j-f-cantrell

Some have compared this film to,"Strangers On a Train", but I do not believe it should be compared at all. It is a wonderful comedy/mystery and does not have the tenseness of a pure mystery as it is a tongue in cheek comedy. The sets - clothes - hair styles, etc. are perfect to the period of 1946 London wherein two school chums meet in a queue of a Bond street store. They then set in motion the plot of ridding themselves of husbands they don't want, one probably should go,the other Hector, is standing in the way of Antonia who wants a younger college prof. I do not want to give away all of the plot - but I will say this is a very fine film that I am sending to friends - the highest compliment.

This is a dark, moody, WW II film that many people today cannot understand. This film is also very close to the book. The photography is as good as The Third Man, and the plot is absorbing. Charles Laughton is mis-cast as the SS (Nazi) agent but other than that the film is terrific. Louis Calhern is impressive as the Russian officer now reduced to be a doorman at a nightclub. This is a serious film made at the time of immense human suffering right after the 2nd WWar and shows the very serious attitudes of the people then. This is a film for people who value well made movies from a bygone age that had great actors and directors. The book is tougher than the movie, it was written by one of the 20th centuries great authors.

I just watched this film and thought it to be pretty bad. There was no suspense in an area that should have been awful for the people involved. The lack of attention to details really bothered me. Example, the German troops were transported in a 1953 2 1/2 ton American army truck - the German Colonel's medals were wrong. He wore a regular army knights cross iron cross but he was in the SS, so the iron cross should have had a swastika in the center, which was reserved for the SS only. The flippant manner of Hurt would have lasted a few seconds in Vichy France and was not realistic to the times. The real Varian Fry was always nicely turned out, but Hurt portrayed him as unkempt. My wife agrees this is a totally unrealistic film and is typical of the way Hollywood does not know how to make really good movies any longer. The subject matter deserved a much better effort.