Rogues' Regiment
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Robert Florey
Dick Powell
Marta Toren
Vincent Price
Stephen Mcnally
Edgar Barrier
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
At the end of World War II, American intelligence agent Whit Corbett is assigned to locate the last remaining high-ranking Nazi official at large, Martin Bruener, of whom no photos exist. Tracking Bruener to French Indochina, Whit plans to go undercover in the French Foreign Legion, a favored retreat of former Nazis. On the train to Saigon he meets Mark Van Ratten, a German masquerading as a Dutch antique dealer, and Bruener, who claims to be Carl Reicher, a former Wehrmacht private. In Saigon, Van Ratten, suspecting Bruener's true affiliation, warns him that the Legion is ferreting out those enlistees suspected of SS connections and sends Bruener to a man who can remove his tell-tale SS tattoo. Later, at a bar frequented by legionnaires, Bruener runs into his former lieutenant, Erich Heindorf, and warns him not to reveal his identity. At the same club, Whit meets singer Lili Maubert, a French agent, who puts him in contact with his local superior, Colonel Mauclaire. Mauclaire gives Whit a photo of Nazi officers sitting with Bruener, whose back is to the camera, and in the military archives, Whit matches one of the men in the picture to legionnaire Heindorf. As the local revolutionaries are continually mounting guerrilla attacks against the French, both Whit and Bruener are accepted into the Legion without question. Meanwhile, Lili discovers that Van Ratten sells equipment and rifles to the guerrillas and helps plan attacks. When Whit learns that Heindorf wishes a transfer, he suspects Bruener may be nearby posing a threat and plans to interrogate Heindorf. Before he can do so, the legionnaires are assigned a mission during which they are ambushed and surrounded. When Heindorf attempts to flee, Bruener shoots him in the back, and the severely wounded Heindorf is carried off by the guerrillas. Whit arranges to get into the guerrilla camp to speak to Heindorf. Realizing that Whit is closing in, Bruener goes to Van Ratten for help in securing a passport and transportation out of Indochina. As payment Bruener offers part of the contents of a chest of tools made entirely of platinum. When Van Ratten reveals that he has recognized Bruener, Bruener kills him and attempts to escape. With Heindorf's confirmation of Bruener's identity, Whit intervenes and, after a bitter fight, has Bruener arrested. Back in Germany, Bruener is tried and executed, while Whit returns to his home state of Nebraska with Lili.
Director
Robert Florey
Cast
Dick Powell
Marta Toren
Vincent Price
Stephen Mcnally
Edgar Barrier
Henry Rowland
Carol Thurston
James Millican
Richard Loo
Philip Ahn
Richard Fraser
Otto Reichow
Kenny Washington
Dennis Dengate
Frank Conroy
Martin Garralaga
James Nolan
Paul Bryar
Gordon Clark
Harro Meller
Robert Verdaine
Kell Nordenshield
Willy Wickerhauser
John Royce
Jerry Mills
Lester Sharpe
Eugene Borden
Maurice Marsac
Victor Sen Young
Leon Lontoc
Charles Flynn
John Doucette
Jacques Villon
Glenn Mullen
Wong Artarne
Ken Harvey
Leo Schlesinger
Kei Thing Chung
Paul Coze
John Peters
Joseph Marievsky
Albert Pollet
Crew
Daniele Amfitheatrof
Jack Brooks
Robert Buckner
Robert Buckner
Robert Buckner
Leslie I. Carey
Paul Coze
Billy Daniels
Ralph Dawson
Richard Deweese
Carmen Dirigo
Oliver Emeri
Robert Florey
Russell A. Gausman
Maury Gertsman
Bernard Herzbrun
Horace Hough
Walter Jurman
Orry Kelly
Milton Schwarzwald
Gabriel Scognamillo
David Tamkin
Serge Walter
Bud Westmore
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Ah, you're much too smart for a beautiful girl. Don't you have any fun at all?- Whit Corbett
Perhaps. In a quiet way.- Lili Maubert
I can be very quiet.- Whit Corbett
Good.- Lili Maubert
Then you won't make any noise on the way out.- Lili Maubert
Trivia
Notes
The film's opening scene showing the cremation of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun was re-created from photographs made by art director Gabriel Scognamillo while he was with Army intelligence in Berlin and from a description by Hitler's chauffeur. Newsreel footage of the Nuremberg trial was used in the film's opening with a voice-over narration outlining the trial, verdicts and sentences. The character of "Carl Reicher/Martin Bruener" and the premise of Rogues' Regiment were inspired by the three-year search by Allied intelligence officers for Martin Bormann, the third highest-ranking Nazi official at the close of the war, about whom little was known and whose escape or death was never confirmed.
Production notes indicate that actor Charles Boyer allowed use of his French Research Foundation files for background data in the film. A March 1948 Hollywood Reporter news item announced that Miklos Rozsa was to compose and conduct the score. Additonal news items list actors Louis Jean Heydt and Frederic Tozere as cast members, but their appearance in the film has not been confirmed. This film marked the first time that actor Stephen McNalley was billed under that name. He previously had been billed as Horace McNalley.
