Spies

A combination of first-hand accounts, old film footage, photographs and dramatic narration is used to tell the stories of seven ordinary women thrown into a dangerous world of espionage after war turned their lives upside down. Most never returned to a normal life, and many women spies simply faded into obscurity at the end of WWII. This absorbing entry in the Intimate Portraits series begins with the infamous Mata Hari, homemaker, exotic dancer, prostitute and, ultimately, a spy. Working undercover during WWI, she was betrayed by her German bosses and executed for treason by the French. Aline de Romanones, an American model who reported to the OSS on enemy agents in Madrid, later wrote best-selling spy novels. Helene Deschamps worked for the Resistance in occupied France, then for the OSS reporting German troop movements. Her sister and accomplice, Jackie, was killed by Nazi machine-gun fire. Doubled-crossed by another Resistance member and arrested by the Nazis, Belgian Yvonne Files was beaten continually and sentenced to death by hanging. She survived only because the Allies liberated Antwerp ten days before her execution date. One of the most touching moments comes in footage from the 1955 television show This Is Your Life, when Ms. Files was honored and reunited with an Allied flier she'd helped. An inspiring and fascinating video, this is highly recommended. Aud: P. (J. McDaniel)