IMDb > The Odessa File (1974)
The Odessa File
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The Odessa File (1974) More at IMDbPro »

Videos (see all 2)
The Odessa File (1974) -- US Home Video Trailer from Columbia Tristar
The Odessa File (1974) -- Trailerfan.com - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
7.1/10   2,984 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?

Down 9% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.

Director:

Ronald Neame

Writers:

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

Contact:

View company contact information for The Odessa File on IMDbPro.

Release Date:

18 October 1974 (USA) more

Genre:

Thriller | Drama more

Tagline:

A gripping puzzle of pursuit and escape more

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

more

User Comments:

Marred only by one thing more (33 total)


Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

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
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Additional Details

Also Known As:

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

Runtime:

130 min | Germany:120 min

Country:

UK | West Germany

Language:

German | English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1 more

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


Fun Stuff

Trivia:

The book Soon to be A Major Motion Picture says Helmut Griem was cast as the male lead at one stage. more

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The action starts in 1963, in the day when President Kennedy was killed. The ambulance that brings Salomon Tauber's body to the hospital is a Volkswagen Kombi model 1967 or newer. The 1963 model had a split windshield. more

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.
more

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Dallas: The Odessa File (#14.8)" (1990) more

Soundtrack:

Christmas Dream more


FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful.
Marred only by one thing, 11 August 2007
8/10
Author: pamsfriend from New Jersey

Sometime between 1979 and today, filmmakers have lost the ability to tell a suspenseful story, to flesh out characters, so that today we see more style than substance, more gore and mayhem than plot development.

The Day of the Jackal, Marathon Man, Eye of the Needle, The Boys From Brazil and others will be labeled boring by many here because they must wait for something to happen. A typical example from Odessa is the reunion scene. Voight infiltrates the meeting of old German soldiers, make that old devoted Nazis, gathering in a beer hall. He snaps a photo of the speaker, shouting what sounds like the words of the pre-war Deutschland uber Alles. One man comes and begins his eviction from the hall. In the next scene we see him nursing his wounds, which are far more serious than the pushes we see. Tell me that today we would not witness a brutal beating punch by punch, kick by kick.

Films then used violence to advance the plot, such as the "Is it safe?" interrogation in Marathon Man. Seventies films are no shorter than today's masterpieces, but so much more intricate plot is compressed into their time frame.

Three Days of the Jackal is a perfect telling of a Forsyth book; we never become involved with the characters but watch in fascination. Here we follow Miller (Voight) giving us a horse in the race. I have reservations about the final confrontation with Schell and Miller's motivations but I have none about the story in general.

Only in the score does Odessa fall short; the music sounds almost if it was added as an afterthought and does nothing to enhance moods or foreshadow scenes. Worse, the score seems the beginning of a pattern that continues to this day where in some scenes the music is the main character. Only the bier-hall singing of the old Nazis sounds appropriate.

I rated the film 8 of 10.

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'The twist is what got me' annuskavdpol
Possible missing scene? christianne3
'He was dead before he hit the ground' bobo-29
Any similar movies??? martynbaggs
Implausible moments cellery
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