Please note: there are some scene 'spoilers' contained within. This movie was filmed in 1961 and is set in 1960 Vienna and Hungary during the Cold War. Richard Widmark turns in an excellent performance as the cool & cocky American mercenary 'Michael Reynolds' who has been offered a job by his old acquaintance Hermann Sheffler, of Swiss Bank. The job? To go behind the Iron Curtain into Hungary and locate 'Jansci' (played by Walter Rilla), who is one of the resistance leaders.
But the catch is that once he arrives in Budapest, Reynolds has only 48 hours to find Jansci and get him out. To aid him in finding Jansci, he locates Jansci's daughter, Julia (played by Sonja Ziemann). They cross the border into Hungary, with Reynolds posing as an American newspaper reporter. They are welcomed by the local Communist party officials and kept under constant surveillance. But Reynolds & Julia manage to ditch the security police tailing them and make their way to Jansci. They eventually plan Jansci's escape but are captured in the process and wind up in prison. Fortunately, one of Jansci's men ('The Count', played by Charles Regnier), impersonates a military official and attempts to break them out of prison. The final moments of the film show them trying to make a dash for freedom to the airport. Filmed on location in Switzerland and Vienna in black & white, there's definitely a film noir effect created here which makes this cold-war adventure more believable as a serious drama rather than if it were filmed in color. Also lending to the accuracy of the film are the numerous portraits in the background of Janos Kadar, the leader of Hungary at the time. The music, by Johnny Williams, also contributes significantly to the overall drama. Based on the novel by Alistair MacLean, "The Secret Ways" has plenty of action along with witty dialogue.
Other fine performances are given by Stefan Schnabel as the border official (many may recall him as the General Secretary in the 1982 Clint Eastwood movie, "Firefox"). All in all, an enjoyable cold-war spy thriller. -GH
But the catch is that once he arrives in Budapest, Reynolds has only 48 hours to find Jansci and get him out. To aid him in finding Jansci, he locates Jansci's daughter, Julia (played by Sonja Ziemann). They cross the border into Hungary, with Reynolds posing as an American newspaper reporter. They are welcomed by the local Communist party officials and kept under constant surveillance. But Reynolds & Julia manage to ditch the security police tailing them and make their way to Jansci. They eventually plan Jansci's escape but are captured in the process and wind up in prison. Fortunately, one of Jansci's men ('The Count', played by Charles Regnier), impersonates a military official and attempts to break them out of prison. The final moments of the film show them trying to make a dash for freedom to the airport. Filmed on location in Switzerland and Vienna in black & white, there's definitely a film noir effect created here which makes this cold-war adventure more believable as a serious drama rather than if it were filmed in color. Also lending to the accuracy of the film are the numerous portraits in the background of Janos Kadar, the leader of Hungary at the time. The music, by Johnny Williams, also contributes significantly to the overall drama. Based on the novel by Alistair MacLean, "The Secret Ways" has plenty of action along with witty dialogue.
Other fine performances are given by Stefan Schnabel as the border official (many may recall him as the General Secretary in the 1982 Clint Eastwood movie, "Firefox"). All in all, an enjoyable cold-war spy thriller. -GH