The Odessa File (1974) - film review

Munich, November 1963.  Whilst the world is still reeling from the news of President Kennedy’s assassination, journalist Peter Miller allows himself to be distracted by the suicide of an elderly Jewish man, Solomon Tauber.  Miller gets hold of Tauber’s diary in which the dead man recounts his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp in Riga during the war.  Tauber singles out one particular SS officer for condemnation, Eduard Roschmann, a man who ruthlessly butchered thousands of Jews.  Moved by what he reads, Miller is impelled to seek out one of Tauber’s few friends, from whom he learns that Roschmann is still alive and working in Germany under a new identity.  When the police refuse to help him unmask Roschmann, Miller falls in with a group of Israeli intelligence operatives.  With their help, the journalist plans to infiltrate the Odessa, the organisation that exists to prevent Nazi criminals from being brought to justice.  Miller’s enquiries are soon noticed by high-ranking Odessa agents, who decide that he must be eliminated without delay...

Coming hot on the heels of Fred Zinnemann’s The Day of the Jackal (1973), The Odessa File was the second film adaptation of a best-selling novel by the prolific British writer Frederick Forsyth.  Whilst it may lack the intensity and seductive stylisation of Zinnemann’s film, this second helping of dark Forsythian intrigue still makes a compelling thriller.  The generally lacklustre script is more than adequately compensated for by a strong central performance from Jon Voight and some creditable supporting contributions from such talented actors as Maximilian Schell, Derek Jacobi and Mary Tamm.  Schell is particularly impressive as the spine-chillingly evil Nazi villain.

The Odessa File was directed with aplomb by Ronald Neame, the one-time cinematographer of David Lean whose previous film, The Poseidon Adventure (1972), was one of the biggest box office hits of the decade.  In contrast to the operatic scale of that epic disaster movie, this low-key thriller is a comparatively modest affair, although its drab locations and understated mise-en-scène give it a chilling realism that is instantly evocative of its time.  The pace is slow but the story is focussed and meticulously plotted, building to a stunning climax which, if anything, is more powerful and moving than that of Forsyth’s novel.  The Odessa File is an underrated classic of British cinema.

© Chris Alderton 2010

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