Aveux spontanes

Half of the movie takes place in Paris ,like the title reads;the other half ,which was obviously NOT filmed on location takes place in Hungaria Based on a true story ,we are told ,but the script is really one-sided .A cold war thriller,it's one of the most anti-commies movie I know,this side of "the red Danube" (1949)Americans are loyal,nice,chivalrous ,full of abnegation whereas -with the exception of Gabor- the commies are sinister-looking,cruel ;to think that they would not think twice before killing an innocent child!and they ill-treat a patient in a hospital!and what they do with the tape is not fair play!and they torture you,physically or mentally!And their long fingers are everywhere ,even in our sweet Paris.However,in 1952,if my memory serves me well,some Americans were having a bad time in their own country too.

Dana Andrews does not find here one of his best parts but his talent partly saves the movie and the supporting cast follows suit.I particularly like the coded messages in the conversations or in the phone calls."The little match girl" is a good idea.

Cocky young reporter DANA ANDREWS gets at the truth of some political funny business in Cold War Hungary. Will this help him in his budding romance with the pretty young émigré he took from improbable good guy GEORGE SANDERS during his ASSIGNMENT Paris?

This is a rather typical Columbia production -- decent actors thrown into a fairly silly plot where the implausibilities keep piling up. The good to this movie is the location shooting (they really are in Paris in the exteriors -- love the scene where it's spitting snowflakes) and George Sanders, gamely taking on the sort of role given to Ralph Bellamy. The bad is a somewhat dumb cold war plot, that assumes that a reporter sent to a cold war country is likely going to be arrested, put on trial, and brainwashed (as opposed to merely deported after a careful search). Also, if a reporter really acted like Dana Andrews in his professional or romantic life, he would have his lights punched out by his victims, and be arrested for stalking.

In other words -- not bad, and if you like George Sanders, it might be interesting to see him tackle a non-sneering part. Be warned, though, that Dana Andrews is seriously annoying in this one.

A cold war insight that is fairly realistic and gives a very clear picture of the state of Europe, especially Hungary, during the last years of Stalin. It is especially relevant today as Putin tries to exonerate him and repeat his methods of stretching far outside Russia to persecute so called enemies that could be considered a threat to the infallibility of Russian dictatorship. Dana Andrews is reliable as usual, seconded here by the lovely Marta Toren, who played in films together with almost all the major stars of Hollywood before she died suddenly at only 30 as the successor to Ingrid Bergman, but Marta Toren also married and filmed in Italy. George Sanders is the sober diplomat who handles the intricate situation with due dignity, while the most realistic scenes are the most revolting, those of the Hungarian brainwash procedure under Stalin.

It's not one of Dana Andrews' best pictures, but no one could have made the part he plays better - he had been in it before, like in "The Iron Curtain" 1948.

An American named Robert Anderson has been arrested by Hungary for spying. Jimmy Race (Dana Andrews) is a brash reporter from the New York Herald-Tribune in Paris. He and top reporter Jeanne Moray (Märta Torén) are trying to interview the Hungary ambassador. She has a story that the Hungary leadership is trying rapprochement with Yugoslavia's Tito despite Soviet objection. The Hungarian authority is keeping a close eye on her.

The story is a little slow at times. The movie seems more interested in getting the Cold War right. The Iron Curtain has descended and this is an almost straight forward telling. It's a story out of the headlines. It doesn't automatically make it a good story. Jimmy Race is overly brash to the point of arrogance. He should be smarter than that. The girl doesn't seem like the reporter type. I do like the rip from the headlines aspect but it could be done with more tension.

Dana Andrews is one-man newspaper "Race" who is transferred to the Paris office where he works for veteran "Nick" (George Sanders) whilst trying to prize his girlfriend "Jeanne" (Märta Torén) away from him. She resists but he persists and she is soon beginning to fall for his charms. Luckily for "Nick" though, a situation develops when an American citizen is sentenced to twenty years in an Hungarian prison for espionage. "Race" is sent to follow up the story and soon finds himself arrested and embroiled in a plot that involves the highest level of the Government and some secret meetings that might well annoy the Soviets. "Nick" and "Jeanne" now have to find a way of obtaining freedom for the writer and getting to the bottom of this conspiracy. This film moves along well with some engaging characterisations from Andrews, Sanders and Torén. It mixes romance and political intrigue with less emphasis on the first aspect and there's some torture and a bit of sarcasm before a denouement that smacked very much of a John Le Carré novel. I enjoyed this.