Count Five and Die (1957)

American and British counter-espionage combine to convince the Germans the cross-channel invasion will be in the Netherlands instead of France.

Director:

Victor Vicas

Writers:

David Pursall, Jack Seddon

Stars:

Jeffrey Hunter, Annemarie Düringer, Nigel Patrick

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeffrey Hunter	...	Captain Bill Ranson
Annemarie Düringer	...	Rolande Hertog
Nigel Patrick	...	Major Julien Howard
David Kossoff	...	Dr. Mulder
Rolf Lefebvre	...	Hans Faber, chief spy
Larry Burns	...	Martins, building porter-spy
Anthony Ostrer
Claude Kingston	...	Willem Mulder
Philip Ray
Robert Raglan	...	Lt. Miller
Peter Prouse	...	Sgt. Bill Parrish
Philip Bond	...	Piet van Wijt
Otto Diamant	...	Mr. Hendrijk
Marianne Walla	...	Mrs. Hendrijk
Beth Rogan	...	Mary Ann Lennig

Storyline

American and British counter-espionage combine to convince the Germans the cross-channel invasion will be in the Netherlands instead of France.

---

Plot Keywords:

netherlands | british noir | suicide | cyanide pill | allied invasion | 

---

Genres:

Drama | History | Thriller | War

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

March 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cinq secondes à vivre

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Zonic Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film takes place in 1944.

---

Goofs

In the first minute or so there's a shot of the nearside front wing, bonnet and bonnet mounted spare wheel on a 4x4 type vehicle. This is a Land Rover. The Land Rover wasn't developed until several years after the war had ended.

---

Crazy Credits

A true story from the annals of the Office of Strategic Services of the United States.

---

Soundtracks

Turkish Delight
(uncredited)
Music by Chris Charles

User Reviews

They always make the same mistake of getting mixed up with ladies in the spying game.

It takes some time before the action gets going in this film, but when it starts it never ceases to accelerate in intrigue, suspension and drama. Annemarie Duringer is prominetly leading the film by her very suave and susceptible character, most amiable but with an abyss of hidden agenda. Nigel Patrick is perfect as usual, almost too perfect, while Jeffrey Hunter is a bit of an outsider in this game, can't really handle his business nor himself, and he has to pay for it. It's very dark and almost claustrophobic in the insistency on scenes in labyrinthine insides, and only rarely you go out into dark streets för some following or spying or bullets. The title "Count Five and Die" gives away the whole drama - as a spy sent out on a mission you are given a cyanide capsule in case you get caught, and when you swallow it you count to five and die. It's very easy but not really and actually rather complicated, as you don't always reach that capsule in time...

It reminds very much of Anthony Asquith's "Orders to Kill" a few years earlier, it's the same kind of problems of innocence and the wrong people getting caught up in the wrong game, and above all the doom of destiny is there hanging around more people than anyone bargained for.