This is not anywhere near Fritz Lang's best film. However, I chalk that up not to any inadequacies on his part but on the rather weak script that he had to work with. Despite Lang's skill as a director, Gary Cooper and the rest of the OSS agents seem to accomplish everything they do much too easily. However, I chalk that to the writers, not to Lang.
In addition, Gary Cooper makes a pretty unconvincing undercover spy. Everything about him shrieks "American!", even when he attempts to speak German (with a decided American accent). OSS agents were supposed to be able to speak the language and blend in with the local pollution. However, Cooper stands out like a barber pole at a funeral.
Furthermore, real OSS Agents underwent months of specialized training while, in this film, Cooper is sent overseas immediately without any preparation whatsoever. Beyond that, he is supposed to be one of the scientists working on the Manhattan Project and he is simply summarily taken away from his work to be sent behind enemy lines. That plot point, alone, doesn't seem credible. Would the Government, at that point in the war, have permitted somebody that important to the Manhattan Project to be taken away from that vitally-important, top-secret work, let alone be risked behind enemy lines, especially considering the amount that he knows about the Allied atomic bomb project? The very idea is ridiculous. But then again, that is a question of stupid script writing, for which one cannot blame Fritz Lang.
In addition, Gary Cooper makes a pretty unconvincing undercover spy. Everything about him shrieks "American!", even when he attempts to speak German (with a decided American accent). OSS agents were supposed to be able to speak the language and blend in with the local pollution. However, Cooper stands out like a barber pole at a funeral.
Furthermore, real OSS Agents underwent months of specialized training while, in this film, Cooper is sent overseas immediately without any preparation whatsoever. Beyond that, he is supposed to be one of the scientists working on the Manhattan Project and he is simply summarily taken away from his work to be sent behind enemy lines. That plot point, alone, doesn't seem credible. Would the Government, at that point in the war, have permitted somebody that important to the Manhattan Project to be taken away from that vitally-important, top-secret work, let alone be risked behind enemy lines, especially considering the amount that he knows about the Allied atomic bomb project? The very idea is ridiculous. But then again, that is a question of stupid script writing, for which one cannot blame Fritz Lang.