This is a pretty odd Hitchcock film because the territory is pretty unfamiliar to his audiences. This and the prior film, THE TORN CURTAIN are both about the battle between Communism and Democracy instead of the usual individual stories about murder.
This movie is a background story about how the Cuban Missile Crisis came to the attention of the US government. The story is set in France and their government is inundated with Communists and Communist spies posing as defenders of the Republic. The focus of all this is a lone brave agent that stumbles upon the story but he finds due to infiltration, his own countrymen either don't care or won't allow themselves to believe that their country is so compromised. Ultimately, this brave man is forced to take another approach, as he understands that world peace might be at stake if something doesn't happen and fast! This film is a highly entertaining but cerebral look at the Cold War that would be of interest to most anyone but a die-hard nationalistic French person. They wouldn't find this movie interesting in the least--especially due to Uris' assertion that the French were in bed with the Russians, so to speak (say it isn't so!). I've also read the novel and the film adaptation is excellent.
This movie is a background story about how the Cuban Missile Crisis came to the attention of the US government. The story is set in France and their government is inundated with Communists and Communist spies posing as defenders of the Republic. The focus of all this is a lone brave agent that stumbles upon the story but he finds due to infiltration, his own countrymen either don't care or won't allow themselves to believe that their country is so compromised. Ultimately, this brave man is forced to take another approach, as he understands that world peace might be at stake if something doesn't happen and fast! This film is a highly entertaining but cerebral look at the Cold War that would be of interest to most anyone but a die-hard nationalistic French person. They wouldn't find this movie interesting in the least--especially due to Uris' assertion that the French were in bed with the Russians, so to speak (say it isn't so!). I've also read the novel and the film adaptation is excellent.