SYNOPSICS
13 Rue Madeleine (1946) is a English,French movie. Henry Hathaway has directed this movie. James Cagney,Annabella,Richard Conte,Frank Latimore are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1946. 13 Rue Madeleine (1946) is considered one of the best Action,Adventure,Drama,Thriller,War movie in India and around the world.
Documentary-style prologue follows training of O.S.S. agents for WWII work behind enemy lines. One of the group is a German "mole;" leaders Gibson and Sharkey are aware of this and scheme to feed him false info about the invasion of Europe, while the real agents go to France to find a secret V-2 rocket depot. But the German spy outsmarts them and rejoins his people knowing too much; Bob Sharkey takes the risk of going in after him.
Same Actors
13 Rue Madeleine (1946) Reviews
Still A Fine Espionage Thriller
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.
High Quality WWII Espionage Thriller
It gets off to a terrible start. An off-screen narrator, in a strict, authoritarian tone, announces to us lowly viewers that the film is a "tribute to the accomplishments by the U.S. Army Intelligence in WWII". Beyond this dreadful introduction, however, a credible story about American espionage, wrapped in a high quality cinematic package, provides viewers with a worthwhile payoff. Bob Sharkey (James Cagney) trains young men and women to be American secret agents. These "077 candidates" go through tough physical and mental tests. Candidates who succeed are then sent on military intelligence assignments overseas. But one of those being trained by Sharkey is a German mole, working for Hitler. In the film's first half, Sharkey finds the mole. The second half plot follows Sharkey's efforts both to deactivate the mole, and to find a man named Duclois, the builder of a German rocket depot, a facility constructed to launch bombs against England, and located in Nazi-occupied France. The mole, headquartered in an imposing building at 13 Rue Madeleine in the French port city of Le Havre, cleverly makes Sharkey's double mission difficult. And the film ends with a riveting climax that is surprisingly realistic for a 1940's film. Cagney gives a really good performance. The film's screenplay allows for sufficient character development, unusual for WWII films. And with tight editing, the plot zips along at a fast pace, covering a lot of story material, so that viewers need to pay attention or risk missing important plot details. Except for that awful prologue, everything about "13 Rue Madeleine" is high quality: the costumes, the dialogue, the B&W cinematography, and especially the acting and the editing. Director Henry Hathaway even uses authentic locales, further elevating the film's overall quality. As a WWII espionage thriller, I cannot think of a better film than "13 Rue Madeleine".
13 Rue Madeleine is a wonderful hero showcase for James Cagney
The title of this movie is the address of the Nazi headquarters in France where the James Cagney character tries to endure torture in order to keep secret his agents' plans to destroy said headquarters. Compellingly directed by Henry Hathaway in a semi-documentary approach that simulates a March-of-Time-like feel, this film takes us from training to assignment the trials of the OSS agents in preparing to infiltrate Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Excellent portrayal by Richard Conte as the German-posing-as-American student who befriends fellow classmate Frank Latimore over backgammon. Also compelling is Annabella as a French-immigrant who waits for news about her husband. Also worth mentioning are Walter Abel as Cagney's concerned superior and Sam Jaffe as the French mayor who learns to trust Cagney. May be slow for some modern watchers but worth seeing to the climatic end! As in another Hathaway movie called Kiss of Death later that year, look for Karl Malden in cameo. He plays a jump master in this one.
A MUST SEE For all WWII-era Film Buffs!
In my opinion, Cagney is excellent in this movie, as is Richard Conte. The only fault I can really find with this movie, is that the characters were not really "fleshed out" enough. But the entire movie is suspenseful, your interest will not wane, and even if it does, the ending is worth sitting through the entire picture for. If you are like me, and love WWII era spy films, then check out this film. You won't be disappointed.
excellent little picture about WW2 espionage
Although Jimmy Cagney is the star of this film, he really takes a back seat during most of the picture. Instead, the story focuses on a team of OSS operatives as they are trained and then deposited behind enemy lines (FYI--the OSS was the precursor for the CIA). I especially liked watching how they were trained to blend in--such as learning to eat European-style (with the fork ALWAYS in the left hand). Cagney is ever-present during this training process and only comes to the forefront again when the mission appears to start unraveling and he goes in to rescue the team members. In between, the film centers on the team members and their efforts to destroy the nazi menace in France. Biggest pluses--excellent writing, pacing and acting (in that order).