‘First Comes Courage’: A Wartime Curiosity From 1943

A film that features an original plot about the resistance in Norway needs a better script and pacing.

Nicole Larsen (Merle Oberon) and Capt. Allan Lowell (Brian Aherne), in “First Comes Courage.” Columbia Pictures

NR | 1h 28m | Drama, War | 1943

World War II films were being churned out in Hollywood like assembly-line rations in the early 1940s, and “First Comes Courage” (1943) landed right in the middle of that run. It was produced by Columbia Pictures, adapted from Elliott Arnold’s novel, “Commandos,” and was directed by Dorothy Arzner; director Charles Vidor took over the reins when she fell ill.