Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- serious
- tense
- resolute
- historical film night
- wartime drama marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly valued the compelling real-life women at the center and the ensemble performances, while finding the biographical treatment constrained by familiar genre and biopic conventions.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Virginia Hall, Vera Atkins, and Noor Inayat Khan are central agents whose expertise drives SOE recruitment, sabotage, and resistance work.
The protagonists are recruited and trained to undermine the Nazi regime through clandestine missions in occupied France.
The film is inspired by the true stories of three SOE women and presents their intersecting wartime legacies within a feature-length narrative.
Virginia's wooden leg, Noor's Muslim identity and pacifism, and the women's gender all shape their recruitment and dangerous fieldwork.
Films like A Call to Spy, and why
The Zookeeper's Wife
shares a true-story basis, women-led resistance espionage, and wartime drama
Female Agents
shares World War II espionage, covert resistance operations, and tense historical drama
The Imitation Game
shares women-centered wartime heroism, biographical storytelling, and emotional historical drama
Movie Details
- Director
- Lydia Dean Pilcher
- Release Date
- 2020-10-02
- Runtime
- 124 min
- Rating
- 6.7 / 10 (218)
Cast
- Sarah Megan Thomas
- Stana Katic
- Radhika Apte
- Linus Roache
- Rossif Sutherland
- Samuel Roukin
- Laila Robins
- Marc Rissmann
- David Schaal
- Matt Salinger
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Philo, AMC Plus Apple TV channel, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC+ Roku Premium Channel, AMC+, Sundance Now
- Rent
- Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is A Call to Spy about?
- Three unconventional women become secret agents whose courage and ingenuity fuel the Allied resistance in Nazi-occupied France.
- What is A Call to Spy like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of A Call to Spy as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is A Call to Spy violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in A Call to Spy as moderate.
- What did critics think of A Call to Spy?
- Critics broadly valued the compelling real-life women at the center and the ensemble performances, while finding the biographical treatment constrained by familiar genre and biopic conventions.
- Which films are like A Call to Spy?
- Films with a similar feel include The Zookeeper's Wife, Female Agents, and The Imitation Game.
- How long is A Call to Spy?
- A Call to Spy runs 124 minutes.
- Where can I watch A Call to Spy?
- In United States, A Call to Spy streams on Philo, AMC Plus Apple TV channel, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC+ Roku Premium Channel, AMC+, Sundance Now.
