The storyline of the movie is simple: Escape artist/malcontent private Harry Frigg ( Paul Newman) is made a Major General by Brigadier General Homer Prentiss ( James Gregory) in order to get other Generals to leave their Club Med type prison in an Italian villa. Of course there are two distractions that prevent Harry from completing the mission. One extremely nice the Countess ( played by the very beautiful. Sylva Koscina), the other extremely rotten: The Nazi' ( Major von Steignitz). Of course, the film being a comedy, Harry must win. Which means:,Get the girl, get the generals back to the war, and defeat the Nazi. But what happens in the movie is the character growth of Harry learning from the Countess ( who is actually an average woman who married into royalty ( her husband was killed)), the generals and.their "jailer" Col. Enrico Ferricci ( Vito Scotti), who except for Sylva Koscina ( for entirely different reasons) was the best one in the movie. The funny thing about Harry is he is not stupid and is actually very quick on his feet. When he first meets von Steignitz, who likes Bach, he actually gets him to laugh by saying "You will force me to do something I do not want to do." When von Steignitz asks what is that? Harry says "Listen to Bach." Spoilers ahead; After von Steignitz captures the Generals and Ferrucci ( who became a General but because Italy surrendered was also imprisoned ( but in an actual POW camp)), Harry admits he is not a General and was separated. Why? So he could sneak back in and complete his mission, and capture von Steignitz in the process. Steignitz asked Harry "Are you a Private or a General ?" Harry said "A little of both." He gained von Steignitz's respect: The film ends in Italy with Prentiss having Harry on his staff because Harry had a background in radio and the military needed a location for a radio network. They stopped by the Villa and Harry went to see the Countess and noticed that everything is boarded up she said "Times are rough" and after giving her kisses Harry thought of the perfect idea. Marry her and use the villa as the radio station and charge the military double rent. He said "Homer: I know where to put it. " He then introduced her to Prentiss as.the Contessa Francesca De Montegiore Frigg and was demonstrating with his hands about why the radio station should be there as the film ends. Obviously the next step would be a quick marriage and signing the papers to rent out the villa. Again a very good movie 9/10 stars.
Review of The Secret War of Harry Frigg
