A Circle of Deception (1960)

Unbeknownst to him, a soldier is sent on a doomed mission because of the high likelihood of him divulging secrets if captured and tortured.

Director:

Jack Lee

Writers:

Nigel Balchin (screenplay), Robert Musil (screenplay),

Stars:

Bradford Dillman, Suzy Parker, Harry Andrews

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bradford Dillman	...	Capt. Paul Raine
Suzy Parker	...	Lucy Bowen
Harry Andrews	...	Capt. Thomas Rawson
Robert Stephens	...	Capt. Stein
Paul Rogers	...	Maj. William Spence
John Welsh	...	Maj. Taylor
Ronald Allen	...	Jim Abelson
A.J. Brown	...	Frank Bowen
Martin Boddey	...	Henry Crow
Charles Lloyd Pack	...	Ayres
Jacques Cey	...	Cure
John Dearth	...	Capt. Ormrod
Norman Coburn	...	Carter
Hennie Scott	...	Small boy
Richard Marner	...	German colonel

Storyline

Unbeknownst to him, a soldier is sent on a doomed mission because of the high likelihood of him divulging secrets if captured and tortured.

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Plot Keywords:

world war two | spy | jailbreak | french resistance | romantic love | 

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

November 1960 (UK)

Also Known As:

Battaglie di spie

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Leads Bradford Dillman and Suzy Parker first met on this shoot and later married.

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Soundtracks

"On the Quarter Deck"
(uncredited)
Music by Kenneth Alford

User Reviews

Pretty fair WWII spy-as-decoy movie

Bradford Dillman is an American tapped for a dangerous mission behind enemy lines in the campaign of deception leading up to D-Day--except that he's only been told half the story by his superiors. The story is based on real-life exploits documented in Anthony Cave Brown's book *Bodyguard of Lies,* (the title of which was based on Churchill's famous comment, "In wartime, truth is so precious that she must always be attended by a bodyguard of lies"). Dillman is completely convincing as the spy who is selected precisely because his psychological profile shows that he *will* eventually break under torture. The depiction of torture itself is pretty grueling, by the way, especially for 1961, and one scene in particular was parodied in the 1984 Abrahams-Zucker movie *Top Secret!* (with Val Kilmer in the Dillman part). Incidentally, Dillman and his co-star, Suzy Parker, who was the top model in America at the time, and embarking on a film and television career, fell in love while making this movie and married shortly thereafter; she gave up both her modeling and acting career for domestic life as Mrs. Dillman not long afterward.