Traditori

The story is about a group of Nazis who try to blend in the with locals in the waning days of the war. One in particular, Colonel Von Beck (George Coulouris) is the star of the film...and his methods seem bent on sowing discontent and chaos. Can the Allies figure out who this man is before it's too late?

According to IMDB, this film was rushed through production in order to capitalize on the recent Allied invasion of France. And, while I watched, the film did have a hurried feel to it. It wasn't due to the acting or music or cinematography but the story itself...a story that seemed like it needed a re-write as some of it was a bit rough. Some examples of how heavy-handed and shallow some of the scenes were would be the incredibly over-idealized Russian doctor as well as the church scene. In addition the film uses one of the worst cliches in film history...a person telling the evil person that they are going to turn them in to the authorities! You just KNOW what's gonna happen to this woman!

By the way, despite me not enjoying the story, George Coulouris was wonderful as the Nazi agent...and he was always excellent in playing awful characters.

Director Biberman is remembered today, if at all, for being one of The Hollywood Ten – film people who defied the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and ended up in prison: consequently, his career numbered very few films – two ‘B’ thrillers made previous to this and two more (albeit higher-profile) titles after it; I myself had watched the best-regarded of the lot, SALT OF THE EARTH (1954), some time ago.

The two films clearly state where his political sympathies lie – given their celebration of collectivism during periods of turmoil (in the case of THE MASTER RACE, it obviously deals with WWII and, specifically, the ferreting of Nazi criminals and local collaborationists in Belgium once the Allies turn up to liberate the country). Unsurprisingly, all of this gives way to a lot of speechifying – though the war elements render the whole more palatable than was the case with SALT OF THE EARTH (which concerned a prolonged strike at a New Mexico mine-field); the narrative, in fact, throws in everything but the kitchen sink (with plenty of twists and turns along the way) – and, while the characters may come across as stereotypes at times, solidly professional production values (the film was made by RKO at its prime) carry it through.

The cast is modest yet effective – principally George Coulouris in one of his best roles as the Nazi Colonel (the film starts off with him disbanding his chain of command when it becomes clear that the Germans were losing the war) who passes himself off as the patriotic brother of a traitor who has been executed (in this respect, it’s the Hollywood equivalent of Britain’s WENT THE DAY WELL? [1942]). The latter’s surviving wife and daughter are having a hard time coping with this fact, being themselves under a cloud of suspicion – and the German is thus able to observe both sides with relative ease (since he obviously now professes to denounce Nazism, while at the same time rousing gullible locals into resisting the Allies’ help by making them out to be just another group of tyrants!). The more prominent among the ranks of the latter are Stanley Ridges as the American Major in command of the country’s reconstruction and Carl Esmond as a rugged but cheerful Russian officer with medical experience.

One other important female character is that played by Osa Massen, a local girl who succumbed to the advances of a German officer – a relationship which has even produced a child – while her fiancé and brother (Lloyd Bridges, himself in love with the niece of the man Coulouris has replaced!) went to war. There’s much conflict and heartache at the core of such sensitive issues – but understanding, forgiveness and hope for the future eventually prevail. Incidentally, we also get a repentant Nazi (now being held in the same concentration camp where the Belgians had been incarcerated not long before) and it is he who brings about Coulouris’ downfall; the latter had already committed murder and also ordered the destruction of the prison, ostensibly as an act of retribution against the Nazis but really to blame the locals for it – thus causing discord between them and the Allies! The film remains interesting today for its uncompromising and intimate look at the ravages of war, made with relatively few concessions to Hollywood conventions – displaying instead courage, conviction and a passion rarely felt in this type of genre offering.

Herbert Biberman (1900-1971) is the writer and director of this 1944 film. Biberman was a member of the left wing theatre group in New York City and was married to Gale Sondergaard. Both Biberman and Sondergaard were victims of the HUAC "red scare" – Biberman served time in prison and both were blacklisted.

This was his third film as director, fifth as a writer.

Lloyd Bridges (1913-1998) has a minor role in the film. Bridges too was briefly blacklisted but turned around and would be a staunch right wing presence.

(Doc) Robert Golden produced the film. He also produced "Hitler's Children" (1943) which was directed by Edward Dmytryk, another director imprisoned during the HUAC trials. "Hitler's Children" was the most successful film for RKO, even surpassing King Kong, and led to this film being made.

From the film there aren't many obvious communist themes, but there is a sympathetic Russian soldier and there is a lot of emphasis on people working together. The film is ardently anti-Nazi.

George Coulouris (1903-1989) gives the best performance of his career. Osa Massen (1914-2006) is excellent.

Based on the title and the first few minutes, this looks like it will be a kind of "Boys from Brazil" story about Neo-Nazis out to reclaim the world, but it's actually a rather run-of-the-mill WWII propaganda melodrama of betrayal and loyalty. George Coulouris plays von Beck, a Nazi general who leads a group of "inner circle" Nazis on the eve of Germany's surrender (the movie was released after D-Day but before the actual surrender). Glad to leave the weakened Hitler behind, the group goes underground, intending to get new identities and foment dissent among the liberated peoples of the former Third Reich. In Belgium, Coulouris pretends to be his brother, moves in with his sister-in-law and her daughter (who were seen as collaborators by the villagers), and tries to derail the Allies to return the land to nomality. Paul Guilfoyle (father to the Paul Guilfoyle who currently plays Brass on CSI) is Coulouris' first conquest in his propaganda battle. Lloyd Bridges is a former concentration camp prisoner and Nancy Gates is his girlfriend. The most interesting character is Helena, played by Osa Massen, who was raped by a German soldier and subsequently bore a child (Gigi Perreau in a wordless performance). The two have become semi-outcasts, seen as tainted by Nazi blood. There is some nice use of light and shadow in some scenes but aside from its interesting set-up, nothing very exciting goes on. After the opening, we never see any of the other "inner circle" Nazis and the whole film becomes a story of the villagers struggling to trust each other again. One of the worst lines of dialogue in any WWII movie occurs here when Bridges has to say, at an inspiring moment, "When the Lord made people, he had a great idea!" Massen is the best actor in the picture, even though she is saddled with having to look wide-eyed and sinister for the first half of the film until her secret shame (which we guess early on) finally comes out.

1944 and the Allies are pushing the Germans back on all fronts. In a last-ditch attempt to prolong the Third Reich and impose their will upon the world, the Nazis come up with a diabolical plan. Agents are sent to soon-to-be-liberated towns with the intention of blending in with the local population and turning them against the Allied liberators. One such agent is Colonel Frederick Von Beck. His aim is to sow seeds of distrust and revolution among the inhabitants of a small Belgian town.

Very original central plot, giving the movie heaps of potential. However, unfortunately, the year of release gives away how things develop from there. Being made during WW2 meant this was going to be a propaganda film. This doesn't have to be the death knell for a film - it is possible to make a propaganda film that remains watchable decades after the war has ended.

Unfortunately, this is not an example of such a movie. Incredibly one-dimensional and heavy-handed in its propaganda, there is no subtlety here. The Germans are evil to the nth degree. Even the Russians are portrayed as angels - anything for the war effort. Quite over-the-top in the extremeness of the propaganda.

This isn't the worst of it. A stark black-and-white good vs evil film could still have been entertaining. However, there's really not much action. Instead, we have speeches upon speeches, none of which say anything new or edifying - it's all stuff we already know: the Nazis are bad, fascism is bad, people need to be free, etc. Yet, every chance is grabbed to jam in a speech. What should have been one line in a dialogue turns into a several-minute monologue.

It's all so tedious and preachy.