13 Rue Madeleine (1947)

That's what is situated at 13, Rue Madaleine. You basically don't want to go there. The film is a semi-documentary narrative covering what goes on in the spy world. It is narrated in this way for way too long and throws in fictional characters as portrayed by actors. It also rockets information at you in that quickfire manner that irritates. We get Jimmy Cagney clowning around in his clown-style of acting – throwing dialogue at us in that incredibly unrealistic fashion that he seems to think passes as acting. We won't mention his looks but, obviously, there are sections of this film where you just laugh at him. Richard Conte comes off best in terms of actual acting and watch out for an appearance by Karl Malden as a pilot – didn't expect that, but he is convincing as always. The film is predictable, it's a bit boring, and there is nothing to really care about as we pretty much know what is going to happen. The good guys win. End of narrative.When I was a spy, I never got caught because I worked alone. Granted, nothing really happened but I'm still alive to tell the tale. I was more involved in propping up bars across London and seeing if anyone ever approached me. No-one ever did except the bartender to tell me it was last orders and time to go home. So, I quit and decided to do something else. I was only really part-time anyway.A couple of scenes stand out in this film – the plane jump where there is actual tension thanks to a staring Conte and the ending which provides us with a scary giggling Cagney. It's an OK film but I expected better.

I'll get back to the review title later.This is an exciting WWII espionage film, shot in neorealist, semi-documentary style and manages to be tensely exciting. It really strains believability that newly trained, untried agents would be assigned the very critical and difficult missions that the lead actors are given, especially because the narration at the movie's beginning says they are the latest of 77 groups of recruits to be trained. What were the other 76 groups doing? The story is that Bob Sharkey (James Cagney), master spy, is asked to come to the place where class 77 of the OSS, precursor to the CIA, is being trained. His superior, Charles Gibson (Walter Abel)tells him there is a German spy among the class and wants Sharkey to figure out which one of the class is the spy. So Gibson already knows, he is just looking for verification.During this time you get to see how the OSS recruits are trained. They must be observant both visually and audibly, good and fast at communications, able to think on their feet, able to blend in with Europeans down to the way that they eat, and physically fit. You'll figure out who the agent is by his over the top likability and the film's focus on him. How does Sharkey figure it out? The German agent is at the top of his class - he's seen all of this stuff before, he is too good. Plus Sharkey looks at the way the spy finishes the final exam - a pair of agents including the spy are charged with getting the technical specs on a detonator at a nearby military installation, and when caught the spy pretends to be undercover security, slugs his partner, and claims he is taking him in for questioning - but they DID get the specs on a tiny camera made to look like a matchbox, and they got away. Sharkey claims that "a pair of American kids would slug their way out together".So do they arrest the German spy? No, because the plan is to feed the spy a bunch of false information about the upcoming "D-Day", have him parachute behind enemy lines with a group of real OSS agents, and then figure he will high tail it back to German high command with a bunch of bogus information on the upcoming allied invasion. Well, if everything went according to plans we would have no movie, right? So when things go terribly wrong, Bob Sharkey decides to go behind enemy lines himself and try to right things as much as he can, since class 077 has no idea that a Nazi knows everything about them and their methods. I'll let you watch and find out what happens. It will keep you guessing right up to the end in trying to figure out who is friend and who is foe, who is a blithering idiot puppet for the Nazis, and who is just doing an "I Claudius" in order to help the allies.Now for an explanation of the review title. If you think that the final scene and Cagney's expression and attitude are too much like "White Heat", realize that this film was made three years before that more famous film, so just remember who might have been copying who.

With Christmas coming up,I started to search round on Amazon UK for a James Cagney DVD that I could give as a present.Being interested in going for a lesser-known film of Cagney's,I was pleased to stumble upon an espionage title starring Cagney,which led to getting ready to see Cagney spy at 13 Rue Madeleine.The plot:Desperate to infiltrate the Nazis activities,the US government sets up a new war-time spy agency,whose goal is to go behind enemy lines,and to spy on the Nazis.As he begins training his latest group of would-be spies,Bob Sharkey is told that one of his students is actually an undercover Nazi spy.Standing out from the pack, Sharkey's suspicions instantly turn to a student called Bill O'Connell,due to O'Connell showing a surprising level of espionage skills,despite having only had a weeks' worth of training.Asking his superior's about O'Connell being arrested,Sharkey is told that he must feed O'Connell false info,due to there being info about O'Connell being linked to the Nazi- occupation of France.Sniffing out the lies just before he and his fellow spies are dropped in France,O'Connell kills one of the agents via cutting his parachute,and then jumps safely to the ground himself.Horrified about what O'Connell has done to one of his students,Sharkey decides that he must go behind enemy lines,and get hold of O'Connell. View on the film:Getting quickly re-written thanks to the US government banning any movie from mentioning the pre-CIA OSS,and the real life Sharkey (William Donovan) not being too happy over the film showing a Nazi spy infiltrating the agency,the opening 30 minutes of John Monks Jr. and Sy Bartlett's screenplay builds up a real steam of tension,as Sharkey finds himself unable to stop O'Connell from delving deeper into the agency's roots.As O'Connell drops from the sky,the writer's sadly fail to keep the tense atmosphere building,due to O'Connell being left off-screen for the next 50 minutes,which leads to the dangerous mood between O'Connell and Sharkey only being revived for the films wonderful bleak ending.Despite not filming in the real locations which the opening credits state, (with Quebec locations being used for the films US/French settings)director Henry Hathaway shows a great skill at releasing a nervous energy,with Hathaway using tightly coiled shots to show the raging paranoia which has taken over the resistance fighters of France.Showing some of his excellent Judo skills in the opening scenes,James Cagney gives a very good performance as Sharkey,with Cagney slowly revealing Sharkey's revenge-fuelled sorrow.Taking on Cagney, Richard Conte gives a brilliant,ruthless performance as Bill O'Connell,with Conte showing a real ruthless bite,as O'Connell begins to reveal all the info that he's gotten from the US,in 13 Rue Madeleine.

Two actors that were left off the cast list on the web page and who later on became famous actors in their own right is Karl Malden (Streetcar Named Desire), and E.G. Marshall who I don't think spoke a word during this movie. Malden, who was known for his role on TV's the "Streets of San Francisco played the crew chief on the aircraft used to parachute the OSS agents into France. I think he asked them if they'd like some hot coffee which they refused. E.G. Marshall played one of the French resistance men. Marshall played with hundreds of well known actors in his day and even had a well known TV program (The Defenders) in which he played a lawyer. I also remember him playing an old Senator opposite Clint Eastwood in "Absolute Power". They should be added to the cast and cross-referenced to their own web page.