The Counterfeit Traitor

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The Counterfeit Traitor
Film poster for "The Counterfeit Traitor".png
Theatrical release poster
Directed by George Seaton
Screenplay byGeorge Seaton
Based onThe Counterfeit Traitor
by Alexander Klein
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Jean Bourgoin
Edited by Alma Macrorie
Music by Alfred Newman
Production
company
Perlberg-Seaton Productions
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • April 17, 1962 (1962-04-17)
Running time
140 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2.7 million (US and Canada rentals) [1]

The Counterfeit Traitor is a 1962 American spy thriller film written and directed by George Seaton and starring William Holden, Lilli Palmer, and Hugh Griffith. Holden plays Swedish-American oil executive Eric Erickson, who is forced to spy on the Nazis in World War II. It was based on a nonfiction book of the same name by Alexander Klein. [2]

Contents

Plot

Eric Erickson is an American-born Swedish oil executive who is pressured by Allied intelligence agents, led by British agent Collins, to spy for the Allies. Erickson begins his job reluctantly, as it causes marital discord and forces him to pose as a Nazi. He agrees because otherwise his business would be destroyed by the Allies, but over time, realizes it is the right thing to do. Besides, Collins recorded the meeting,

He is influenced in making this moral decision by one of his contacts in Germany, a religious German Christian woman named Marianne Mollendorf, who gives him guidance on the meaning of life and right and wrong. Erickson has a number of close calls, but eventually escapes to Sweden in a harrowing sea voyage.

Cast

See also

References

  1. "Big Rental Pictures of 1962". Variety . January 9, 1963. p. 13.
  2. 1 2 "Alexander Klein, 83; Wrote Spy Thriller" . The New York Times . August 24, 2002. Archived from the original on May 6, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2007.