Watched an excellent World War II spy movie last night: The Counterfeit Traitor (1962), with William Holden and Lilli Palmer. I remember liking it as a teenager, and it holds up quite well. Holden, a studiously neutral businessman from studiously neutral Sweden, is strong-armed into working for British/American intelligence, gathering information for the allies on his oil-related trips to Germany. To further gain the trust of his German connections, he's forced to act like an outspoken Nazi sympather, publicly rejecting his Jewish best friend, without letting even his wife know that it's all an act. As he gets more involved, he witnesses an atrocity that shatters his cynical world view - and becomes wholly committed to helping the allies, deeply and personally involved with key players in the German underground resistance. Meanwhile, suspicious Gestapo agents are watching his every move, waiting for a slip-up.
This is great spy vs. spy stuff! It's talky by today's standards, but that's not a bad thing. It's incredibly tense, with an unusually nuanced portrayal of the various participants - "ordinary" Germans, neutral Swedes, ruthless allied intelligence, and the Danish resistance (the Copenhagen bicycle scene is a classic). According to reviews on the web, it's a true story, but I haven't been able to verify that. Shot at the actual locations of the events that took place in Germany and Scandinavia. With Hugh Griffith and Klaus Kinski.
This is great spy vs. spy stuff! It's talky by today's standards, but that's not a bad thing. It's incredibly tense, with an unusually nuanced portrayal of the various participants - "ordinary" Germans, neutral Swedes, ruthless allied intelligence, and the Danish resistance (the Copenhagen bicycle scene is a classic). According to reviews on the web, it's a true story, but I haven't been able to verify that. Shot at the actual locations of the events that took place in Germany and Scandinavia. With Hugh Griffith and Klaus Kinski.
4 comments:
I haven't seen this one. Tonight we watched the last of the Blue, White and Red series - I enjoyed all of them. Netflix is a wonderful idea, and Veronica and I have been sharing all our favorite movies with one another. I'll have to look into this Counterfeit Traitor.
I, too, enjoyed the quality, plot, acting, script, locations, and photography of the film.
It seems to me the movies of past times were incredibly better than the contemporary ones.
Gee, William Holden. I recall my first year in the dorm at USC that my room mate told me that the guy next door is William Holden's son. Back then (~62) I didn't know the names of actors, except maybe for Marilyn Monroe, so it meant nothing to me and I don't even remember the guy. I just barely remember the dorm. I wasn't happy there.
Oh, this was about a movie. Sorry. Seeing that name just brought back that memory.
This is my first time looking at your blog. Very nice. I think I once started a blog here too, just to see how it's done, but I never came back.
I think you should have your portrait right on the front page of your blog. I think that would be nice.
Cheers,
Marnix
I've moved the movie to the top of my netflix queue. (No I don't get payoff for each netflix mention. Netflix just happens to the the movie service I use, I mean, the other netflix type services I don't use in preference to netflix.)
Excellent blog. Harry Myhre told me you should consider podcasting since you are good at marshalling your opinions.
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