I love this movie so much

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The story is about a group of Nazis who try to blend in the with locals in the waning days of the war. One in particular, Colonel Von Beck (George Coulouris) is the star of the film...and his methods seem bent on sowing discontent and chaos. Can the Allies figure out who this man is before it's too late?According to IMDB, this film was rushed through production in order to capitalize on the recent Allied invasion of France. And, while I watched, the film did have a hurried feel to it. It wasn't due to the acting or music or cinematography but the story itself...a story that seemed like it needed a re-write as some of it was a bit rough. Some examples of how heavy-handed and shallow some of the scenes were would be the incredibly over-idealized Russian doctor as well as the church scene. In addition the film uses one of the worst cliches in film history...a person telling the evil person that they are going to turn them in to the authorities! You just KNOW what's gonna happen to this woman!By the way, despite me not enjoying the story, George Coulouris was wonderful as the Nazi agent...and he was always excellent in playing awful characters.

Herbert Biberman (1900-1971) is the writer and director of this 1944 film. Biberman was a member of the left wing theatre group in New York City and was married to Gale Sondergaard. Both Biberman and Sondergaard were victims of the HUAC "red scare" – Biberman served time in prison and both were blacklisted.This was his third film as director, fifth as a writer.Lloyd Bridges (1913-1998) has a minor role in the film. Bridges too was briefly blacklisted but turned around and would be a staunch right wing presence.(Doc) Robert Golden produced the film. He also produced "Hitler's Children" (1943) which was directed by Edward Dmytryk, another director imprisoned during the HUAC trials. "Hitler's Children" was the most successful film for RKO, even surpassing King Kong, and led to this film being made.From the film there aren't many obvious communist themes, but there is a sympathetic Russian soldier and there is a lot of emphasis on people working together. The film is ardently anti-Nazi.George Coulouris (1903-1989) gives the best performance of his career. Osa Massen (1914-2006) is excellent.

When Nazi George Coulouris realizes that the war seems to be a lost cause for the third Reich, he takes on the job of moving into a community now under American command where his duty is to create dissension to create the next wave of fascism. He finds mixed loyalties, resentments among the villagers and uses that to create more tensions and raise the growing resentments towards each other's individual political ideals. Crafty on the inside but with a facade of gentility, he really gets close to achieving his evil plans. Like Walter Slezak in the same year's "Lifeboat", Coulouris cleverly uses words to manipulate and passive aggressively twist the knife of doubt. The opening scene gives the impression that this is supposed to be in the future, following a recent trend of several films to show "what ifs" that predict the future, some with remarkable accuracy.The cast is filled with mostly unknowns or rather obscure character actors, the most well known being future star Lloyd Bridges. Osa Massen, who played mostly obnoxious femme fatales with nefarious plan, is quite gentler here, and more subtle than normal. This doesn't show the outwardly evil side of the Nazi party but the subtle plotting deep inside that stirred things up and made them a powerful enemy in the first place. It takes a while to find your way with each of the characters, but once you are in, you will find yourself hooked.

Based on the title and the first few minutes, this looks like it will be a kind of "Boys from Brazil" story about Neo-Nazis out to reclaim the world, but it's actually a rather run-of-the-mill WWII propaganda melodrama of betrayal and loyalty. George Coulouris plays von Beck, a Nazi general who leads a group of "inner circle" Nazis on the eve of Germany's surrender (the movie was released after D-Day but before the actual surrender). Glad to leave the weakened Hitler behind, the group goes underground, intending to get new identities and foment dissent among the liberated peoples of the former Third Reich. In Belgium, Coulouris pretends to be his brother, moves in with his sister-in-law and her daughter (who were seen as collaborators by the villagers), and tries to derail the Allies to return the land to nomality. Paul Guilfoyle (father to the Paul Guilfoyle who currently plays Brass on CSI) is Coulouris' first conquest in his propaganda battle. Lloyd Bridges is a former concentration camp prisoner and Nancy Gates is his girlfriend. The most interesting character is Helena, played by Osa Massen, who was raped by a German soldier and subsequently bore a child (Gigi Perreau in a wordless performance). The two have become semi-outcasts, seen as tainted by Nazi blood. There is some nice use of light and shadow in some scenes but aside from its interesting set-up, nothing very exciting goes on. After the opening, we never see any of the other "inner circle" Nazis and the whole film becomes a story of the villagers struggling to trust each other again. One of the worst lines of dialogue in any WWII movie occurs here when Bridges has to say, at an inspiring moment, "When the Lord made people, he had a great idea!" Massen is the best actor in the picture, even though she is saddled with having to look wide-eyed and sinister for the first half of the film until her secret shame (which we guess early on) finally comes out.