Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Academy Award-nominated "5 Fingers" strikes me as the sort of movie that set the stage for the direction that spy movies would take over the next decade or two. James Mason plays Diello, a valet for the British ambassador in neutral Turkey during WWII. He decides to become a double agent for Germany, and employs a refugee countess (Danielle Darrieux) in his handiwork. But there's more than meets the eye.
The fact that this was a true story should alone be enough reason to watch the movie. But the cinematography (filmed in the locations where the story took place, no less) and soundtrack - by Bernard Herrmann of "Psycho" fame - give the movie an intensity that few movies have. Indeed, because of how the story gets told, we root for Diello to successfully carry out his morally questionable deeds (much like how Alfred Hitchcock plays with the audience in "Psycho"). And I did not see that ending coming.
I wouldn't go so far as to call the movie a masterpiece, but it's a movie that I recommend seeing. Both a look at the cynicism of international relations, and the eerie setting hint at the sorts of things that the James Bond movies would depict a decade later. Good one, with outstanding performances by all the cast members. I can't believe that I'd never heard of Danielle Darrieux until she died last year.
The fact that this was a true story should alone be enough reason to watch the movie. But the cinematography (filmed in the locations where the story took place, no less) and soundtrack - by Bernard Herrmann of "Psycho" fame - give the movie an intensity that few movies have. Indeed, because of how the story gets told, we root for Diello to successfully carry out his morally questionable deeds (much like how Alfred Hitchcock plays with the audience in "Psycho"). And I did not see that ending coming.
I wouldn't go so far as to call the movie a masterpiece, but it's a movie that I recommend seeing. Both a look at the cynicism of international relations, and the eerie setting hint at the sorts of things that the James Bond movies would depict a decade later. Good one, with outstanding performances by all the cast members. I can't believe that I'd never heard of Danielle Darrieux until she died last year.