The beginning of this film is a
documentary-style prologue following the training of war agents. This is a spy thriller showing the
inner workings of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War
II. An OSS training officer learns
there is a German mole within the class.
He must discover the mole and decide what can be done? The plan is to relay false information
about the invasion of Europe. There
are very dangerous assignments that still need to be completed despite this
additional complication. The known
agents are sent to France to find a secret rocket depot. When one of the men is killed in a
parachute jump, they learn the line to his chute had been deliberately cut? Of course, the German is the main
suspect.
This is good and the period cars are
spectacular. James Cagney is very
good as the lead training officer.
He sets aside his usual tough guy image he uses in gangster films. The age of 72 years doesn’t hinder this
film and I would like to see more Cagney’s movies. 3 ½* (I liked this movie)
95 min, Action directed by Henry
Hathaway with James Cagney, Annabella, Roland Belanger, Richard Conte, Frank
Latimore, Walter Abel, Melville Cooper, Sam Jaffe.
Note: Imdb 7 out
of 10, 83% critic 53% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, TCM Leonard Maltin 2.5* out
of 4*, average user rating 3.9* out of 5*, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 53
reviews, Films DeFrance.com 3* out of 5*, Movie-Film-Review.com 5.38* out of
10*, 3 Movie Buffs 3 ½* of 4*.
Special Note: Filmed
at 20th Century Fox Studios, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Quebec, Canada;
Canterbury, Kent, England, UK. At
one time in his life, James Cagney held one of the highest-ranking positions in
Black-belt Judo. Cagney also used
his Judo training in the film Blood on the Sun of 1945. The title 13 Rue Madeleine is the
address of Gestapo headquarters in Le Havre, France during the German
occupation of France in WWII. This
story was based on Peter Ortiz and he was an OSS agent in WWII stationed in France. In order to obtain maximum realism and
authenticity, all the exterior and interior settings were photographed in the
field. Also. whenever possible, actual locations were filmed.
Originally Rex Harrison was scheduled to play the lead but he turned down
the role. The director, producer
and one of the writers worked together on The House on 92nd Street
of 1945 prior to this film.
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