Trying for some of that THIRD MAN mojo, this international intrigue number makes some nifty moves in its first half as Tyrone Power’s State Department courier misses his ‘drop’ and has to beat those pesky Russians to retrieve a Top Secret file he was sent to bring in from the cold. With Henry Hathaway and favorite cinematographer Lucien Ballard making like 3rd MAN’s Carol Reed & Robert Krasker, the film delivers dark, inner-Euro-city atmosphere, momentum and some especially juicy spy vs spy/cat & mouse misdirection on a train before Casey Robinson’s unwieldy script implodes with multiple reversals of fortune & character. With a good girl who might be bad, and a bad girl who might be good, Patricia Neal gets stiffed in another of her largely disappointing major studio assignments while Hildegard Knef scores a solid career move forward. Both of them better off than third-billed military officer Stephen McNally with even less to do than lower-billed assistant Karl Malden. Nice support from rising Lee Marvin & Charles Bronson, but not even a bit of zither music at a restaurant saves this one from eventually feeling like it’s running in place.
DOUBLE-BILL: As mentioned, THE THIRD MAN/’49.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Fun seeing Hathaway try for a bit of Continental degeneracy with a drag act.
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