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The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)

Rate: 6
Viewed: 7/19

7/19: Although The Counterfeit Traitor contains good moments for an espionage picture, it has noticeable problems.

When I mean problems, they begin with the terrible shooting of Frau Marianne Möllendorf which marks the height of 60's restraint because she's never shown physically harmed. The film goes like this for the majority of the time.

Yes, William Holden is great, and this should've worked for him. Yet it's not real enough. On the other hand, Lilli Palmer, a true German-Austrian Jew who was once married to Rex Harrison, is even better. I can tell that she achieved realism by putting a lot of passion into her role. In short, Lilli Palmer is the reason why the film moves well at crucial points.

Another nice part is that it's shot on location all over Europe. The story is complex in a bewildering way. Once I get the main gist of the plan, the goings-on become tolerable. Yet it's too long for an old-fashioned movie: 140 minutes. The costumes are distracting with Edith Head trying to make a ridiculous fashion statement when Holden's character was secretly escorted by Ingrid van Bergen who made herself obvious by wearing a shiny black jacket with green labels. Enough of that crap; this isn't a Hitchcock movie. It's supposed to be a WWII drama with lives at stake.

A lot of the facts as presented never happened. But Eric Erickson was a real person who helped end WWII early by pretending to be a Nazi in order to find out the coordinates of top-secret synthetic oil plants that were eventually bombed. However, there's no dramatic escape. Yes, a female spy was involved, but her real name was Anne-Maria Freudenreich.

All in all, had the acting been more real, the running length shorter, and the costumes less silly, The Counterfeit Traitor would be a highly recommended WWII espionage thriller.

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