Customer Reviews

The Tenth Man [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

OCCUPIED FRANCE - WORLD WAR II: You've just eaten in a Paris restaurant and you exit. All of a sudden, you are picked up by the Germans and herded off in a truck to prison. A German has been murdered, and you just may have to pay the ultimate price- your life! The only way to save your life is to offer a trade- your wealth and home. A young Frenchman takes the offer. Later, you do attempt to withdraw the agreement...but, the young Frenchman won't. Three years later, you're out of prison with no where to go. You find yourself outside the home you swapped, and you walk up to the door. You hide your identity from the young woman, the Frenchman's sister. You work for her, and eventually care forher very much. Then, one day, someone else comes to the door. He gives your true identity as his! Who is this man? What does he want? And, how will it all end? This 1988 movie is well acted. You will be delighted to see a young Kristin Scott Thomas giving a fine performance. She holds her own quite well with Sir Anthony Hopkins.

Superb acting from Anthony Hopkins, Kristen Scott Thomas, and Derek Jacobi make the story of a devil's bargain believable and come to life.

Based upon a short story by Graham Greene, The Tenth Man is about a group of French citizens rounded up the the Germans in World War II. The Germans tell the group of thirty that they will be 'decimated', in other words, one out of every 10 prisoners will be executed. They are to decide themselves who the three doomed men will be. They decide to draw slips of paper; those marked with an 'X' will be the ones shot at dawn.

Wealthy lawyer Jean-Louis Chavel, thrown in with the group of otherwise ordinary men, draws one of the slips. He is accused of looking at the slip before drawing it; but it's obvious that when he draws a slip with an 'X' on it, he hadn't. He is devastated. He has an idea, he offers out loud 100,000 francs to anyone who will take his place. He finds no takers, until a young man known as Janvier expresses interest in the offer. Janvier tells Chavel that he has a mother and sister he could will the money to. Eventually, Chavel offers up everything he has, 350,000 francs, his home, his orchard, his garden, everything to Janvier. Janvier is sick and doesn't want to die without providing for his family. He says that he always knew he would be rich; and now he will die a rich man. Papers are drawn up, for Chavel is a lawyer, giving everything to the younger man. Janvier asks that Chavel draws up his will, giving everything to his mother and sister. Chavel finds two witnesses, and gives the document to a prisoner who is not marked for death. The next morning, Chavel watches through the prison window as Janvier and two others are shot by firing squad.

The film cuts to three years later, as France has been liberated and the prisoners, including Chavel, have been freed. He has been reviled in prison for being a rich man who was able to buy his life, but he walks out the prison as penniless as the most destitute of the prisoners. He has no family to ease his way back to society. Reduced essentially to begging, he shows up as his former house, claiming to be Charlot a prisoner who knew Michel, which was Janvier's real name. The door is opened by Therese Mangeot, Michel's sister. Chavel/Charlot explains that he knew of the property transfer, and that he was hungry and wanted something to eat, if it was possible. Therese asks if he knew Chavel, he said he had. She said that she would spit in his face and kill him if he ever showed up at the home. She expected that one day he would. She said she and her mother had an apartment in Paris and would much rather have Michel alive than be isolated in this estate in the country. The next day, Therese offers a job to Charlot, saying the farm is too much for her and her elderly mother.

A relationship of sorts develops and grows between the two, though Chavel is always concerned that the truth might come out, and destroy their friendship, perhaps even resulting in Therese making good on her threat to kill him. Things remain on this path, with Therese growing more and more comfortable with Charlot.

A knock on the door on rainy, gloomy night changes everything, when a man claiming to be the hated Chavel shows up at the door. It's a man named Carosse, who obviously isn't Chavel, but someone with a dark secret to conceal.

The plot delves into questions of truth; which man is telling the truth, and who can Therese trust? Carosse is armed and tells Chavel the police are after him. Carosse tells Chavel to just leave; Carosse can 'lay low' for a night, or a few days. This is Chavel's chance to leave while someone else appears to be the cowardly Chavel. But that would leave Therese in the company of an armed man with a sketchy past. And it appears that Therese is more than a bit interested in the man who made such a desperate bargain with her brother.

Highly recommended. 4 and 1/2 stars. The three actors are excellent in this short film, with every note and every moral dilemma and questionable action ringing true. I'd like to watch this one again.

Excellent actors and well conceived storyline elevate this movie from its ordinary TV movie of the month origins.
Set in WW II, Hopkins plays Cheval - an ordinary man, a lawyer, trying to live his life unobtrusively amid the occupation. His life is upturned when he is taken in along with a group of others by the Germans and put in jail, ready to be shot as an example to the resistance. When that time comes, he buys his life, giving all he has to another man who wishes to leave the house and wealth for his mother and sister Therese (Kirsten Scott-Thomas).
3 years later after the war, Hopkins returns to his house, and meets the sister, never letting on who he actually is. The lies threaten to unravel when a man (Derek Jacobi) then appears, announcing himself as Chavel.
The story is told in an economical way, leading to a relatively short 95 minute running time, and unfolds rather more like a play than a movie. The first act - the prison cell, where Chavel has the moment of weakness he will regret his whole life, The second act - Chavel after the war gains the trust of Therese. And then the third act - The stranger arrives and all the lies become a tortuous mess ultimately leading to a satisfying and inevitable conclusion.
It is not really a war story, but a character study. What can you do if you have a moment of weakness with consequences that cannot be undone? When all you have is guilt, what can be done to make things right? As for the production in general, the music is often overdone, but the subtlety of the acting and fine French locations cover over the TV budget cracks.
A typically well told Graham Greene story, with Hopkins bringing real nuances to the role of Cheval, this deserves a wider audience than its TV movie label suggests, even if it is not up with the best Greene adaptations. 7 / 10 (for the acting!)

"The Tenth Man," is an all-star, full-color television treatment, made for the one-time prestigious American series "Hallmark Hall of Fame." It is based on a bleak suspenseful thriller that was, to me, for years, a puzzling anomaly in the writing career of distinguished British author Graham Greene. The underlying crime drama is only 156 pages, really novella length, yet it has his usual power, though it lacks the accreted detail I've gotten used to in his work. Still, in its 100 minutes, the film gives us an excellent picture of wartime, occupied France, and the people who had to live there; the city of Paris, and the countryside at the time. Greene's characters, as ever, are sharply drawn, and ring true to their natures.

The production is set in 1944, in a German Gestapo prison in occupied France, during World War II, where 32 Frenchmen have been taken hostage. Local resistance activity causes the Germans to decide that one of every ten men - three men--must therefore meet their deaths by firing squad, but they don't care which three men. The hostages draw lots. Anthony Hopkins (The Hannibal Lecter Collection (Manhunter / The Silence of the Lambs / Hannibal)) plays Jean Louis Chevel, a lawyer and a rich man. Chevel gets one of the marked ballots; he offers his entire fortune, and all his holdings, to the heirs of any man who will take his place. A sickly young man Michel Mangeot, known as "Janvier,"(played by Timothy Watson) agrees. As the Germans are driven out of France-- Paris was liberated on August 25, 1944-- and the war ends for the French, the hostages are released. Chevel, not knowing what else to do, finds his way to his hereditary estate in the country. There, as he travels under an assumed name, Chevel finds Janvier's mother, Madame Mangeot, played by Brenda Bruce, and sister Therese, played by Kristin Scott-Thomas,(Four Weddings and a Funeral; The English Patient (Miramax Collector's Edition)). For lack of anything better to do, Chevel becomes their unpaid handyman. He falls a little in love with the sister, but realizes that mother and sister hate "Chevel" for taking Janvier's life. Then, suddenly, the immensely talented Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius) shows up claiming to be Chevel, when, in truth, he is a wanted collaborator and murderer on the run. Cyril Cusack (My Left Foot (Special Edition)) plays the priest. It is a bleak tale, as noted above, much briefer and less detailed than the author's usual work, although, in this latest crisis in his life, Chevel may be considered at least to have rediscovered his humanity and his courage.

The author, it turns out, amazingly enough, wrote the novella upon which this film is based, in 1944, well before VE Day, Victory in Europe Day, May 8, 1945. He wrote it as a film treatment for the Hollywood film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he was under contract, along with a couple of other treatments, one of which is very clearly the germ of his remarkable novel Our Man in Havana (Penguin Classics), and the film based on it,Our Man in Havana. At any rate, both Greene and the studio forgot about the existence of these treatments and they lay in the MGM archives until 1983, when someone found them and decided to publish at least THE TENTH MAN. Greene could barely remember writing the treatment, and thought it was only a few pages: he was mightily surprised to discover it was more than 150; and, as it was determined it was to be published; he worked on cleaning it up a bit. It was published in 1985. Then, as happened with many, if not most of his works, the novella was filmed, under the same title, as a 1988 television episode for the American show, "Hallmark Hall of Fame." It was filmed on location in France, was directed by Jack Gold, and it got the all-star treatment. I once caught this movie on late-night TV, and, as noted above, wondered about it for years.

Greene (1904-1991), who was one of the more illustrious British writers of the 20th century, enjoyed a very long life, and a very long, distinguished, prolific writing career. Some of his writing highlights are The Power and the Glory (Penguin Classics), The End Of The Affair, and The Third Man. Many of his books were bestsellers; most - 56% is the percentage I've seen-- were made into movies, some more than once. He was one of the better-known Catholic converts of his time; many of his thrillers, as this one, deal with Catholic themes of guilt and redemption. He created morally complex characters, while he explored moral and theological dilemmas through psychologically astute character studies, presented in exciting dramas on the international stage. This one is very hard to find, but worth seeing, not least for the acting, if you can.

I am a collector of many kinds of things. One kind of things I buy are movies on VHS & DVD formats that are at least semi-historical. There is a special segment of my collection that contains Hallmark Hall of Fame movies. This movie is a Hallmark Hall of Fame production, although there is ABSOLUTELY NO INDICATION OF THIS FACT! All product logos are MGM/UA Home Video. There was a time that Hallmark Hall of Fame did not secure the distrbution rights to their movies & this is one of those titles. There is also a wonderful book available for true fans of HHofF productions; it is entitled "UCLA FILM AND TELEVISION ARCHIVE presents Hllmark Hall of Fame 50 The FIRST FIFTY YEARS." This book was published in 2001, because th first vidoe presentation of Hallmark Hall of Fame occured in 1951 "Anmal & the Night Visitor." Personally, I think an appendix edition for the next Ten Years should be written and published as well. Hallmark generally has thee new films per season rleased, so the appendix edition would contain something near 30 additional titles.

I have given this movie three stars because I did not feel it was one of HHofF's better films. There are certsin standards that designate a HHofF movie's excellence. The first thing that is required for a HHOfF movie to be excellent is a good story. HHofF has made many films set in the world War Two era & this is one. This is the story of one man snatched off the streets of occupied Paris in 1941 & imprisioned by the Nazis. The Nazis did this, true enough. Shortly after finding himself in prison & no means of escape, a Nazi officer comes into the cell he shares with a number of other men similary plucked off the streets. That officer tells the inmates that a high-ranking Nazi officer was killed as well as young woman on a bicycle. That the young woman was killed was of no consequence. But that high raking offcer was killed, well one in every ten men in that cell was going to be executed the following morning. The officer says "you will pick who will die & who will live." One prisoner has some paper & a pencil & they draw lots. Those who draw a peice of paper with a X on it will die. Those whose paper has nothing on it will live. Okay, I'll grant you, that is a good story. The leading character - Jean Louis Chavel - is a man of some wealth. He owns a large house somewhere outside of Paris that he & servants alone occupy. He draws a X paper he pulls from a shoe. He tries to find someone who will take his place to die in excahnge for his property & money. One inmate Michel Manget, played by Timothy Watson accepts his offer, so that his sister & infirmed mother would have a nice place to live. A hand-wrtten will, witnessed by two of the inmates "seals the deal". At one point, Chavel tries to back out of the deal, but Manget refuses & goes to his death the following day. The inmates have a couple of windows from which they can see the executions happen. Three years later, the occupation ends & Chavel walks out of prison with a full beard & somewhat skinnier. He gets back to his house & rings the doorbell. Manget's sister Therese, played by Kristen Scott Thomas answers the door. Chavel hides his identity & she allows him to enter the house, have a meal with her & her mother & an offer of employment as a handiman wound the house - not knowing he is the man who's life was traded for her brother's. A friendship forms between Chavel & Therese & eventually the house is brought back to life again. An imposter, played by Derek Jacobi rings the doorbell of the house during a driving rainstorm. He claims to be Chavel, although the real Chavel is already there, but Therese doesn't know that. Therese allows him to enter the house too. Who he actually is, I can't seem to figure out, but he had something to do with the imprisonment of her brother. He proceeds to tell Therese lies about how her brother died, which are completely different from what actually happened. The real Chavel actually witnessed her brother's execution. In the story the mother's heart is failing & Chavel is sent to summon the priest to adminster last rights. The imposter leaves, but returns after seeing a sign on the towns's bill board advertising his status a collaborator for the Nazis. a gun battle ensues in the house between the imposter & Chavel. What happens next? You'll just have to watch the movie & draw your own conclusions.

Other things that mark a good HHofF film for me are lack of swearing, lack of bloodshed, lack of overt sexuality, good sceanery. These all are also present in this film. HHofF movies are also editted to run in a two-hour time slot with commercial breaks. This film is also that. Anthony Hopkins & Kristen Scott Thomas are excellent actors, with good reputations. I don't absolutely love all HHofF movies & this is one I don't absolutely love, I just liked it. Others may absolutely love this movie. Would I recommend it to others? Yes, I think I would - especially if they are a fan of movies set duing the World Wars eras. Some of the other WWII movies Hallmark has doe that I have enjoyed are: One Against the Wind, An American Story, The Summer of Ben Tyler,In Love and War, and The Lost Valentime. There is other that has aspects set in WWII -Decoration Day. These other titles I would recommend more highly than this film. Different strokes for different folks is the old saying.

Production quality a bit crude for some reason, seems more like a made for TV movie. Good story overall, but not what one would call a great film. Seems like it might have been a play?

I saw this movie on TV many years ago while working a late-night shift in respiratory therapy. The cast is stellar with Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sir Derek Jacobi and Kristen Scott-Thomas. Do not be fooled by the Hallmark Hall of Fame label, it's really a film adaptation of Graham Greene's novel. I'll be the first to admit I have never read Greene's novel so I cannot say if this film is true to the book.

A. Hopkins plays a French lawyer during the Nazi occupation WWII, he's taken into custody by accident and finds himself facing a firing squad by virtue of a lottery drawing.

SPOILER ALERT: he makes a deal with a terminally ill inmate that swaps his death sentence for his lands/estate.

After the war is over, he returns back to his estate (now owned by the dead man's sister played by Scott-Thomas). The lawyer Chavel gains the sister's favor and works handy-man jobs on his former estate. The sister has no knowledge of Chavel's real identity until Derek Jacobi shows up....

great acting, period piece based on classic literature.

I had this on tape and watched it again last night - it's a very poor copy so my question is - WHEN will they release it on REgion 1 DVD so we in the States can buy it?