatening to inadvertently blow his cover while, at the same time, Sam tries to uncover the Nazi saboteurs' location and plan of attack.

Under the working titles By Secret Command and Pilebuck, Secret Command is based on the short story "The Saboteurs" by John and Ward Hawkins. The film was the initial effort of Torneen Productions, Inc., a fledgling independent production company owned by Pat O'Brien and Phil Ryan. While the film earned Academy Award nominations for the special effects created by David Allen (photographic), Ray Cory (photographic), Robert Wright (photographic), Russell Malmgren (sound), and Harry Kusnick (sound), some critics were not enthusiastic about the film that the New York Times called "as subtle as a right to the jaw." But the industry trade paper Variety found much to admire in the Torneen production. The reviewer found favor with the lead and supporting actors, and with the "lusty" melodrama's "blending of action and suspense with spontaneous good humor resulting in solid entertainment."

Producer: Phil L. Ryan
Director: A. Edward Sutherland
Screenplay: Roy Chanslor, John Hawkins (story), Ward Hawkins (story)
Cinematography: Franz Planer
Film Editing: Viola Lawrence
Art Direction: Lionel Banks, Edward Jewell
Music: Paul Sawtell
Cast: Pat O'Brien (Sam Gallagher), Carole Landis (Jill McCann), Chester Morris (Jeff Gallagher), Ruth Warrick (Lea Damaron), Barton MacLane (Red Kelly), Tom Tully (Brownell).
BW-82m.

by Scott McGee