Underplayed Gems

The Secret Army (1972)

The Secret Army poster
Directed by
Zwy Aldouby
Genre
documentary film
Rating
7.0 of 10 from 1 voters
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like this

How it feels

This 1972 documentary film shows members of the Provisional IRA during the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It was suppressed after its making and did not receive a release until many decades later.

rawdocumentaryunflinchingserioushistoricalsuppressedstraightforward

What happens

The Secret Army is a 1972 documentary film about the Provisional IRA, made by J. Bowyer Bell and Zwy Aldouby. It is notable for its footage of IRA members (notably Martin McGuinness) and their activities at the height of The Troubles. Viacom purchased the worldwide distribution rights for the film. The film disappeared after its making, and was not released by Viacom despite having purchased the rights to do so. Viacom told Gildin, the executive producer, that the film was forbidden in the British commonwealth. Bell believed that British intelligence persuaded authorities in the United States to stifle the film, while another theory alleges that escalating violence in Northern Ireland unnerved some U.S. television networks. Gildin also claimed that Bell and Aldouby told him that British intelligence had viewed the film while it was being developed in London. Its existence was revealed by the BBC in 2019, and clips from it are incorporated in a 2024 BBC documentary about its making, also titled The Secret Army. Irish journalist author Ed Moloney had access to a print of the movie and uploaded the full movie to his website The Broken Elbow in April 2024, about a month after the release of the BBC's documentary about the original 1972 one. The documentary was presented by the journalist Darragh MacIntyre. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.