Conta fino a 5 e muori

If I understood correctly from the film's dialogue, when one inserted a cyanide pill in one's mouth to escape torture and spilling the beans, one just counted to five and croaked. Alas, reality is different, it takes longer than that and, according to experts, an excrutiatingly painful death.

Of course, during WWII spies would carry those capsules as a matter of course and in this case Annemarie Duringer, the beautiful German agent who has infiltrated a joint English-American decoy unit dedicated to providing false info to the Germans about the D-Day invasion, becomes suspicious when she notices that the agents are not being issued with the capsules.

Very good acting from Nigel Patrick, always an extremely reliable thespian. Jeffrey Hunter plays the part of a US Army captain who does not trust Patrick, and makes some decisions that ultimately prove very costly, but he is not an actor of Patrick's ability. Rolf Lefebvre, as the chief spy in the German group, also delivers a top grade performance, as does Duringer.

Frankly, this film is entertaining and honest enough that I do not care whether it accurately reflects history. I also find it odd that some regard it as dated. Why? WWII ended in 1945, how could it not become dated if, since then, we have had the Cold War, the independence of many countries, the emergence of widespread terrorism, and many other developments. The clock never stops ticking and change has been the only constant in these modern times.

COUNT FIVE AND DIE rates no masterpiece but despite suffering from a low budget, it is a sight better and more faithful to history than the bulk of current movies. 7/10.

OSS Major Jeffrey Hunter is seconded to Colonel Nigel Patrick. They seem to be running a film company. In reality they're working on the Normandy invasion. Their unit leaks information like a sieve. It's meant to. They're trying to convince the Germans that the invasion will take place, at least in part, in the Netherlands. If the Germans believe this, they'll station divisions far from the actual invasion. Among the people they think is a German spy is Dutch Annemarie Düringer. Has she caught onto the game they're playing?

Even though the War years kept warning us about German propaganda and German spies -- who seemed to wander about the landscape without anyone noticing what they were doing -- there seems to be little doubt that the British played both games much better. At least some of the claims about German atrocities were not believed because they seemed to be repetitions of what had been said during the Great War. It was only after the war that the exploits of British Intelligence like this and THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS began to surface, and even longer for it to turn out that Ian Fleming was an insane operations runner.

It's a standard but well executed espionage thriller, even though it takes almost a third of its length to start moving.

This little gem hits all the right buttons; great story, excellent acting and directing, moody black and white photography, easy to follow plot line etc. Well worth the watch.

I could nearly confound this WW2 espionage film with BETRAYED - 1954 - because it takes place in Netherlands too - Holland - and the evil character is also very interesting, surprising. This movie is good but maybe lacks budget and also a bit ambition. I like the woman character, and after the viewing, you can easily guess why.... It's not at the same scale as 36 HOURS - another movie speaking of the approaching D DAY - nor even BETRAYED, starring Clark Gable, Lana Turner and Victor Mature. Speaking of Victor, I am also amazed to see that the director here, Victor Vicas, is the same film maker who, later, direct the famous French series LES BRIGADES DU TIGRE, where, there will also be some women characters rather close to the one here, played by Annemarie Düringer.

Supposedly based on a true story, this British film starring Jeffrey Hunter is very good, considering what was in all probability low budget.

The plot concerns feeding incorrect information to the Axis about where D-Day would actually take place. When a young woman comes from Holland to join the intelligence team, she needs to be checked out carefully, as she is suspected of being a spy.

Hunter and Nigel Patrick do a very good job and Hunter's boyishness is especially appealing. He had a nice, relaxed way about him before the cameras and like so many other incredibly handsome men, undoubtedly had a tough time convincing anyone that he could really act. But he really could. Sad that he died so young. Anne-Marie Duringer is the love interest under suspicion.

It may be a little slow at times, but also quite interesting.