The Hessen Conspiracy (2009)
"The Hessen Affair" (original title)

In 1945 a group of victorious American officers discover a stash of German jewels and try to fence them in New York.

Director:

Paul Breuls

Writers:

Nicholas Meyer, Ronald Roose

Stars:

Michael Bowen, Norman Bowman, Guido De Craene

Cast

Credited cast:
Michael Bowen	...	Ben Cassidy
Norman Bowman	...	Sergeant
Guido De Craene	...	Weiss
John B. Lowe	...	Rueben Markel
Mike O'Brien	...	Manny
Lyne Renee	...	Lt. Kathleen Nash
Noah Segan
Rudolph Segers	...	Roy Tarlton
Will Woytowich	...	Chief Warrant Officer
Billy Zane	...	Jack Durant

Storyline

1945 - Castle Kronberg, outside Frankfurt, is turned into a 'country club' for victorious American officers. The cynical Colonel Jack Durant and the dazzling beautiful Lieutenant Kathleen Nash uncover the crown jewels of Germany - more diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and pearls than are gathered in any one place outside the Tower of London. Nash and Durant manage to get the gems to New York, where they must deal with gangsters to fence the loot. To make matters worse for the two renegade officers, Princess Sophie discovers the theft of her jewels and complains to American army headquarters. It now turns out that her brother fought for the Allies and is about to marry the future Queen of England. With double-crossing gangland figures trying to control the gems and the army closing in on them, will Kathy Nash and Jack Durant stay true to one other and their plan? Or will one sell the other out?

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Plot Keywords:

man hits a woman

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Taglines:

The Winner Takes All... And More.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | History | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Belgium Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

November 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Hessen Conspiracy

Filming Locations:

Belgium

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Corsan

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

A movie for the honor of the Army Thieves, yet great costumes and perfect wardrobe choice

Even though there is not much to hate or dislike about The Hessen Affair, this is not an high-quality production movie. So it's best to have least expectations before watching it; and consider that as it says at the opening scene the film is based on a true story.

During the times close to the end of World War-II when U.S. Army was in lands of Germany, Colonel Jack Durant and his German spy Roy Tarlton come across a treasure full of jewels of the crown. Colonel Durant captures this treasure and shares them with his sweetheart Lt.Kathleen Nash. Hence his spy Roy Tarlton turns against him with jealousy. Tarlton flashes this secret information to German Princess Sophie Von Hessen, who sends a letter to U.S Army Colonel Jack Durant declaring that she is the owner of the treasury. In a little while Hitler goes off the deep end, so the war draws to a close. Accordingly Colonel Durant and his sweetheart got their discharge from the army, after deciding to demonstrate the jewels of the crown as spoils of war with the assistance of a lawyer named Maloney, to the Chief Warrant Officer. After coming to NYC, Lt.Kathleen Nash charms a Las Vegas casino owner to sell the treasury. In the meantime, Colonel Durant faces hard circumstances like losing his accountant and lawyer against Roy Tarlton. Roy appears in NYC as well to put up a trouble on Durant. But working separately for the same purpose, Durant and Nash prevail over Tarlton selling the treasure to the Vegas millionaire at a very high cost.

There are no good guy nor bad guy in the film. A happy ending awaits for the leading part. The story is very unique, but screenplay hasn't been transferred well enough to the script. Billy Zane acted pretty good. I guess he was the only one that fits with his character. Leading actress Lyne Renee, a 30-year-old Belgian nymph, has nothing <...no talent, no capacity, no voice, no capability, no harmony...> but her charming beauty. Here ,of course, the best job has done by the costume designer of the film crew: Karyn Wagner. The nostalgic French style see-through black lingerie for women of the 1960s' -that has introduced by Brigitte Bardot once- ... The charm of the red high heel shoes on a woman... The official mini skirt wear... The jewelry choice for a naked woman body -that also has been displayed in Titanic(1998) before-... And the best choice for a morning dress for the women is ,of course, to wear her man's white dress-look shirt with the top 3 buttons and cuff links undone... The loudest applause for Karyn Wagner, who also costumed the actors in the Notebook(2004) and the Green Mile(1999) a while ago. If someone ,like me, wants to edit a short compilation movie of the nude and sex-related scenes of this film, it wouldn't be less than 15 minutes. Although, the images and scenes are not disturbing; that's how it must be done. It's still good and OK to watch with whole family.

Don't ask me the technical aspects, I wonder if there is any. It's a silent, more talking less action type of movie and the sound at the action scenes cannot be evaluated as average. Cinematography is low, we cannot even tell which scenes are in studio which scenes are open-air. Basically the light scheme is a total failure. Camera works are so-so; camera movements and locations are good enough to keep your eyes open till the end. It can be a boring film, but it's never a sleeper. You cannot tell what's going to happen next. This also possesses the only good aspect of the film that holds the watching loyalty of the viewer: There is always a little mystery through a suspension.