Codename: Emerald

Code Name: Emerald is an excellent espionage thriller involving a cool double-agent plot connected to the D-Day landing. It's expertly helmed by Jonathan Sanger and shot in beautiful Paris starring A-list actors.

It also offers proof that American movie-goers are mentally defective. Check out the domestic box office receipts for September 1985.

Code Name Emerald - starring arguably the greatest actor of all time, Max Von Sydow - and also starring international stud Horst Bucholz and American stud Ed Harris, placed 10th for the month, taking in $561,000.

Now look what placed No. 2: Invasion USA starring noted thespian Chuck Norris. It hauled in a cool $17.5M. Do I have have to include the plot synposis?: "A one-man army comes to the rescue when the United States are invaded by communists."

Jeezus that's depressing.

A double agent is dispatched to try to recover one of the 'Overlords' - the small group of people who knew when and where the Allied invasion would land. Ed Harris was a good choice to play the seeming turncoat. His intensity makes him hard to read while the viewer is jerked back and forth trying to figure out where his loyalties actually lie. Most of the film's running time is taken with the cat and mouse game of Ed trying to manipulate his objective's Nazi captors is pretty interesting, especially when one realizes that he is playing for the highest possible stakes: the success or failure of the biggest undertaking of the entire war. Then, when the action kicks in late in the picture, for once a big chase sequence has a dramatic purpose and isn't just there as a mindless diversion. Ed has to outwit and outrun the whole Nazi war machine in Fortress Europe, or the invasion is doomed.

Everything has a rather old fashioned feel to it, probably since this was just the type of movie that got made over and over in the late 40s and early 50s, but the production looks good and the period detail is convincing. Nothing here felt completely original, but it is a well enough made movie to be entertaining in itself.

CODE NAME : EMERALD is an intelligent and intriguing World War 2 espionage film, based on the novel "The Emerald illusion", about a double agent (Ed Harris) in Paris in the days before D-Day. The film has many impressive moments of acting and production. The actors are brilliant, especially Ed Harris, he is at his best here, extremely virile, powerful and sensitive, and Horst Buchholz, who was already a veteran actor at this time, is perfectly cast as the deceitfully charming SS general, and Helmut Berger here in a very uncongenial role. Also fine performances by Max von Sydow, Eric Stoltz and Cyrielle Claire.

The lack of action is not a deficiency but an advantage, it contributes to the fact that the character of the film is rather more than less romantic. Particularly striking are the beautiful locations in Paris: Occupied France, Paris in the spring: The portrait of this era is vividly created. I am also deeply impressed by the musical score by John Addison. It adds a melancholic tone to the whole picture and it emphasizes the fact that all this happened a long time ago.

Ed Harris is double agent Gus Lang in Code Name: Emerald, from 1985, directed by Jonathan Sanger.

This is another, let's lie to the Axis about where the Allies will land on D-Day and when D-Day will actually happen.

The Germans want an "Overlord," an officer with details of D-Day. The Germans capture one, Wheeler (Eric Stolz), so Gus is sent to Paris to keep tabs on him, and also plant a false story about his health. He has a secret liaison among the German upper crust.

This is an okay film with a fantastic cast: besides Harris and Stolz, Max von Sydow, Helmet Berger, Horst Buchholz, and Patrick Stewart.

The ending is tense, but I felt parts of the film were slow. Worth seeing for the actors.

As the Allied prepare to hit the Normandy beaches, the Germans try to find out where they will strike. In a complicated gambit, spy Ed Harris helps the Germans capture Eric Stoltz, who is supposed to know where the attack will take place. Then Harris shows up in occupied Paris to help get the information from him. However, he is actually a double agent.

One of the problems with making a fictional movie about a settled and familiar piece of history is that the audience knows how it all came out. There is thus no dramatic tension on the larger issues. Instead, we need to care about what happens to the individuals we see on the screen. And while they are all fine actors, their characters are mere sketches, and their dialogue not particularly interesting. While Max von Sydow and Horst Buchholz try their hardest, they are merely nasty Nazis here.

There is an attempt to liven things up with some good scenery shots around Paris. With Freddie Francis in charge of the camera, this succeeds. However, we are supposed to focus on Harris and liaison/love interest Cyrielle Clair, and they're shot in the distance and medium-long shots in these sequences.