L'heure de la vérité

Sombre French/Israeli co-production about a Nazi commandant Hans Wernert (Karl Boehm, best known for his lead role in Peeping Tom) who ran a wartime counterfeiting unit in a concentration camp and subsequently lives under the false identity of one of his victims Jonathan Strauss in Israel. However, the truth of his early remark to his unsuspecting pregnant wife Dahlia (Corrine Marchand) that "the past always returns" seems increasingly likely to be borne out when American sociologist Fred Blythe (Brett Halsey) begins digging up the truth as part of his oral history of the holocaust seen through the eyes of the survivors. Seemingly unseen in the West, this film must have seemed timely and relevant in 1964 as it explicitly references the then recent capture, trial and subsequent hanging in Israel of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann whilst musing (often at some length) on philosophical issues concerning the nature of good and evil that are still relevant today. Necessarily downbeat, but decently made and played and never less than dramatically engaging as the viewer is uncertain until the end how it will all play out, the most puzzling issue for many (or those that see it) will be the fact that it appears to have received scant - if any - release in English speaking countries (my DVD is a French language version that features an English subtitled option courtesy of a French DVD release by Les Documents Cinematographiques Collection Classique). Worth a look, then, if you get the chance.

Although it's Calef's next to last movie ,it seems best to consider this movie his swan song.It is perhaps his most modern work and in its own way it stands with his best ,with his great films of the second half of the forties.

A cosmopolitan cast could make you fear the worst;but the actors are all excellent and besides the movie was filmed on location in Israel .

A German Jewish engineer (Karl Boehm)is the only survivor of a concentration camp where he worked in a counterfeiting unit.(" The Nazi commandant did not want us to be men;he considered us "useful things") .Karl Boehm ,who played the "nice" Francis -Josef opposite Romy Schneider in "Sissi" and whose career ran into difficulties when he tried to get rid of that "fairytale prince" figure , did choose difficult parts :"peeping tom" and Minnelli's "the four horsemen of the Apocalypse" are good examples ;in "L'Heure De La Verite" he portrays a tormented soul ,haunted by his past;he's got a lovely affectionate wife (Corinne Marchand the star of "Cleo De 5 A 7")who is expecting a child . An American historian (Brett Halsey)comes to gather evidence and to know the truth about the survivor.Little by little ,we discover that the truth is not what is conventionally understood.Under torture ,the young man gave away one of his pals ,a communist.But the worst is yet to come.

Karl Boehm gives a restrained but devastating performance from a nice young man of the beginning of the story to a human wreck who does not know where he stands anymore ; when he tells his story before an audience and he recalls his young school pal -everyone understands this really happened to him- his voice cracks and he has to leave the place.

The supporting cast includes an outstanding performance by the great Daniel Gelin who portrays a Jew whose philosophy is not far from that of the Christ.He speaks about the "void" left by God,considers the torturers "victims " and that man should not punish the evil doers.

The final unexpected twist makes sense (one of the first scenes is revealing if you pay attention ;the beginning is anyway a model: a black screen ,then ruins ,then this scene when Boehm's character appears for the first time )for many clues are given to the viewer along the movie .They prepare the ground for the extraordinary sequence when the American shows the photograph in the book to the man he "studies" .

This movie seems to have vanished into thin air ;it's not included in the French dictionaries of movies .In the sixties,in a world where the arrogant New Wave was ruling ,Calef (an educated man ,who had a passion for history)stood no chance at all.The late Roger Boussinot ,who was one of the greatest historians of French cinema "wondered" why he never had the career he deserved .I'm still wondering too..

Like this? Try these.....

"Monsieur Klein " ,Joseph Losey,1975 "The juggler" Edward Dmytryk,1953 "Die Mörder Sind Unter Uns" Wolfgang Staudte ,1946