20 Century Fox's 13 RUE MADELEINE (1947) is not only a well liked Hollywood Noir but is an excellent espionage thriller too. Produced by newsreel expert Louis de Rochemont for the studio it was flawlessly directed by the always reliable Henry Hathaway who had that same year just completed his brilliant "Kiss Of Death" - the picture that introduced Richard Widmark to audiences. 13 RUE MADELEINE had that distinctive documentary/newsreel style to it that de Rochemont had started to bring to films in 1945 with "The House On 92nd Street" and the splendid "Boomerang" which he produced just before MADELEINE. And to crisply shoot the picture, in brilliantly lit Monochrome, he retained his great Cinematographer Norbert Brodine as well as utilizing the same impressive voice of Reed Hadley (uncredited) to narrate the opening of the movie("What is past is prologue").
James Cagney (on loan from Warners) is Bob Sharkey a director of training operations for 077 (pseudonym for O.S.S. - Office of Stratigic Services) agents of Secret Intelligence during WW2. Three of the trainees are chosen for a mission in occupied France. They must locate a German rocket launching site so it can be destroyed in a bombing raid by the Air Corps before D-Day. Things are going well until it is discovered that one of the three is a German agent who all along was a plant in the training school. Then - while on route to France -one of the group is murdered by the Nazi agent and with no time to train another it falls to Sharkey himself to fill the void and carry on with the mission.
Cagney is terrific in it! He gives his usual finger-snapping performance with that cocky sure-footed persona that is ever appealing. Excellent too is the marvellous Sam Jaffe as a resistance leader and Richard Conte is very effective as the double agent. Unconvincing though is Frank Latimore as the ill-fated agent and Annabella's role is written out of the movie just that bit too early. Also watch out for E.G.Marshall (uncredited) as a Resistance fighter in what is only his second film appearance and Karl Malden (uncredited) as the plane's jump master in his third film part.
A nice little war time thriller from a good screenplay by John Monks Jr. and Sy Bartlett that is well complimented with a score by David Buttolph which features a spirited patriotic march. The picture is also notable for being one of the first films to show an actor performing some Judo movements or Karate as we would refer to it today. 13 RUE MADELEINE has hardly dated at all and is worthy of a place in any collection.
James Cagney (on loan from Warners) is Bob Sharkey a director of training operations for 077 (pseudonym for O.S.S. - Office of Stratigic Services) agents of Secret Intelligence during WW2. Three of the trainees are chosen for a mission in occupied France. They must locate a German rocket launching site so it can be destroyed in a bombing raid by the Air Corps before D-Day. Things are going well until it is discovered that one of the three is a German agent who all along was a plant in the training school. Then - while on route to France -one of the group is murdered by the Nazi agent and with no time to train another it falls to Sharkey himself to fill the void and carry on with the mission.
Cagney is terrific in it! He gives his usual finger-snapping performance with that cocky sure-footed persona that is ever appealing. Excellent too is the marvellous Sam Jaffe as a resistance leader and Richard Conte is very effective as the double agent. Unconvincing though is Frank Latimore as the ill-fated agent and Annabella's role is written out of the movie just that bit too early. Also watch out for E.G.Marshall (uncredited) as a Resistance fighter in what is only his second film appearance and Karl Malden (uncredited) as the plane's jump master in his third film part.
A nice little war time thriller from a good screenplay by John Monks Jr. and Sy Bartlett that is well complimented with a score by David Buttolph which features a spirited patriotic march. The picture is also notable for being one of the first films to show an actor performing some Judo movements or Karate as we would refer to it today. 13 RUE MADELEINE has hardly dated at all and is worthy of a place in any collection.