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Thriller

The Man Between

- Terror! Vice! Violence! He stopped at nothing!

A British woman on a visit to post-war Berlin is caught up in an espionage ring smuggling secrets into and out of the Eastern Bloc.

Release Date : 1953-11-18

Language :RussianGermanEnglish

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : London Films Productions

Production Country : United Kingdom

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Claire Bloom

Character Name : Suzanne Mallison

Original Name : Claire Bloom

Gender : Female

James Mason

Character Name : Ivo Kern

Original Name : James Mason

Gender : Male

Hildegard Knef

Character Name : Bettina

Original Name : Hildegard Knef

Gender : Female

Geoffrey Toone

Character Name : Martin Mallison

Original Name : Geoffrey Toone

Gender : Male

Hilde Sessak

Character Name : Lizzi

Original Name : Hilde Sessak

Gender : Female

Aribert Wäscher

Character Name : Halendar

Original Name : Aribert Wäscher

Gender : Male

Ernst Schröder

Character Name : Olaf Kastner

Original Name : Ernst Schröder

Gender : Male

Dieter Krause

Character Name : Horst

Original Name : Dieter Krause

Gender : Male

Karl John

Character Name : Inspector Kleiber

Original Name : Karl John

Gender : Male

Ljuba Welitsch

Character Name : Opera singer

Original Name : Ljuba Welitsch

Gender : Female

Reinhard Kolldehoff

Character Name :

Original Name : Reinhard Kolldehoff

Gender : Male

Frederick Schiller

Character Name :

Original Name : Frederick Schiller

Gender : Male

Emile Stemmler

Character Name :

Original Name : Emile Stemmler

Gender : Male

Reviews

C

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2022-09-25

Very much in the vein of Carol Reed's similar cold war thriller "The Third Man" (1949), this is a gritty and characterful story set in Berlin just before the Soviet Union imposed travel restrictions. This time, the Communists kidnap "Susanne" (Claire Bloom) - she happens to be the sister of British officer "Martin" (Geoffrey Toone) and we are now presented with an intriguing and internecine series of spy and counter-spy scenarios that revolve around the dubious "Ivo" (James Mason) with whom the missing woman had been associating with - and has fallen for. It transpires that she is being held so that they can use her as leverage for the return of "Kastner" (Ernst Schröder), a lawyer with a distinctly dodgy pre-war past. It now falls to "Ivo" to rescue her and smuggle her to safety. Desmond Dickinson's dark and eery photography - especially in what's left of the heavily bombed out Berlin - coupled with a seedy and effective John Addison score work well to create an atmospheric environment. I didn't love Mason's rather unreliable German accent, but Bloom is quite effective and there are compensating and strong supporting contributions from an on-form Hildegard Knef ("Bettina") and from Aribert Wäscher as the untrustworthy "Halendar" as the plot twists and turns towards quite a menacing and tightly shot denouement. The narrative is tight, the romance sparing, it is frequently quite compelling to watch and it does have a ring of plausibility to it. A superior crime drama well worth a watch.