Die fünfte Kolonne

I first saw this film as a young boy, and then for years it could not be seen on television, or for that mater anywhere else. I saw the film for the last time in the early 70's, until it was released again early again in this century.

Others have gone into the plot of this film, and I will not do that. What is interesting for me is that the plot of the story is interesting, and it has one of the most unusual ending of any film made in the 1950's. Also while some have criticized Mitchums performance and if he is walking through this film, I think he plays it just right, a man of cool. Ela Fitzgerald once commented that she liked the way Mitchum walked. During the open sequence we see him, I am sure she is referring to this film. Watching him, you realize that if the opportunity had come, and he had wanted to, he could have been the American equivalent to James Bond. Perhaps he could have played the character that Dean Martin would play of Matt Helm, and in films that would have been more in keeping with the books. He really carries this film. His performance reminds me a little of the character he played in OUT OF THE PAST, a wiser Jeff Bailey perhaps.

I see parallels with MR. ARKADIN and THE THIRD MAN, it really tries to be the latter, though does not succeed. It does have the classic look of the film noir, darkness with light shinning through certain areas of the frame, unusual for a color film of the time, and can be quite enjoyable to watch. Also the traces of the Noir film come immediately through when he informs his employers sexy young wife that she now has to become the grieving widow.

Eastman color, while cheaper than the original Technicolor, does have a tendency to fade over time. When I first saw this film in color, it was rather gorgeous to look at. Perhaps the comment about the horrible Eastman color is due to the fading of these prints.

If you liked Robert Mitchum in other films, I highly recommend this film just to see him. Without him the film would not be worth seeing at all.

When a reclusive , sinister millionaire called Victor Danemore dies suddenly of a heart attack on the Riviera, his press agent , Dave Bishop (Robert Mitchum) discovers his deceased body , but not even his enigmatic young wife (Genevieve Page) knows anything about her husband's background or how he earned his richness . As Bishop starts investigating and races from Stockholm to Vienna to the Riviera. As in Stockholm, a blonde (Ingrid Thulin) offered him an invitation: "Is it secrets you want to buy... Or Me!" . In Vienna, a master spy offers him an ultimatum: "I've been paid to kill you, can you better the price?" On the Riviera, a back-ally ambush drenched the cobblestones in blood! . Only one bullet ahead of half the secret agents of Europe . Robert Mitchum is the hunted . . . Europe is the hunting ground !. The most startling spy-hunt ever filmed! .Yesterday he held the world in the palm of his hand... Now it was about to explode in his face!.. And still he wouldn't let go of the deadliest secret a man ever carried!. A world in which a bullet fired in a Vienna slum is heard in London's Foreign Office... where a blonde's warm promise in Stockholm turns to cold on the Riviera... where you can hold the world right in the palm of your hard one minute - and have it explode right in your face the next!

Intriguing and surprising flick with decent performances , atmospheric cinematography and exciting score . A nice thriller with a show-world of traitors-for-hire , several surprises , suspense shattering the screen , twists and turns . A simple and plain premise becomes more and more confuse and twisted when starring carries out deep investigations and becomes romantically involved with two suspect women resulting in treachery . Being well-paced by writer/producer/filmmaker Sheldon Reynolds who in the 60s decade he produced and directed several films . Fine interpretation from trio of protagonists , as Robert Mitchum as the stubborn secretary who begins to investigate his employer's shady past and finds a large number of tracks leading an unexpected revelation . And introducing the attractive Genevieve Page and Igorgeous ngrid Thulin , along with the ordinarily effective secondaries, though they're really unknown.

It packs an adequate cinematography in Panavision by cameraman Bertil Palmgrenas shot on location in Riviera , Vienna , Stockholm , as well as atmospheric and thrilling musical score by Paul Durand. The motion picture was professionally written/produced/directed by Sheldon Reynolds, though it has some flaws , gaps and unfinished conclusion . He produced and directed some episodes about ¨Foreign Intrigue¨ series (1951-1955) that seems to be a precedent to this 1956 film . And about ¨Sherlock Holmes¨series , as he acquired a license to produce and direct adaptations of the Arthur Conan Doyle stories, and successfully formed a consortium which acquired the rights at auction. Reynolds also filmed a Western titled ¨A place called Glory¨ and some thrillers as ¨Assignment kill¨ , ¨Carnival's killer¨ and ¨Foreign intrigue¨.

In order to review this movie, you need to put yourself back into the 50s when it was made. WW2 was just a decade before (closer than Desert Storm is to us), and the cold war was raging. Tales of spies, traitors, and exotic locations were just the ticket for mid-50s audiences. FOREIGN INTRIGUE has plenty of interesting turns and surprises, but it seems to be trying too hard to mix THIRD MAN with MR ARKADIN and perhaps a bit of WW2 Hitchcock (Sabotage, Foreign Correspondent?). I'm not a big Mitchum fan, but he gives his usual looming, low-key performance, and the supporting players do well. My real reason for watching this film (and I've been waiting over 30 years to catch it) is to see Frederick O'Brady, who plays the heavy (he was reviewed at the time as "out-Lorrying Peter Lorre."). He was my French teacher in 1973-74 at the Eastman School of Music and a great raconteur. He had enormous talent in music, languages, writing, and of course acting (having worked with Orson Welles in ARKADIN, plus Jean Renoir, Roger Vadim, and others). If you can find his autobiography ALL TOLD, you'll be fascinated. He told us that Mitchum tried to teach him to drive during the making of this movie, resulting in a wrecked car. Some thought this would be O'Brady's ticket to Hollywood, but instead French directors dropped him, assuming he would be asking too much money for "lowly" French pictures. He spent many years on stage and never had another juicy film part like "Spring" in this picture. If you enjoy the spy genre and aren't in a big hurry for lots of blazing action, find this movie!

Robert Mitchum, employee of a mysterious rich guy with a mysterious source of income, gets involved in FOREIGN INTRIGUE when he seeks out the source of his newly dead employer's seven figure lifestyle on the Riviera. Will the natural scenery of the Riviera, Sweeden and Vienna overwhelm the scenery provided by Bob's bodacious costars?

This is an entertaining enough movie -- and would have been a lot better without the atrocious musical score -- but it is slumming for Mitchum, who probably took the role for the free visits to European hotspots. The main interest IS Mitchum, who acts the role in an interesting fashion. By acting, in each scene, that he just can't quite believe the mother lode of BS that he has just been handed by some suspect, spy type, cute girl, or plot development, he sort of steps aside from the move, and whispers to us that he knows this is all nonsense, but bear with him, the movie won't be too bad. And, because he does that, it really isn't.

Now, frankly, this is a dead-end as an acting approach, and the cul-de-sac at the end is Roger Moore at the close of his James Bond period. But it works for this movie and this actor, where a straighter approach probably just would have failed. We should be grateful, though, that a sequel, suggested by the ending, was not produced.

"Foreign Intrigue," a 1956 film starring Robert Mitchum, starts out promisingly enough and peters out. Despite filming in color in France, Sweden, and Monaco, even the film's beauty can't overcome its slow pace and dull script.

Mitchum plays Dave Bishop, who works for an international man of mystery, Victor Danemore. Danemore dies of a heart attack suddenly, and Bishop wonders why every single person he encounters wants to know if Danemore said anything before he died.

Even after working for him, Bishop doesn't know much about him, but he endeavors to find out. He learns that Danemore went to Vienna once a year and goes there.

Danemore's home there is in a slum, his housekeeper is blind, and can only supply him with one name, Olaf Lindquist from Sweden. Bishop finds Lindquist's home, but the man himself is dead.

Bishop and Lindquist's beautiful daughter Brita (Ingrid Thulin) fall for one another; meanwhile, it's obvious her mother is keeping a secret.

Soon Bishop finds himself being followed by one man, Spring (Frederic O'Brady) who won't tell him who he works for, bad-mouthed by Danemore's widow (Genevieve Page) to Brita and her mother, and approached by a group of men who want the names of the men Danemore met yearly in Vienna.

First of all, despite compliments on the music, it was totally overbearing, not to mention loud and intrusive. If you liked it, fine, it was just too over the top for me.

Secondly, this film took way too long to make its point. In the beginning, it was intriguing, but then it began to drag.

Thirdly, we think we're going to find something out and guess what, after all this, we don't.

Robert Mitchum is laid-back and sexy as usual - in this instance, I can't tell if his persona helped the movie or hurt it. He was always a very deliberate actor and perfect for noir - I realize some people call this a noir, and perhaps it was, but the payoff just wasn't there.

It's hard for me to imagine Mitchum hurting a film - I think in this case, I'll have to blame the script and the fact that some time could have been edited out.

Promising start - disappointing finish - pretty to look at.