Starting with The House on 92nd Street, Henry Hathaway entered a period where he did a whole bunch of documentary type films with voice narration provided by the authoritative Reed Hadley. 13 Rue Madeleine is probably not the best of them. It's not as good as others in this category like Kiss of Death, Calling Northside 777, or The House on 92nd Street.
Try as you may I don't think most viewers will think of James Cagney as being able to pass himself off as French. But Cagney, maybe the most dynamic player from the Hollywood Studio age is always fun to watch even in films far worse than 13 Rue Madeleine.
The story is about espionage agents being trained by Cagney and then sent on a mission in France just before D-Day. The title of the film is the Gestapo headquarters where the Cagney crew is operating.
The story is a bit hard to fathom. The Allies discover that a German agent has been planted in their spy school. Cagney tries to use him to send worthless information back, but his plan backfires.
I'm a little confused here, if the man was so good why not just get rid of him. Turns out he uses a lot of the knowledge gained in our spy school for the Axis. Just a case of being a little too clever.
Annabella is a French expatriate in our spy school and Walter Abel plays William J. Donovan in all but name. I have a feeling 20th Century Fox couldn't use the OSS title because Paramount had it and put out a better film on this same topic with Alan Ladd.
I think viewers will enjoy Sam Jaffe as the small town French mayor and Richard Conte as a very clever and unscrupulous double agent. Still Cagney won't convince you he's French and the plot is way too far fetched.
Try as you may I don't think most viewers will think of James Cagney as being able to pass himself off as French. But Cagney, maybe the most dynamic player from the Hollywood Studio age is always fun to watch even in films far worse than 13 Rue Madeleine.
The story is about espionage agents being trained by Cagney and then sent on a mission in France just before D-Day. The title of the film is the Gestapo headquarters where the Cagney crew is operating.
The story is a bit hard to fathom. The Allies discover that a German agent has been planted in their spy school. Cagney tries to use him to send worthless information back, but his plan backfires.
I'm a little confused here, if the man was so good why not just get rid of him. Turns out he uses a lot of the knowledge gained in our spy school for the Axis. Just a case of being a little too clever.
Annabella is a French expatriate in our spy school and Walter Abel plays William J. Donovan in all but name. I have a feeling 20th Century Fox couldn't use the OSS title because Paramount had it and put out a better film on this same topic with Alan Ladd.
I think viewers will enjoy Sam Jaffe as the small town French mayor and Richard Conte as a very clever and unscrupulous double agent. Still Cagney won't convince you he's French and the plot is way too far fetched.