The Enemy General

Eugene Archer's review in the New York Times of 1960 described the plot as 'far-fetched' - an uncontestable claim.

However, he also believes that Strangely, Van Dreelen 'easily out-acts' the other members of the cast. This is more contestable as Van Dreelen seems to follow the Roger Moore school of eyebrow-acting - his left eyebrow is in constant action.

Van Johnson - always a 'B' actor, B-- here, compared with 'The Last Blitzkrieg' where he was more B+.

Having watched a lot of film noir material and Nazi-themed films during the long Covid-19 period 2020-1, this was not exactly scraping the bottom of the barrel (viz. George Montgomery in 'Bomb at 10.10' (1967), but one to be wary of.

Companion piece to the Katzman/Van Johnson The LAST BLITZKIEG, the pair seem to represent the trash generating mass producer's only ventures off shore.

Straight faced account of WW2 French Marquis men Johnson (!) and Aumont rescuing from Orleans Prison a German General condemned to death after the Von Staufenberg plot. Is he what he seems? Pale comparison with ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT.

Emott's location photography of Paris and surroundings in crisp black and white outclasses the other elements. Feeble action.

"There is no man so low that a woman or a dog cannot love him" Dostoivesky indeed!

Inferior to Powell & Pressburger's earlier 'Ill Met by Moonlight', but far less pretentious & long-winded - and thus much more watchable - than Dino de Laurentis's 'Five Branded Women' the same year; this addition to the "captured high-ranking German officer in the hands of the freedom-fighters" genre - which dates back at least as far as Hitchcock's wartime 'Lifeboat' - makes the enemy general of the title (played by Dutch actor John Van Dreelen) a complete skunk with absolutely no redeeming features, which certainly makes a change.

American star Van Johnson is parachuted into the film on the pretext of being an O. S. S. Agent assisting the maquis, and that the film was shot in France means that in addition to a few familiar French faces in supporting roles, we actually get to see Johnson early on in the film in a brief scene shot in a rather wintry looking Paris itself...