Undescribable Perfection

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

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

It takes some time before the action gets going in this film, but when it starts it never ceases to accelerate in intrigue, suspension and drama. Annemarie Duringer is prominetly leading the film by her very suave and susceptible character, most amiable but with an abyss of hidden agenda. Nigel Patrick is perfect as usual, almost too perfect, while Jeffrey Hunter is a bit of an outsider in this game, can't really handle his business nor himself, and he has to pay for it. It's very dark and almost claustrophobic in the insistency on scenes in labyrinthine insides, and only rarely you go out into dark streets för some following or spying or bullets. The title "Count Five and Die" gives away the whole drama - as a spy sent out on a mission you are given a cyanide capsule in case you get caught, and when you swallow it you count to five and die. It's very easy but not really and actually rather complicated, as you don't always reach that capsule in time...It reminds very much of Anthony Asquith's "Orders to Kill" a few years earlier, it's the same kind of problems of innocence and the wrong people getting caught up in the wrong game, and above all the doom of destiny is there hanging around more people than anyone bargained for.

"Count Five and Die" is a very good wartime espionage film. However, I'll be honest, it starts off slowly and only gets interesting later in the movie. Fortunately, it ends quite well and is worth seeing.In this film, an American (Jeffery Hunter) and Brit (Nigel Patrick) are in charge of a spy mission in which they are to deliberately misdirect the Germans by convincing them that the upcoming invasion of the continent will be in Holland. It all takes place in London and the key is their feeding the false information to Nazi agents in the city.As I said before, this is a very slow film at the beginning. Fortunately, the picture improves and really becomes quite taut and intelligent towards the end. Not a great film like "The Man Who Never Was" (which covers much of the same material) but well worth your time...and patience.

This film may be based on fact but it is a fiction.Operation Fortitude was divided into 2 parts.The Germans were to be fooled into thinking that there were invasions planned for Norway and Calais and that the invasion in Normandy was just a diversion.There was no diversion planned for Holland.The local resistance were not thought reliable and intelligence from them was disregarded which was a contributory factor to the disaster at Arnhem.Additionally there were no German agents in the UK.they had all been turned.So most of the plot of this film does not bear up under scrutiny.Alas it is a rather slow moving film with a rather predictable love plot.Nigel Patrick does what he can but until the end this is rather a dull film.

I don't believe that this film is based on real events, as there is no evidence of it. However, it is made to make us think that's the case. British filmmakers were always so good with this type of movie.Regardless, it's a well-made, believable tale, with good acting, writing, and direction.My only complaint is that the ending leaves us wondering what happened to Jeffrey Hunter's character. Does he survive being shot? Does he get an award for his actions? Inquiring minds need to know. Endings like this one are so frustrating.Would love to see a widescreen DVD release of this film one day. It deserves a release.