The Traitor

1957's "The Traitor" centers on a small band of resistance fighters whose leader was murdered by the Nazis after being betrayed by one of their members. Every year since the war's end, they all gather together in the English country home of Colonel Charles Price (Donald Wolfit), except that this time, the Colonel expects a visit from one Theodore Dehmel (Colin Croft), who will be flying in from Berlin, having discovered the traitor's identity. As had been the case during wartime, Price intends to dispense justice himself without any police involvement, but Dehmer arrives and promptly expires with a knife in his back, uttering the mysterious words, 'There's been a mistake.' Once the characters are introduced in the opening reel, the scene never leaves the Colonel's home, making for a claustrophobic screenplay that benefits hugely from its exceptional cast. As another commentator noted, the solution is ingenious, but without any concrete evidence that points to the guilty party. Most of the group are established as being German, except for the Swiss Alfred Baum (Frederick Schiller) and the Polish Joseph Brezina (Anton Diffring), the latter a brilliant concert pianist, allowing Diffring to display a more sympathetic side to his normally villainous countenance. The most notable supporting player is Christopher Lee, still a few months before his star making turn in Hammer's "The Curse of Frankenstein," and sporting a flawless German accent as Doctor Neumann, whose presence no doubt inspired the American distributor to change the generic British title from "The Traitor" to "The Accursed," giving it more of a horror slant. Seldom seen since the old days of black and white television, its obscurity seems destined to continue.

THE TRAITOR is nothing more than one of those 'old dark house' type mystery films dressed up as something else. There's a definite Agatha Christie vibe going on here (think TEN LITTLE INDIANS) as a group of characters meet up in a sprawling mansion to discover which of their number is a secret Nazi traitor intent on claiming the lives of the rest of the group.

The story has a WW2 background with the assembled men being Germans who are former members of a resistance group fighting against the Nazis. One of their number hangs himself and the men believe a traitor forced him to do the deed; the rest of the running time follows a classic whodunit mould with Robert Bray the investigating hero.

THE TRAITOR suffers from a slow and stodgy first half where it takes an age for the men to even be informed that there's a traitor in their midst. Still, it does pick up towards the end and particularly at the climax, and there's a solid cast to keep you watching. Donald Wolfit (BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE) is the one-armed lead, and he's supported by the familiar faces of Christopher Lee and Anton Diffring. Not a classic, more of a curiosity piece for fans of this era.

You would think with a plot like you'd have in "The Accursed" that the film would be exciting. However, I found it to be a boring, talky mess.

When the film begins, there's a reunion of WWII resistance fighters. However, it seems that several folks aren't there this year and it appears as if someone is killing them! Perhaps one of them is really an old Nazi taking out their vengeance on the group. A nice setup, huh? Well, this all comes out in the first few minutes of the film...what follows are a bunch of folks in an old house...and a US military man who shows up and talks and talks and talks trying to piece together what's happening.

Had the film been able to unfold OUTSIDE the room and there had been far less talking, it would have been a good film. But you don't SEE any of the action and the result is just claustrophobic and boring....very, very boring despite fine actors like Christopher Lee and Anton Diffring being in the movie.

The Accursed from 1957 is also known as "The Traitor."

Donald Wolfit stars as Colonel Price, a British member of the resistance, who brings his ex-resistance group members to his house in England. The group includes a Polish pianist, Thomas (Anton Diffring), Stefan Toler (Carl Jaffe) and his daughter, Vicki (Jane Griffiths), Friedrich Suderman (Karl Stepanek), and Thomas Rilke (Oscar Quitak).

They meet each year on the anniversary of their great leader, whom someone betrayed to the Nazis. This caused him to be murdered. The murderer, Price announces, is present in the house.

They await a messenger from London, but he is knifed before he can tell Price who the killer was.

Two military men arrive, Major Shayne (Robert Bray) and Lieut. Grant (John van Eyssen) arrive, who say their car is out of order and ask to use the phone. Price isn't fooled; neither are the others. They are there to investigate what's going on.

Meanwhile Price attempts to determine who the killer was. Then there is another murder. Are more coming?

Christopher Lee plays a doctor.

I wondered if this had been a play because it doesn't open much, and it's also talky, but it wasn't. It manages to hold one's interest, though not all of the acting was up to par, mainly Robert Bray's performance.

This could have been better as a TV play or radio play or anything but a film.It has a very good cast including that scene stealer,Donald Wolcott,everyone favourite German,Anton Differing,and a pre Dracula Christopher Lee.The film is an old dark house mystery with a Nazi twist.They are going to be told who was the traitor in their midst but the informer is murdered.They don't call the police and decide to find and try the murderer themselves.After another murder the culprit is finally unmasked using one of the oldest tricks known to thriller writers.So it all ends up neatly tied up.Much too much talk and rather statically filmed.