There's a trivia question in here somewhere, what links James Cagney to Sean Connery: Cagney's 'agent' number was 077 while Connery's, of course, was 007. Fox began their 'semi-documentary' series in 1945 with The House on 92nd Street and 13, Rue Madeleine continues the tradition, beginning with a 'newsreel' timbred voice-over dedication-cum-scene setter and proceeding documentary-style with recruitment, training, and assignments for 0SS personnel that segues into a specific mission co- led by Cagney and Walter Abel. Early on Abel tells Cagney that amongst the trainees is a Nazi agent and leaves Cagney to ferret him/her out. Richard Conte pretty much semaphores that it is him but we have to accept his flawless American accent with no explanation of how long he has lived in America or if he is, in fact, a genuine American who has been recruited by the Germans. Perhaps at the time, 1947, audiences would have let this go by but in 2013 it feels sloppy. The blurb on DVD box doesn't help when it states that Rue Madeleine is in Paris when in fact it is in Le Havre, a port in Northern France. For a film with minimal 'action' it remains surprisingly effective and in its favor it resists a happy ending. Worth a look.
Review of 13 Rue Madeleine
