The Counterfeit Traitor
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
George Seaton
William Holden
Lilli Palmer
Hugh Griffith
Erica Beer
Eva Dahlbeck
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In 1942, Eric Erickson, an American-born naturalized Swedish citizen, is placed on the Allied blacklist for trading in oil with Nazi Germany. A few days later he is approached by Collins, a British Intelligence agent, who promises that if he will cooperate with the Allies by feeding them any information he picks up on his trips to Germany, his name will be cleared at the end of the war. Erickson knows he has no choice but to accept. By pretending to be pro-Nazi, he wins the confidence of high German officials, but the pretense causes his wife to leave him, and he is branded a traitor by his friends and countrymen. While on a trip to Berlin he meets Marianne Mollendorf, who later becomes his confederate and mistress. By inventing a plan to build an oil refinery in neutral Sweden to guarantee a fuel supply for Germany, Erickson gains permission to tour German refineries, the exact locations of which he passes on to Collins. At the same time, he is placed under surveillance by the Germans, and eventually the Gestapo discover that Marianne is working with the Allies and send her to Moabit Prison. Erickson also is arrested and is forced to watch her execution from a cell window. Though he is totally shattered by the experience, his claim that he never knew she was a spy is believed, and he is released. A short time later, however, he is exposed by a 12-year-old member of the Hitler Youth, the son of a friend whose support Erickson had enlisted. But with the help of the German underground Erickson escapes into Denmark, whence he is taken to Sweden aboard a Danish fishing boat. He is met by Collins and Max Gumpel, the one friend who never believed he was a traitor.
Director
George Seaton
Cast
William Holden
Lilli Palmer
Hugh Griffith
Erica Beer
Eva Dahlbeck
Helo Gutschwager
Holger Hagen
Ulf Palme
Carl Raddatz
Charles Regnier
Ernst Schröder
Ingrid Van Bergen
Werner Peters
Stefan Schnabel
Wolfgang Preiss
Jochen Blume
Dirk Hansen
Ludwig Maybert
Klaus Kinski
Erik Schuman
Gunter Meisner
Martin Berliner
Phil Brown
Peter Capell
Max Buchsbaum
Ejner Federspiel
Eva Fiebig
Kai Holm
Reinhard Kolldehoff
Louis Miehe-renard
Jens Osterholm
Poul Reichhardt
Bendt Rothe
Albert Rueprecht
Ted Taylor
Werner Van Deeg
Georg Voelmmer
John Wittig
Jørgen Krough
Preben Neergaard
Sven-knute Nilsson
Crew
Henning Bahs
Jean Bourgoin
Sam Comer
Hans Ebel
Kathleen Fagan
Charles Grenzbach
Edith Head
Tambi Larsen
Alma Macrorie
Mathias Matthies
Alfred Newman
Hal Pereira
William Perlberg
Perlberg--seaton
Tom Pevsner
Edward B. Powell
Gustav Roger
Frank Salvi
Ellen Schmidt
George Seaton
Mogens Skot-hansen
Neville Smallwood
Robert Snody
Louis Stein
Theodore Taylor
Helmut Ungerland
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
I'm curious. Ever since I met you, I've wondered what they have on you. The Allies, I mean. They've if I don't work for them, I lose my business.- Eric Erickson
Oh, I see. Yes, I have something to lose too. If I don't help them I lose my self-respect. Well, haven't you ever opposed anything for the simple reason that it's wrong, morally wrong?- Marianne Mollendorf
Trivia
Notes
Location scenes filmed in West Berlin, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and coastal villages of Sweden and Denmark.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Summer July 1962
Released in United States Summer July 1962
