Undercover: How to Operate Behind Enemy Lines (1943)

Interesting facts

Undercover, also known as Undercover: How to Operate Behind Enemy Lines and How to Operate Behind Enemy Lines, is a 1943 Office of Strategic Services training film, directed by and featuring John Ford. It was edited by Ford's longtime collaborator Robert Parrish.

Background

Ford was commissioned a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Naval Reserves in 1934, and in 1940 he began bringing together thirty other experienced filmmakers in a Naval Reserve unit. He reported for active duty in September 1941.

Although he remained officially assigned to the Navy, in October 1941, Ford's unit became part of the Office of Coordinator of Information, the OSS's predecessor. After the OSS was established in 1942, the unit became the OSS Field Photographic Branch. (The OSS was dismantled after the war and was succeeded by the Central Intelligence Agency.)

Ford initially was assigned to make documentary films for release to the public. Among them were The Battle of Midway, and December 7th: The Movie, both of which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The two films, like Undercover, were edited by Robert Parrish, who had worked with Ford on Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and other films.

Ford's OSS training films instructed OSS agents in equipment and techniques they would be using in the field. Among them were Training Group (1942) and The Mole (1943), both of which, like Undercover, were declassified after the war and are in the public domain.

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