Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Aiden Melton The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

ragosaal This film is based in real facts. Though he doesn't particularly agree with the Nazis Eric Erickson (William Holden) is a successful Swedish oil business man with commercial links with Germany during World War II. His activity allows Erickson to travel constantly between Stockholm and Berlin and he has important friends in Hitler's circle. British Intelligence sees the opportunity to use him as a spy and they blacklist him to force him to take the job. Actual locations in Europe, a very skillfully handled script and a first rate cast make this film one of the best in its genre. The point is that "The Counterfait Traitor" lasts 2 hours and 20 minutes and it doesn't have a single uninteresting sequence. Tension and intrigue are always there and it doesn't lack drama and action either. It has it all.The cast is outstanding. Holden's performance is quite solid and natural. Lilli Palmer is most convincing as Marianne Mollendorf -Holden's contact in Germany- who revolves the man's traditional ideas on war and neutrality as well as on his matrimony. Hugh Griffith, not far away from his Oscar winning performance in "Ben Hur" (1959) renders here a superb work as Collins the intelligence Britsh member that traps Holden.You should see this film if you didn't whether you like espionage films or not. It has something interesting for everyone. It's a 10 out of 10 for me; I still can't find any weaknesses or flaws in it.

jemmytee I'm torn over this movie. I remembered seeing it years ago on TV and was blown away by it, so when I saw the DVD was available, I bought it. And despite remembering basically what happens through the movie, I still found myself engrossed in it. But it took some doing, that's for sure.To begin with, it now irritates the hell out of me to see a movie that is set in the forties having women dressed in modern clothes, even though I know it was common in the 50's and 60's for movies to do that (up to BONNIE & CLYDE, basically). The worst example of this is IN HARM'S WAY, that has one woman in a near mini skirt even though it's supposed to be taking place the night before Pearl Harbor. Well, you got that in this one -- Lillie Palmer decked out in the latest fashions of 1962, even though the movie's set twenty years earlier. It's a glaring fault that makes it hard to take the story seriously.Second is the incessant voice over that tells us what we're seeing and how we should be feeling about it. Hate that.Third is the complete lack of chemistry between Lilli Palmer and William Holden, both of whom have been bright and sexy in other roles. I don't know what the problem was, but they act more like they can barely stand each other than as the romantic leads.I think the fault lies mainly with George Seaton, the director. He is a GREAT writer...but as a director he does not understand his scripts and cannot seem to shape them into anything that approaches the hyper-reality of great cinema. I keep thinking of what Alfred Hitchcock could have done with this story, how sexy and scary it would have been.But that's wishful thinking, and even with these flaws, the truth of the story builds and captures you and intensifies and provide some powerful moments. I was engrossed, despite myself. Here's a good movie ripe for a remake with an international cast done by someone like Spielberg or Weir. No counterfeit directors, those two; the only one is the one who directed THIS movie.

Jonathon Dabell Although unappealingly long - 140 minutes to be precise - The Counterfeit Traitor turns out to be an absorbing, disturbing and rather exciting wartime suspense film. It gives William Holden his second-best role of the '60s (surpassed only by his work in The Wild Bunch) and provides good subsidiary roles for Lilli Palmer, Hugh Griffith and Ernst Schroeder.Holden is terrific as a Swedish citizen born in the USA, named Eric Erickson. Erickson is a businessman trading oil from his Stockholm HQ during WWII. Many of his customers are Germans, and quite often he goes on business trips to war-torn Germany leaving the sanctuary of neutral Sweden behind. The British secret service approach him and plead for him to act as a spy, gathering sensitive information for them during his seemingly legitimate trips. Matters are complicated when Erickson meets fellow spy Marianne Mollendorf (Lilli Palmer), with whom he soon falls in love. His mission is seriously jeopardised when her spying antics are exposed, and she is seized by the Gestapo and taken away to be executed.The film is well-made by ever-reliable director George Seaton. Seaton also wrote the screenplay, basing it on an Alexander Klein book, and he must be given credit for fashioning a thoroughly believable and suspenseful story. The film is shot on actual North European locations, and the use of real backdrops - as opposed to the usual studio lensing favoured by Hollywood in the early '60s - adds to the film's authentic flavour. Nowadays, the appeal of this kind of film is sadly limited, but if you have an affinity for this kind of stuff, then The Counterfeit Traitor is definitely a title worth tracking down.

dbdumonteil The beginning-the first third overall-is rather tedious ,with too much voice-over.No interesting character emerges and it essentially consists of William Holden's shuttling back and forth between Suede and Germany. One feels like calling it a day but wait....The second third makes Lilli Palmer's character the center of the plot:a very interesting one,this German wealthy woman who betrays her country because of her Christian belief.This spy is not a routine femme fatale but a human being,who is smitten with remorse because the bombing which her informations allowed led to children's death.She has wonderful lines:"in a war,every victim becomes a brother".Two marvelous scenes:the first one ,probably the strongest in the whole movie,shows Palmer in a confessional,telling her sins to a man she thinks is a priest;the second one,she's to be shot in a jail,while Holden desperately tries,behind his bars, to say a last goodbye to her.Lilli Palmer's performance is moving,responsible and sensitive.By the third part,no more Palmer,but the movie has hit its stride.Holden's return to Suede becomes an odyssey,with a lot of traps and his character has grown wiser and more human.He's able to show some compassion,probably the woman's influence.One of the most intriguing characters plays a small part now:a young boy,about 12,member of the Hitlerian Youth,proud of his uniform,he will make your hair stand on end.At the end of the movie,Holden has completely understood Palmer's line about the victims/brothers as the scene with Klaus Kinski testifies.George Seaton has made an entertaining movie,which does not forget to ask questions and to moot responsibility.He does flay the nazi horrors,but he also puts the blame on the English agents ,stuffing themselves with lobster and sipping Champagne,while other people die unnoticed ,simply because the victims are their brothers.