Amiral Canaris

It beggars belief that the figure of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris has been portrayed only four times on film, so far as this viewer is aware. As played by Anthony Quayle he is a minor character in John Sturges' 'The Eagle has landed', has a miniscular role in 'Voyage of the Damned', in the person of a totally miscast Denholm Elliott and pops up briefly in 'Two-Headed Spy' as played by yet another English actor Walter Hudd. Here the magnificent performance by O. E. Hasse cannot alas compensate for the film's shortcomings.

It is not a bad film by any means but lacks the touch of a master as Alfred Weidenmann is no more than capable and in keeping with German cinema of the time has been reduced to a spy thriller with a bit of 'love interest' thrown in.

Needless to say the utterly monstrous Reinhard Heydrich has proved far more appealing to film makers and has been personified on numerous occasions ranging from Hans von Twardowski's grotesque caricature to the quietly sinister Siegfried Loyoda to the chillingly matter-of-fact Kenneth Branagh. His uneasy relationship with Canaris is well realised in this but Martin Held's performance, for this viewer at any rate, fails to convey the sheer evil of the man. As there is no show without Punch, also featured are the always dependable Wolfgang Preiss and the ubiquitous Charles Regnier whilst Barbara Ruetting provides the Oestrogen factor.

One never really gets the feeling of 'being there' and much of what occurs is extraneous with an eye to the commercial element. The makers have chosen to omit, amongst other things, Canaris' relationship with Polish spy Halina Szymanska whilst Frau Canaris is nowhere to be seen. The film ends with his being arrested and driven away.

Tried for alleged complicity in the July Plot he was led naked to the scaffold and hanged on a butcher's hook. It is highly unlikely that he will ever be done justice to on screen but the sensitive playing of O. E. Hasse has at least given us a glimpse of the almost unendurable moral dilemma with which Canaris had to grapple.

It is an abomination that so few people know about this man. I'm a five-star history nerd and know how important his contributions were to the allies and their eventual victory.

He is probably the most underappreciated hero of World War II, no one except history nerds like me know about him, and even among the history nerd crowd I'm in the minority.

These films need to be available with English subtitles, for starters. What is really needed is for a fresh presentation of his heroics and tragic end by a first-rate Hollywood Production. It seems like this would be a perfect project for Steven Spielberg.

This is a very fine film, with excellent Otto Hasse as Admiral Canaris, the very German Abwehr Head who was, as we know, one of the anti-Hitler Resistance leaders, as well as impeccable and surgically neat and excellent Wolfgang Preiss as his aid, Colonel Hollem. There are other great German actors taking part in this period drama, with Martin Held as a chilling cold-blooded Nazi General Heydrich. The film is far from being flawless, as two hours aren't enough to cover life of this highly tragic man, who happened to live in Hitler's times, and who chose to fight, not run. There are weaker parts when the movie slides into a typical 50's schmaltzy detective flick, or when very important events are mentioned just as a faint glimpse. Still, in general, this is a very decent anti-war film with slightly skint but still powerful message that often it takes much courage to say No when all scream Yes. The film proves to show this, and manages to depict great decisions and sturdy assureness. Recommended.