The Odessa File (1974)

Director:

Ronald Neame

Writers:

Frederick Forsyth (novel)
Kenneth Ross (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

18 October 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Drama

Tagline:

A gripping puzzle of pursuit and escape

Plot:

After reading the diary of an elderly Jewish man who committed suicide, freelance journalist Peter Miller...

Plot Keywords:

Diary | Suicide | SS | Germany | Journalist

Cast

Jon Voight	...	Peter Miller
Maximilian Schell	...	Eduard Roschmann
Maria Schell	...	Frau Miller
Mary Tamm	...	Sigi
Derek Jacobi	...	Klaus Wenzer
Peter Jeffrey	...	David Porath
Klaus Löwitsch	...	Gustav Mackensen
Kurt Meisel	...	Alfred Oster
Hannes Messemer	...	General Glücks
Garfield Morgan	...	Israeli General
Shmuel Rodensky	...	Simon Wiesenthal
Ernst Schröder	...	Werner Deilman
Günter Strack	...	Kunik (also as Gunter Strack)
Noel Willman	...	Franz Bayer
Martin Brandt	...	Marx

Also Known As:

Der Fall Odessa (West Germany)
Die Akte Odessa (West Germany)
The O.D.E.S.S.A. File (UK) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

130 min | Germany:120 min

Country:

UK | West Germany

Language:

German | English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:PG (TV rating) | South Korea:12 (DVD rating) (2005) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1975) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1988) | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Alter Elbtunnel, St. Pauli, Hamburg, Germany

Company:

John Woolf Productions

Trivia:

The term ODESSA stands for "Organisation der ehemaligen SS Angehörigen", which translates to: Organization of the former SS members.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Scenes set in Hamburg and Vienna were obviously shot in Munich.

Quotes:

[Miller is trying to sell his editor a story based on the diary]
Hoffmann: No one wants to read about Jews.
Peter Miller: They were GERMANS!
Hoffmann: They were German Jews.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Passions of Carol (1975)

Soundtrack:

Christmas Dream

Great

Jon Voight is one of Hollywood's best actors. DVD review.

A journalist hunts down a Nazi war criminal but his motives are unclear.

I didn't expect this movie to be so good. It's extremely watchable. If you want to see where Spielberg got his Schindler's List influences then this is the movie to watch. Strange that the concentration camp scenes are all in German but the present (1964) scenes (also set in Germany) are in English. Many good tense scenes: the fight in the mill, the kidnapping, the interview and the confrontation with Schell. One of those movies with a different location for each new scene.

Watch this Nazi hunter movie. It's superb.