Ordre de tuer

This is a quietly gripping movie about a man ordered to kill a traitor in wartime France. The protagonist bonds with his quarry and his family and agonizes over following his orders to kill. To find out whether he kills the man and whether he is guilty or innocent you'll need to see this.

I saw this film on the late show about 25 years ago & haven't seen it since but I still remember much of it vividly. A soldier is parachuted into occupied France during World War II & is "ordered to kill" a resistance leader who is believed to have been collaborating with the Nazis. However, as he works his way into the trust of his target, he begins to believe that he is a loyal Frenchman & not a Nazi sympathizer. He expresses his doubts to his superiors, but they order him to continue his mission. His decision & its consequences form the climax of the movie. Despite its obscurity, the film packs quite an emotional punch & I dearly wish I could see it again. Perhaps time has burnished its image in my mind, but I would rate this as a superior war movie.

I've searched in vain for this very fine movie, which I saw many years ago and has clung firmly to my memory. It's about a cocky young soldier who is sent to kill a French collaborator. He later develops serious moral qualms about the mission.

This film has a fine cast and has some very interesting touches. I am sure, for example, that those of us who have seen it still remember the collaborator's cat, who adds tremendously to the humanity of that character. At times, the tension and psychological pressure of this movie is almost unbearable. Filmed on location in Paris, I believe. The score, which also stands out in my memory, is melodramatic but appropriate.

I saw this move perhaps 40 years ago, during the height of my interest in espionage and spy tradecraft. I remember being mesmerized by the gritty reality of this movie and the fine portrayal of the agent/assassin as played by Eddie Albert. It remains what is perhaps one of his most serious roles, and the film reveals a side of his talent rarely revealed in his other movies. Every detail of the film, from mission preparation through to the conclusion, was exceptionally well done. I would love to find a copy of this somewhere; it remains a personal favorite.

Although Eddie Albert, Lillian Gish, and James Robertson Justice are the first, third, and fourth billed actors, the largest and most important parts are played by Paul Massie, Leslie French, and Irene Worth.

British intelligence believes they've identified a traitor in the French Resistance, and they send in a war-weary pilot (Massie) because he has lived in Paris and speaks fluent French. His mission is to execute the traitor, a different matter from dropping bombs on anonymous targets. He's eager to do the job and gets specialized training in methods of killing (James Robertson Justice is one of his eccentric instructors).

When he arrives in Paris, he meets his contact, a seamstress (Irene Worth) who, unlike him, understands exactly what is involved. Worth's energy and passion leap off the screen, yet she's never theatrical in the wrong way. The target turns out to be an apparently harmless old man (Leslie French, who resembles Donald Pleasence). Is he really guilty? Can the pilot carry out his mission? Should he? What will happen after he makes his decision?

Paul Massie, a Canadian actor, had played Brick in Peter Hall's London production of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF. His voice is very much like Richard Chamberlain, and like Chamberlain he is well-cast as a sensitive and decent man. His other big film roles were in LIBEL as Dirk Bogarde's accuser, and in SAPPHIRE. Around 1966 he appeared as a guest artist at the University of South Florida, and he became a professor of drama there, apparently finding a profession he liked better than film and professional stage acting.

I found it amusing that the French people encountered were so English, but it didn't hurt the film which was engrossing and thought provoking and an interesting look at the morals of the war.