13 Rue Madeleine (1947)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Henry Hathaway

Writers:

John Monks Jr. (original screenplay) and
Sy Bartlett (original screenplay)

Release Date:

3 March 1947 (Sweden)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller | War

Plot:

When spy chief Bob Sharkey finds out one of his agents-in-training is actually a Nazi double agent, his strategic decision not to arrest him results in tragedy.

Plot Keywords:

Spy | Double Agent | Nazi | WWII | France

Cast

James Cagney	...	Robert Emmett 'Bob' Sharkey
Annabella	...	Suzanne de Beaumont
Richard Conte	...	William H. 'Bill' O'Connell
Frank Latimore	...	Jeff Lassiter
Walter Abel	...	Charles Gibson
Melville Cooper	...	Pappy Simpson
Sam Jaffe	...	Mayor Galimard
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dick Gordon	...	Psychiatrist (scenes deleted)
Horace McMahon	...	Burglary Instructor (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

French | English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | UK:U | Canada:PG | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #11740, General Audience)

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Rex Harrison turned down the lead role in 13 Rue Madeleine (1947).

Goofs:

Factual errors: O'Connell's identification card which he flashes at the submarine base gives his date of birth as April 4, 1910, and the date the card was issued as July 12, 1944; but the story is taking place in the months preceding D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Quotes:

Charles Gibson: 22 potential agents. Most of them have a foreign background. All of them can speak French. One of them can speak German.
Robert Emmett 'Bob' Sharkey: Mmmm-hmmm.
Charles Gibson: You got to find out who that is.
Robert Emmett 'Bob' Sharkey: All right.
Charles Gibson: That's not as easy as it sounds.
Robert Emmett 'Bob' Sharkey: Why?
Charles Gibson: Because one of the students in the group is a German agent.
Robert Emmett 'Bob' Sharkey: A German agent? Looks like you know.
Charles Gibson: Yeah.
Robert Emmett 'Bob' Sharkey: Man or woman?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Monkeybone (2001)

Cagney is "dandy" as always in this WWII thriller!!!

James Cagney stars as the crafty leader of American secret agents of the 077 during World War II. The invasion is not far off and the Nazis have implanted one of their top spies into Cagney's unit. Cagney has to figure out which one of his people is a Nazi and then double cross the double agent with misinformation. The film is fairly interesting, but the characters are not fleshed out well enough, which almost makes sense due to the semi-documentary nature of the film. Still, Cagney is great at being Cagney, which makes it worth watching all the way to the film's explosive ending.