Le Mystère du camp 27

Unlike many 1940s movies, this film came from over with crisp dialogue so I did not have to turn the volume control up to listen to the screenplay.Even my wife noticed it had good sound production standards.Guy Rolfe an army officer in 1946, to kill time sees a portrait in a forces art gallery and makes the acquaintance there of the Jewish father of the girl posing for it, (Mai Zetterling).As he has just been jilted, he has time on his hands as the army has given him temporary leave from his army job in Hannover, Germany.

Fascinated by the portrait, he sets out to find the girl from the masses of "DPs" (displaced persons) in Europe who were stateless at the end of WW11 and placed in special camps by the allies.I also liked hearing authentic German spoken by the cast which included Herbert Lom at the beginning of his film career.As there is a surprise ending I will draw a veil over my comments so as not to provide a spoiler.A good production which held my interest to the end.7/10

Main Zetterling despite being 24 convinces as an 18 year old girl in a displaced persons camp.Also very prominent at the beginning of a long are errors.He is Herbert Lom.Lots of other familiar faces at the beginning of their new post war careers.This film is of historical interest now,showing how people were trying to sort themselves out after the war.

Guy Rolfe, plays an army officer, on leave from occupied Germany, who visits an art gallery and is immediately captivated by the image of a young girl who he sees in a painting. The young girl's father, who happens to be a Jewish professor, realises Rolfe's interest, which prompts him to tell him that the girl in the picture is his daughter, who he hasn't seen since they were both incarcerated in different German concentration camps. Rolfe makes it his mission to see if he locate the missing girl when he flies back to Germany after his leave had expired. Strong performances from Guy Rolfe, Herbert Lom playing the sinister 'alleged' father of the girl in the picture and Mai Zetterling as the 'missing girl.' The film has a very involved storyline which constantly twists and turns, but sometimes rather too much, with the result that's easy to lose attention. Nevertheless, the acting is top notch, and watching Herbert Lom and Mai Zetterling is always a joy. It's also a worthy film since it highlights the problems of liberated prisoners of war and refugees who are trying to rebuild their relationships as well as their lives in the immediate aftermath of WW2. Summary: Interesting and well acted drama

This is a very moving and effective film starring the young Mai Zetterling, then aged 23 but looking 18 and acting even younger than that. She has amnesia because of terrible events which she has experienced during the War, including time spent in Auschwitz because she was a Jew. She is the lost daughter of a German Jewish professor who is living as a refugee in London, and who has not seen any members of his family for nine years and does not even know if they are alive. In the camp, she is disguised as the daughter of a man who calls himself Fritz Handelmann, played by Herbert Lom at his most sinister and threatening. Zetterling does not know she is not his daughter and believes him when he tells her she is. But meanwhile, Lom is really 'the fourth in command of the SS' with a secret bunker near the camp, who is attempting to revive the Nazi cause while remaining in disguise as a refugee. Guy Rolfe plays an English officer posted to the British Army of Occupation in Germany. He is home on 21 day leave in London and meets the old professor, who tells him of his missing daughter. This is because a war artist has painted a haunting portrait of her which is on show at the Royal Academy, Rolfe visits it and hears the professor exclaim upon seeing it: 'But that's my daughter!' Rolfe is taken by the girl in the portrait and decides to help investigate. And so a considerable saga ensues, leading to dramatic events and the finding of the utterly charming young Zetterling, who at that age was enough to set any number of hearts aflutter. It's quite a story and superbly directed by Terence Fisher, who had only directed his very first film the year before. Later, in 1962, he would direct the version of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA which has Herbert Lom play the Phantom and Heather Sears as Christine.

Guy Rolfe is "Major Lawrence" (another one), who sees a portrait of a young girl at a London art gallery and is enthralled. On further investigation he discovers from her refugee father - who recognises his long lost child from her picture - that she is a Jewish lady and is probably still in a post-war settlement camp somewhere in Germany. He sets off to track her down, discovering when he does find her that she "Hildegarde" (Mai Zetterling) has amnesia and can remember little. Not only that, but she has been "adopted" by Herbert Lom ("Hendlemann") whom she genuinely considers to be her real father. Further digging by "Lawrence" reveals that the painter "Reid" (Robert Beatty) and her may have had some sort of relationship and that her pseudo-father has a pretty big secret of his own. Terence Fisher does well to get anything out of the usually wooden Messrs. Rolfe and Beatty, but Lom is super as is the gorgeous, sylphlike Zetterling who portrays her character with considerable delicacy and skill, especially when things turn a bit more perilous for her as Lom realises that her amnesia may be easing and that his secret might not be as secure as he had thought. It's an unusual film, this - the story is gentle and poignant, and the pace is more measured than slow, with a good score from Benjamin Frankel to help build to quite a surprising denouement. Rarely seen nowadays, but well worth 90 minutes of your time if you encounter it.