Inferior to Powell & Pressburger's earlier 'Ill Met by Moonlight', but far less pretentious & long-winded - and thus much more watchable - than Dino de Laurentis's 'Five Branded Women' the same year, this addition to the "captured high-ranking German officer in the hands of the freedom-fighters" genre - which dates back at least as far as Hitchcock's wartime 'Lifeboat' - makes the enemy general of the title (played by Dutch actor John Van Dreelen) a complete skunk with absolutely no redeeming features; which makes an interesting change.
American star Van Johnson is parachuted into the film on the pretext of being an O.S.S. agent assisting the maquis, and that the film was shot in France means than in addition to a few familiar French faces in supporting roles, we actually get to see Johnson early on in the film in a brief scene shot in a rather wintry looking Paris itself...
American star Van Johnson is parachuted into the film on the pretext of being an O.S.S. agent assisting the maquis, and that the film was shot in France means than in addition to a few familiar French faces in supporting roles, we actually get to see Johnson early on in the film in a brief scene shot in a rather wintry looking Paris itself...