The Traitor

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Whodunnit Drama History Mystery Thriller

Survivors of the World War 2 German Resistance Group attend an annual reunion at an English country house. The reunion is hosted by Colonel Price, who intends to find out which guest had bet... Read allSurvivors of the World War 2 German Resistance Group attend an annual reunion at an English country house. The reunion is hosted by Colonel Price, who intends to find out which guest had betrayed their leader.Survivors of the World War 2 German Resistance Group attend an annual reunion at an English country house. The reunion is hosted by Colonel Price, who intends to find out which guest had betrayed their leader.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.7/10

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YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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User reviews13

5.7350

Featured reviews

2planktonrules

Unbelievably boring!

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.

7blanche-2

a group of ex-resistance members gather to ferret out a killer

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.

4Leofwine_draca

Old dark house mystery with a Nazi twist

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.

5malcolmgsw

And the traitor is...

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.

5henry8-3

The Traitor

Artime underground friends meet up in an old house in England to work out which one of them betrayed their keader during the war, resulting in his execution.

Solid chamber piece with a good British 50s cast which slowly morphs into an Agatha Christie type whodunnit. OK.

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Trivia
The house where most of the film is set would later appear as: 1. the hotel used by the lovers in The Rough & The Smooth [1959]; 2. the tennis club in School For Scoundrels [1960]; 3. Jane's house in "The Nudist Story" [5/60] 4. Rod Taylor's training ground in The Liquidator [1965]; 5. the Eatons' house in The Devil Rides Out [1968]; 6. "The Elizabethan Hotel" in The Avengers S7 Episode 20 "Wish You Were Here" [12/2/69]; 7. Paul Kirstner's house in Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) Episode 7 "Murder Ain't What It Used To Be" [2/11/69]; 8. "Merstham Manor" in Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) Episode 9 "The House on Haunted Hill" [16/11/69]; 9. garden used for croquet in Department S 2/8 The Perfect Operation [26/11/69]; 10. Mrs Howe's house in Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) Episode 14 "Who Killed Cock Robin?" [21/12/69]; 11. the house named "Marling Dale" Byrom Blain is chauffeured to at the start of the episode in Department S 2/14 "The Bones of Byrom Blain" [28/1/70]; 12. the house used as base by Carter and Drieker in Department S 2/19 "A Ticket to Nowhere" [11/3/70]; 13. the house used by Ralph Bates & Judy Geeson in Fear In The Night [1972]; 14. the restaurant visited by Strand in Special Branch S4 Episode 12 "Diversion" [2/5/74]; 15. Green's house in The Professionals 2/5 In The Public Interest [4/11/78] and 16. the honeymoon hotel in Hammer House of Mystery & Suspense episode 1 Mark of The Devil [5/9/84].

Goofs
When Shane is speaking to Col. Price, Shane puts a spoon into his coffee cup as seen from a side angle. When shown from the front, Shane is holding the handle of the cup and the spoon is not in it. When the angle switches back to the side shot, the spoon is again in the coffee cup.

Quotes
Friederich Suderman: Did he have time to name one of us?
Colonel Price: No. All he said was, "There's been a mistake."
Friederich Suderman: Well! Couldn't that mean that Gareth wasn't betrayed? That it was all a mistake?
Alfred Baum: That's why one of us stabbed him. Because he was bringing such good news!