Circle of Deception

1960
Approved
1 Std. 40 Min.

IMDb-BEWERTUNG

IHRE BEWERTUNG

Füge eine Handlung in deiner Sprache hinzuUnbeknownst to him, a soldier is sent on a doomed mission because of the high likelihood of him divulging secrets if captured and tortured.Unbeknownst to him, a soldier is sent on a doomed mission because of the high likelihood of him divulging secrets if captured and tortured.Unbeknownst to him, a soldier is sent on a doomed mission because of the high likelihood of him divulging secrets if captured and tortured.

Siehe Produktionsinformationen bei IMDbPro

IMDb-BEWERTUNG

6,6/10

349

IHRE BEWERTUNG

Siehe Produktionsinformationen bei IMDbPro

Benutzerrezensionen19

Ausgewählte Rezension

7/10

good WW II movie

Bradford Dillman is a soldier chosen for a dangerous mission in "A Circle of Deception," a 1960 film also starring Suzy Parker, Harry Andrews and Robert Stephens. The story is told in flashback as Paul Raine (Dillman) remembers his assignment after a visit by his ex-lover, Lucy (Parker).

In order to divert German troops from an attack site, Paul is chosen because according to his psychological profile, he will break under torture and give the Germans the information the Allies want them to have.

Paul knows his mission is risky, but Lucy, an assistant to the captain (Andrews) who thought up this scheme, knows the entire story. She's enlisted to go out with Paul, since he seems interested, and evaluate if he's really the man for the job. She becomes a little more involved than planned.

Filmed in black and white, this isn't a big budget movie, but it's good. Dillman was a young star then under contract to 20th Century Fox, but despite being both attractive and a good actor, with the studio system abolished, he found most of his success in television.

Parker, one of the first supermodels, was a staggering beauty who was given several opportunities in Hollywood. She was lousy in every one of them.

Like Grace Kelly, she had a cool, sophisticated look, and also like Grace Kelly, in person she had a fantastic sense of humor and a wonderful personality - and like Grace Kelly, she never got one role to showcase them.

Though Dillman and Harry Andrew are both very good, it's Robert Stephens as the German captain who imprisons Paul that gives the most chilling performance. A brilliant stage actor, he's a knockout in this, and one wishes he had pursued more film work before his death in 1995. He could have had an Oscar-level career.

All in all, "A Circle of Deception" is very good, and the black and white helps to keep up the British wartime atmosphere. Dillman and Parker met during the making of this film, married in 1963, had 3 children, and stayed married until Parker's death in 2003.

Parker's last work on film was in a 1970 "Night Gallery" episode, in which she looked absolutely gorgeous, but through the '50s, '60s (and possibly into the '70s) she was on every magazine cover and in every fashion layout imaginable.

The torture scenes are not for the feint of heart - to be honest, I fast-forwarded through them. The rest of the movie is both interesting and suspenseful.

blanche-2
8. Dez. 2006
Permalink

Fotos10

+ 3

Mehr wie diese

Handlung

Ändern

WUSSTEST DU SCHON:

Ändern

Wissenswertes
Bradford Dillman and Suzy Parker met on this shoot and later married.

Patzer
When Paul Raine is remembering events that took place in the war, there is a caption "Occupied France 1944". However when a despatch rider arrives at the Combined Services Catering Research office in London, apparently in the same time period, a Morris Minor car is seen in the background. This did not start production until 1948, well after the date in that caption.

Zitate
Capt. Thomas Rawson: The instructions our agent were to carry to Ballard were that on a certain day, on receipt of a certain signal, he and the Maquis were to attack all major roads and bridges in the Marignon sector. It didn't matter if they didn't destroy them so long as they attacked them. What was important was that the Germans would deduce from this attack that the invasion of France would take place in that area, thereby forcing them to hold troops there which would be more useful elsewhere.
Maj. William Spence: Well, it won't work now Ballard's arrested.
Capt. Thomas Rawson: But the Germans don't know we know that. It'll still work.
Maj. William Spence: But they have his radio.
Capt. Thomas Rawson: Yes, and they'll be sitting there, waiting for a signal. Well, we'll send them one. We'll say that one of our people is coming in with orders for Ballard. He'll land, the Germans will pick him up and try to beat out of him what those orders are.
Maj. William Spence: Plant a phony agent on them?
Capt. Thomas Rawson: So he breaks, he talks. And gives away to the Germans the plan to destroy communications in that area.
Maj. William Spence: The Maquis can't make the attack now.
Capt. Thomas Rawson: But the Germans will draw exactly the same conclusions as if they could - which is what we want.
Maj. William Spence: Would the phony agent get away with it?
Capt. Thomas Rawson: He won't know he's phony. He'll really believe he's got vital information. He'll try his hardest not to talk. Then things will get too tough for him. He won't be able to take it and he will talk.
Maj. William Spence: What, deliberately let them get a man of ours and break him?
Capt. Thomas Rawson: Yes. But he must be a man trying to do his duty; devoted, brave, utterly convincing. Well?
Lucy Bowen: He'd be a sacrifice.
Capt. Thomas Rawson: [he's handed a message] This is on Ballard's radio and in his code. The Germans don't know we know.
Capt. Thomas Rawson: Get on the phone to Holding Centre and tell Taylor we'll be down this afternoon.
Capt. Thomas Rawson: We've been trying to find men who won't crack under pressure. Now we've got to find one who will. But not too easily.