Triple Cross (1966)

Dreadfully Boring

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Christopher Plummer a respected stage and screen actor won an Oscar for best supporting actor at the age of 82. A victim of the curse of Canadian actors who tend not to get Oscar nominated, he was only nominated for his first Oscar at the age of 80!With director Terence Young who also made Dr No and several actors who have appeared in Bond movies, I wonder if Christopher Plummer was auditioning for 007 in case Connery stepped down at short notice? The film has certain Bond elements, Triple Cross is based on true facts. Burglar and explosive expert Eddie Chapman is imprisoned in Jersey. When the Nazis invade the island, amoral Chapman requests to work for the Germans. However one Nazi suspects he has been put there by British intelligence. Chapman has guile, cunning, he charms the ladies, quick witted and thinks on his feet. Apparently Chapman used his position to trick the Nazis by giving them the wrong information.Unfortunately the film wastes its interesting premise and intriguing opening. It soon becomes rather confusing, not helped by choppy editing and flat storytelling. Some strong support by Yul Brynner, Gert Frobe and Trevor Howard. Brynner steals the film as a conflicted Nazi aristocrat.

These international films were big in the '60s, and Triple Cross is no exception. It stars Christopher Plummer, Romy Schneider, Trevor Howard, Yul Brynner, Gert Frobe, and Claudine Auger.Triple Cross is loosely based on the exploits of Eddie Chapman, a successful thief who becomes an agent for the Germans and then an agent for the English, though he keeps working for the Germans.The story is even more fascinating because it's true, but somehow, the film falls flat. Instead of being on the edge of your seat, you relax on the couch. Its pace was somewhat slow, the editing jumpy, and the film is short on action.Christopher Plummer is a wonderful actor, but one gets the feeling that Eddie Chapman was scrappier and lower class than he's portrayed here. The beautiful Romy Schneider is wasted.The film is directed by Terence Young, responsible for some wonderful films: Wait Until Dark and some James Bond films, and then some not as successful, such as one of the worst films ever made, Bloodline, and another bomb, Mayerling. So one can say he was inconsistent. Unfortunate.There are apparently two books on Chapman which are probably more interesting.

Disappointing 1966 film with Christopher Plummer as an imprisoned safe cracker who begins dealing in espionage and counter-espionage, respectively with Nazi Germany and England.Plummer is extremely cocky in the film and in certain scenes acts as if he is Captain Von Trapp of "The Sound of Music" fame the year before.Romy Schneider, a German operative, is given little to do here other than some bed scenes with Plummer. Goldfinger's Gert Frobe, a suspicious German officer, is relatively subdued here. Yul Brynner, as a major German officer, throws his weight around only to be victimized in the end in the plot to assassinate Hitler.The film can become confusing at certain intervals as you may not know whose allegiance Plummer really is for.The ending at the bar is contrived and really inane.

What seems sometimes like an incredible tale of how a con man easily convinces the British and the Germans that he's working for them during WWII, with very little effort, is given rather routine treatment under the direction of Terence Young.Christopher Plummer, fresh from playing the Captain in "The Sound of Music," lends a polished air of humor and sarcasm to the role of Eddie Chapman, a safe cracker who makes himself useful to both the British and the German armies by acting as a go between who uses his skills to thwart Germany's war plans for bombing London. Based on a true story, I'm sure it embellishes the truth with lots of fictional twists and turns that serve the purpose of keeping a viewer tuned in to find out what happens next.A shorter running time would have helped, but the performances are all on a good level with special nods to Yul Brynner, Trevor Howard, Gert Frobe and Romy Schneider. Much of the story seems unconvincing despite the fact that the basic ingredients are based on a true story.Somehow, Plummer's casting seems slightly off for this kind of material. Gert Frobe is a standout as a doubting Nazi who suspects Plummer is not quite what he pretends to be. Brynner is more low key than usual as an anti-Nazi German officer who knows the end of the war is near. Romy Schneider is excellent as Plummer's love interest.Could have been a much tighter, more suspenseful tale than it is.