Customer Reviews

13 Rue Madeleine

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We're in the middle of the Second World War, the Allies have decided on the location where they'll launch their massive invasion of Europe, and spies are battling spies to hide and discover the facts. Thank goodness we have Jimmy Cagney on our side.
Cagney plays the rough-and-tumble spy Bob Sharkey in Henry Hathaway's 13 RUE MADELEINE (1947), one of a number of motion pictures released shortly after the war that celebrated the exploits of America's nascent espionage organization, the OSS (Office of Strategic Services.) Although the movie ends in an exciting, if somewhat abrupt, scene behind enemy lines, a great deal of this movie takes place in what can probably best be described as a spy school. The movie begins with a rather extended montage of stock documentary film of London during wartime before gradually, and neatly, folding it into the movie proper. The first half of the movie concerns itself with the acceptance of a number of highly qualified candidates (including Annabella, Richard Conte and Frank Latimore), the rigorous training they undergo (Is that the brake of a train or a steam kettle you hear on the phonograph record?) and the discovery of a mole. A mole whom, of course, they leave in place so that the enemy can be fed disinformation and, hopefully, lead the good guys to the bad guys and their cache of rocket bombs in the Low Countries. Ah, spy movies! Especially spy movies where our spies are better than their spies.
As usual Cagney is convincing as the spy trainer who eventually is forced to take the field, and 13 RUE MADELEINE'S semi-documentary treatment works well. Hathaway takes enough of a gritty realist approach to make this one believable, even if his presentation of the infallibility of Cagney the Spy stretches credibility. The film is in good condition, and old film fans should look quick for Karl Malden and E.G. Marshall in bit roles.

It's 1944 and a team of OSS agents are being trained to parachute into France to locate a Nazi missile site. Washington learns that one of them is a spy. What will OSS do about it?

I enjoy these WWII espionage movies. Even when they're not too good, they're good. James Cagney is the trainer for the OSS team, and OSS discovers the identity of the spy. They hope to feed him false information before picking him up. But the team he's on is parachuted in, and only Cagney has the skills and knowledge to go in after the team, neutralize the enemy agent, keep the knowledge of other OSS agents from the Nazis, help get the missile information back to the allies and...well, you get the idea. But Cagney is captured, and if he talks the Nazis will know what has been discovered. The solution (Spoiler ahead for those who care about WWII movies): Bomb the prison where Cagney is being held before the Nazis can break him. Cagney knows this will be done and defies his Nazi torturers and the enemy agent while the bombs explode around him killing them all.

This movie has all the faults one would expect of its type and time. The heroics are sometimes overstated. The bad guys sneer. The good guys feel obliged to underline with moralistic statements the consequences of the tough decisions they must make.

This movie also has some first rate good points. Cagney gives a performance of such energy and directness that he sweeps much of the melodrama out of the way. The enemy agent, played by Richard Conte, turns out to be a very shrewd guy and even a little sympathetic. Sure, he allows Cagney to be beaten but at least he looks like he didn't want to. Conte is, in my view, a largely forgotten but excellent actor who spent a good deal of his career in the Forties and Fifties playing second leads or leads in second-rate movies. If you don't recognize his name, he was the scheming don in The Godfather who was behind the effort to take apart the Corleone family, and who was shot by the false cop while he tried to run away up the stairs. Henry Hathaway's direction keeps the film moving at a very brisk pace. There aren't any slow spots.

I suppose this isn't a movie most will feel a need to add to their collection. But, if you're like me, viewing this film is a little like meeting an old friend you'd forgotten about. I'm glad I have it.

Henry Hathaway directs an enthralling, if traditional spy thriller about the OSS and the French Underground working together just before the D-Day Invasion. Jimmy Cagney and Richard Conte star, and are amazing in their roles. Annabella, aFrench star at the time, is included for authenticity but is wasted in hers. Locations, details, OSS methods, all contribute to the veracity of this film-it is interesting and suspenseful throughout. The good guys win, of course, but at a terrific price, and the perfectending is hampered by the Motion Picture Code'sprohibition of showing or suggesting real torture.

13 RUE MADELEINE is one of Hollywood's last stand against the Axis--a post WWII film that explains our cloak and dagger OSS effort which helped whip those sneaky Nazis. The Cloak and Cagney go well together in this film. Cagney captured my pleasant attention since for once he was acting and not making a bully of himself. 13 must be measured against its' historical contribution to movies. It does help explain the American fear of Nazi and Japanese spies at the onset of WWII. We, in fact, had no credible military intelligence until the OSS. As Hollywood's attempt through this film to continue WWII should have rated only 4 stars, however I gave it the extra 5th star because the German soldiers were not portrayed as inept morons. This is a very entertaining film viewed in an historical context.

"!3 Rue Madeleine" a post war produced and somewhat over dramatized documentary style film directed by Henry Hathaway stars the venerable James Cagney as OSS agent Bob Sharkey. Cagney's character is a high ranking official in U.S. military intelligence who recruits a group of agents known as 077. Their dangerous mission involves insertion into Nazi occupied Europe to confuse the Germans as to the details of the looming D-day invasion of Europe.

Cagney and his superior Charles Gibson played by Walter Abel, are alerted to the presence of a Nazi spy within their midst posing as one of the 077 recruits. It is determined that Richard Conte playing Bill O'Connell alias Kuncel is the cunning German spy. They purposely fail to expose him, hoping to have him spread misinformation they've been feeding him.

The shrewd Conte to be inserted with 2 other operative in Holland gets suspicious and kills one of the agents. This will ultimately require Cagney to take his place.

Cagney drops into Vichy controlled France near Le Havre and with help from clandestine French Resistance leader and local mayor Galimard played by Sam Jaffe gets his plan organized. He unfortunately gets captured and is held in Le Havre Gestapo headquarters at 13 Rue Madeleine. He must keep his secrets in the face of merciless torture to preserve the mission.

13 Rue Madeleine gets off to a horrible start with a painfully dated newsreel-style introduction replete with corny voiceover. If you can bear with that for five or ten minutes, the movie mercifully starts to grow more interesting as you watch would-be spies go through a secret training program that tests them physically and--even more so--mentally. From there, it's off to France for some well-paced, yet underdeveloped, cloak-and-dagger action centering on a German double agent, the opening of the Allied second front in western Europe, and the V-2 rockets.

Mercifully, the film mostly avoids cheap or unrealistic sentimentality (outside the opening narration), gratuitous love interests, and the like, and the Germans are shown to be quite competent at their jobs, instead of faceless buffoons. For a 40's war film, 13 Rue Madeleine is actually on the gritty and dark side, and the violence is a bit more fierce and graphic than you might expect. (The broken necks and knifings, not the implausibly bloodless shootings.) The actors generally acquit themselves decently, though they would have been far more engaging if more of them at least attempted the appropriate accents or--better still--spoke German or French where appropriate.

Ultimately, how much you enjoy this film will probably depend on how much you enjoy Cagney. He gives a fine performance here, not particularly nuanced, but full of vigor and seriousness. You can really feel the confidence and daring spirit of his character. Check out the scene where he signs into the hotel room to see how ably he conveys an air of authority. As enjoyable as Cagney can be here, he can't make 13 Rue Madeleine rise above being a merely decent, second-rank war film.

Mr. Cagney is still as good today as he was 60 years ago. I saw this movie back in the 50/s and it is still worth the time and money.

This isn't a great movie. It is however, a good movie. THe potential is there for it to be great, but it doesn't rise to the occasion.

The story might have been more engaging if it weren't done documentary style. Small things, such as the French and German characters speaking with the appropriate accents, would have improved the films quality.

I do however like the fact that there are no cheesy romantic subplots. It is also nice to see the Axis powers (in this case the Germans) being portrayed as competent individuals, rather than buffoons as so many other movies of the era do.

Ultimately, this movie is a must addition to my collection because of my love of Cagney. Originally, I had only seen the final scene of this movie when it was on AMC. I will not give it away, but I was so engaged by Cagney's laugh and the look on his face given the circumstances in the last minute of the film, I bought the film. If you're a Cagney fan, I don't think you'll be dissapointed. His performance is quite good. If you're not, then I think I'd skip this one.

This is more of a documentary at times than a movie, but it's decent. It's not the normal exciting gangster fare than Cagney excelled in, but it's okay.

The first hour is a bit slow with the documentary style and then the last 35 minutes picks up considerably as the spy story is played out in dramatic fashion. Cagney was starting to show his age a bit but he still was pretty spry.

Richard Conte does a nice job as the German disguising himself as an American and eventually has a showdown with Cagney. That's in the suspenseful last 30 minutes which saves the film.

I ahven't seen this movie in many years, and forgot how good it was. Blu-Ray helped, but it must be an old master. I'm still glad I have added it to my collection