The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)

A naturalized Swedish citizen is enlisted by the Allies to spy for them behind German lines during World War II.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: NR
Release Date: 13-JUL-2004
Media Type: DVD Product Description

A sprawling, satisfying WWII espionage thriller. William Holden's performance keeps it together

Think of The Counterfeit Traitor as a sprawling but engrossing three-part espionage novel with a daunting number of pages to get through. If you're like me, you'll have a good time. In fact, I think The Counterfeit Traitor, even with all its subsections and all of its 240 minutes, is one of the best of the WWII sagas. The hero is an adult, and director-writer George Seaton treats the audience as adults, too.

It's the story of Eric Erickson (William Holden), a Swede who is a successful oil trader. Sweden is neutral and Erickson makes money trading with the allies as well as with Germany. In a bit of ruthless manipulation, a British intelligence agent named Collins (Hugh Griffin) begins to ruin Erickson's reputation, then offers to clear him if Erickson, who is able to easily travel between Stockholm and Germany, gathers information on Germany's war effort and delivers it back to him. Erickson has little choice. Even so, to be effective he has to fool the Gestapo into believing he's genuine. Soon, in Sweden, he's convincing friends that he believes in Nazi Germany. In Germany, he uses blackmail to gather inside information from his German business friends. He has few illusions. He resents being forced into this double game. He loses a lot of self-esteem as he disappoints his Swedish friends and manipulates his German friends. Not only is he at risk every time he steps foot in Germany, he is putting in the shadow of the hangman's noose the Germans he has been working with. The only thing that changes his mind is an act of random brutality he witnesses at a German factory that uses Polish laborers. A man picked at random from a crowd is strung up on a hoist and strangles to death while his co-workers watch. Says a colleague of Erickson's, "You can read about a hundred atrocities, hear about a thousand, but you only have to see one."

Erickson's contact in Berlin is Marianne Mollendorf (Lilli Palmer), a well-connected wife of an Army colonel. The game they play gets riskier with every visit Erickson makes. She knows the worth of what she is doing. When Erikson realizes the importance, too, it's not long before love follows.

The movie is too long and could easily lose 30 minutes here and there. A lot of those minutes involve the inner angst of Erickson and Mollendorf. Their growing love is believable; their dialogue often has `Hollywood' written all over it. There's some preaching, but not too much, and since most of it is delivered by Palmer it's at least bearable. She was not only a beautiful woman, she was a fine actress whose intelligence was much of her attractiveness. To my knowledge, she never played a dumb woman in a long career. On the other hand, watching an 11-year-old boy try to destroy Holden as Erickson is unnerving. Watching Holden try to destroy an 11-year-old boy is satisfying.

The strength of the movie, from my point of view, is in its portrayal of blackmail, the application of leverage and the corruption by both sides to achieve their goals. This isn't a case of moral equivalency, just the way wars work, There are no armed battles, shoot `em ups or breakouts, just a lot of slowly building tension, the accumulation of small mistakes and emotional exhaustion, and a terrible moment of betrayed faith and the consequences that arise from it. That leaves us with the last half of the movie and one exciting moment after another. Erickson goes back to Germany one last time to retrieve a critical document. This time he finds himself picked up by the Gestapo. His escape isn't pretty or easy, but it's a great ride...not for the derring do but for the tension and the intricacies of his escape, made possible by the many people who help him. If you never thought you'd become emotional about bicycles, you might surprise yourself.

So we have Erickson's recruitment and first missions, Erickson and Mollendorf's work, their relationship and the consequences, and Erickson's complicated escape. The Counterfeit Traitor sprawls, but it's held together by William Holden's performance. He's a reluctant hero, then a committed one, but without bravado. The movie is an intelligent espionage thriller that owes a lot to Holden's contained, intelligent portrayal.

The DVD movie looks just fine. There are no extras. August 30, 2008

Twists and Turns

This is an espionage movie that was is full of intrigue and danger from start to finish.

Many other reviewers have covered the background for this movie so I will try to keep that portion short. An former Amerian businessman(William Holden) now holding Swedish citizenship is recruited to spy for the Allies during the Second World War. His business routinely takes him to Germany which makes him an invaluable resource for Allied Intelligence.

German authorities are suspicious of the Swedish businessman and he is never far from their watchful eyes. Eventually, the Gestapo catches up with the business man's contact and love interest (Lilli Palmer) in Germany. The business man's luck then also seems to run out until he manages to escape their grasp. He must then attempt to make it home with German authorities on his trail.

Well acted with a solid script, if you regularly enjoy war period espionage movies then you will likely enjoy this one.

There are English subtitles for the hard of hearing.

My only disappointment with this film was the lack of any documentary/special features to separate fact from fiction. The back cover of the dvd itself plays on the fact the film is based on a true story - "real-life spy thriller" but like most films I have no doubt some liberties were taken with the script. As an admirer of true-life films I would have really liked to have seen a documentary included in the special features to tell us the real story of "Eric Erickson". August 4, 2008

The Counterfeit Traitor

Based on a true story, The Counterfeit Traitor takes place during WWII. William Holden portrays Eric Erickson, an American, who now resides in Sweden. Erickson has renounced his American citizenship, not for the reasons one might think; he renounced them because he moved to Sweden to do business & became a citizen there because it was the right thing to do. The problem he has stems from the fact that he's doing business with Nazi Germany. It's not that he's one of them, he's simply a business man doing what he's supposed to do which is show a profit.

Erickson is recruited to become an agent for the Allies because he can deal with the Nazis from the standpoint that they are already familiar with him. He's unwilling to do this because, as Sweden, he's neutral. The agent persuades him otherwise by blackmail. Erickson becomes an unwilling participant in espionage. This costs him his marriage & some very close friends. He spouts Nazi slogans & slowly convinces the Nazis that his sympathies lie with them. The trips he takes to Germany allows him to bring back vital information back to the Allies. His cover story is basic; he wants to have an oil refinery built in Sweden for the Nazis. The refinery built in Sweden, a neutral country, means that it won't be bombed like the refineries in Nazi Germany.

There is a romantic angle in the movie. Holden falls in love with a German woman who is also an agent for the Allies, in fact, she's his contact. Erickson makes several mistakes along the way, after all, he's not a professional agent. These mistakes cause him to be arrested where he witnesses the woman he loves to be put to death by firing squad. He escapes & begins an arduous journey to freedom.

This is one of the best WWII espionage movies ever made. It's truly a character study about a man doing what's necessary though by choice he never would've done it. His redemption in the end is a bittersweet one. April 13, 2008

For spy film lovers....

A thouroughly enjoyable film, based on a true story! Tense and a bit grim.Lots of first rate supporting actors.
I really liked this movie.
The Big E. February 8, 2008

Spy games

The counterfeit traitor is a smart tale of espionage and intrigue. A man, William Holden is blackmailed into becoming a spy instead of a neutral businessman. Negotiating a minefield of danger he succeeds in deceiving the Germans and greatly aiding the allied war effort. It takes a smooth actor to carry out a difficult assignment in making the hard to believe very real and believable. For a war movie it has very little violence and also makes war seem like a civil disagreement. It is thoughtful and engrossing and comes to a satisfying conclusion. It is a morality play about the scuples of warfare military and civilian. August 22, 2007

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