AllMovie

Director Raoul Walsh reportedly dismissed Uncertain Glory as a "quickie." Walsh may have thought so but he certainly doesn't seem to have treated the material lightly. Yes, Errol Flynn's transformation from callous thief and murderer to nobly giving his life for France may seem superficial, as many modern reviewers have suggested, but Uncertain Glory should be considered for what it was: wartime propaganda. France, at least Free France, was a beleaguered ally, "old and battered but never giving up," as one character in the film puts it, and Flynn's reformed criminal and Paul Lukas' law-and-order conservative policeman spoke directly to both the American home front and the French émigrés in London and Washington. The chemistry between the two remains the center of a thrilling narrative that holds up surprisingly well, and instead of dismissed it as a "quickie," Uncertain Glory deserves to be much better known today than is the case.