This is another of those cold war thrillers with manhunts in the ruins of Berlin, this one from the year before the Berlin wall was put up. For some reason this one has been neglected and almost ignored, presumed to be outdated and totally overshadowed by the earlier masterpieces by Carol Reed ("The Third Man", "The Man Between"), "The Big Lift" 1948 and others, but this is actually in line with them and not much worse although more modern. Eva Bartok makes a fully convincing character torn between east and west, between her loyalties to her background and family in Dresden and her love for an American in West Berlin - the scenes from the night clubs in West Berlin are almost sarcastically reminiscent of the much earlier very decadent Berlin of the 20s and 30s - little seems to have changed since then. The insights in Eastern Germany and Dresden are also very revealing as not much different from the Nazi days - Eva Bartok's aristocratic family villa has been taken over by a former Nazi Gauleiter now in the service of DDR.
Richard Greene looks curiously much like Tom Hanks,and his character is even similar to most Hanks characters. It's an interesting film, Marius Goring as the doctor also torn asunder by his duties and loyalties and weakness for Eva is perhaps the most interesting character. The final tunnel chase is all too reminiscent of the final hunt in "The Third Man" but totally different.
Richard Greene looks curiously much like Tom Hanks,and his character is even similar to most Hanks characters. It's an interesting film, Marius Goring as the doctor also torn asunder by his duties and loyalties and weakness for Eva is perhaps the most interesting character. The final tunnel chase is all too reminiscent of the final hunt in "The Third Man" but totally different.