THE COUNTERFEIT TRAITOR
US, 1962, 140 minutes, Colour.
William Holden, Lilli Palmer, Hugh Griffith, Eva Dahlbeck.
Directed by George Seaton.
The Counterfeit Traitor is a very interesting and tense drama set in Sweden and Germany during World War II. The unusual story concerns an American business man, naturalised as a Swede, who is manoeuvred into serving as an Allied agent using his government and industry connections in Germany as sources of information.
The film once again shows how men are manipulated and used in espionage (although it pre-dates by three years The Spy Who Came In From the Cold) and that war is not a glorious thing. The hero's opportunism is contrasted with the Catholic idealism of his German contact (Lilli Palmer) and her eventual revulsion when she finds that bombing based on information she has supplied has caused the deaths of schoolchildren. The final part of the film is an escape story which is not much different from others but forms a tense close to a good film.
1. Did this long spy film hold your interest? Why?
2. Why was Eric Erickson's name put on the 'Black List' by the United States? How did the English and American authorities force Erickson to work for them - his reputation, his business opportunities, the tape of the interview?
3. Can a government force an individual into this position - even to the extent of hurting and insulting wife and friends?
4. What motives did Erickson exploit in the Germans he co-opted for his work? What were his own motives in deciding to work in espionage?
5. Why did Marianne work as a spy - her Catholic background, her marriage, her attitude to Hitler? Was she an idealist? Why did Erickson find it difficult to understand her motivation? How did she gradually change his?
6. Why were Erickson and the Baron so affected by the hanging of the Polish worker?
7. Why did Marianne want to stop working as a spy? Why did she feel guilty forth deaths of the schoolchildren at Regensburg? To what extent was she guilty?
8. What was the significance of Marianne's praying in the Church and going to Confession? What did it tell you about her character?
9. What was your reaction to the Gestapo agent using the Confessional?
10. How moving was the execution scene with Eric in the prison?
11. Was Eric's escape an exciting part of the film?
12. What did this film contribute to your understanding of war, espionage, moral responsibility and the manipulation of the individual by authority and government?
