Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

howardmorley In the final scene I found myself saying out loud James Cagney's above quoted title phrase from "White Heat".Yet again the producers elected for the lowest common denominator of making the actors, whether playing German or French, only speak in English to each other so that largely American audiences could understand the action.Darryl F Zanuck showed the correct method of producing realistic WW11 films with his 1962 film "The Longest Day" when Germans only spoke in German, French only spoke in French to each other but with English sub-titles, thus providing a more realistic and intelligent dialogue.The beginning held my attention but when the action moved to France and even the Resistance and Gestapo spoke in English to each other the film rapidly reduced itself to farce.I can never understand why American film producers insist on an English only script.America with all its immigrants, must surely have had in 1946 representation of both German and French speaking actors in its ranks.Even Tyrone Power made an effort speaking French in "The Razors Edge" and his co star Gene Tierney made herself almost fluent in the language.Another factual error was that the location of the D-day landing on 6/6/44 was only known to a very few of the allied high command.For this reason I could only vote it average at 5/10.

morrison-dylan-fan With Christmas coming up,I started to search round on Amazon UK for a James Cagney DVD that I could give as a present.Being interested in going for a lesser-known film of Cagney's,I was pleased to stumble upon an espionage title starring Cagney,which led to getting ready to see Cagney spy at 13 Rue Madeleine.The plot:Desperate to infiltrate the Nazis activities,the US government sets up a new war-time spy agency,whose goal is to go behind enemy lines,and to spy on the Nazis.As he begins training his latest group of would-be spies,Bob Sharkey is told that one of his students is actually an undercover Nazi spy.Standing out from the pack, Sharkey's suspicions instantly turn to a student called Bill O'Connell,due to O'Connell showing a surprising level of espionage skills,despite having only had a weeks' worth of training.Asking his superior's about O'Connell being arrested,Sharkey is told that he must feed O'Connell false info,due to there being info about O'Connell being linked to the Nazi- occupation of France.Sniffing out the lies just before he and his fellow spies are dropped in France,O'Connell kills one of the agents via cutting his parachute,and then jumps safely to the ground himself.Horrified about what O'Connell has done to one of his students,Sharkey decides that he must go behind enemy lines,and get hold of O'Connell. View on the film:Getting quickly re-written thanks to the US government banning any movie from mentioning the pre-CIA OSS,and the real life Sharkey (William Donovan) not being too happy over the film showing a Nazi spy infiltrating the agency,the opening 30 minutes of John Monks Jr. and Sy Bartlett's screenplay builds up a real steam of tension,as Sharkey finds himself unable to stop O'Connell from delving deeper into the agency's roots.As O'Connell drops from the sky,the writer's sadly fail to keep the tense atmosphere building,due to O'Connell being left off-screen for the next 50 minutes,which leads to the dangerous mood between O'Connell and Sharkey only being revived for the films wonderful bleak ending.Despite not filming in the real locations which the opening credits state, (with Quebec locations being used for the films US/French settings)director Henry Hathaway shows a great skill at releasing a nervous energy,with Hathaway using tightly coiled shots to show the raging paranoia which has taken over the resistance fighters of France.Showing some of his excellent Judo skills in the opening scenes,James Cagney gives a very good performance as Sharkey,with Cagney slowly revealing Sharkey's revenge-fuelled sorrow.Taking on Cagney, Richard Conte gives a brilliant,ruthless performance as Bill O'Connell,with Conte showing a real ruthless bite,as O'Connell begins to reveal all the info that he's gotten from the US,in 13 Rue Madeleine.

AaronCapenBanner Henry Hathaway directed this spy thriller that stars James Cagney as O.S.S. secret agent Bob Sharkey, who is in charge of training future agents to be sent out into the field. One of them is a German spy that they learn about, and decide to use as a disinformation agent. Unfortunately, the spy catches on to this, and outwits them back to Nazi occupied France with his information, forcing Sharkey to pursue him there, which may well cost him his life... Exciting and intriguing film with good cast and efficient direction, leading to a most surprisingly violent ending that is both tragic and yet triumphant, illustrating the sacrifice sometimes required to defeat the enemy.

dbdumonteil This "13 rue Madeleine " is the address of the gestapo's headquarters,the place where they tortured their prisoners.Hathaway's movie looks like the propaganda works which were thriving during WW2.French Annabella who lost a brother in the conflict was a committed actress who played for the soldiers on stage in Italy.It was the second time she had been cast in a WW2 movie (the first was "tonight we raid Calais" in 1943.Unfortunately she's (like all the actors) outstripped by James Cagney,and as soon as we know about her husband's fate ,her part is so underwritten she does not have a single chance to shine.The same goes for Richard Conte and Frank Latimore.In consequence,the most interesting part of the movie is its first part,almost a documentary ,which shows the training of the secret agents,with voice over galore.Then when the story really begins,after 30 min,it is sometimes confused and only the moving last scenes ,13 rue Madeleine,have a true emotional power.