Circle of Deception

19601960
ApprovedApproved
1h 40m

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

6.7/10

309

Director
- Jack Lee
Writers
- Nigel Balchin(screenplay)
- Robert Musel(screenplay)
- Alec Waugh(original story)
Stars

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

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Bradford Dillman in Circle of Deception (1960)

Suzy Parker in Circle of Deception (1960)

Bradford Dillman and Suzy Parker in Circle of Deception (1960)

In 1944, prior to the Allied landings in Normandy, British Intelligence is anxious to mislead the Germans regarding the actual landing sites. The logical place for landings is Pas-De-Calais, France, where the distance between UK and France is shortest. The Germans know it and expect the Allies to land there. However, the Allies plan to land in Normandy but they continue in misleading the Germans about landings in Pas De Calais. British Navy Captain Thomas Rawson, in charge of an intelligence unit, plans to mislead the Germans by dropping a British officer in their lap. That officer would be misled himself to believe that Pas-De-Calais is the correct area. Then, he would be sent there, to coordinate French resistance. In reality, he would be sacrificed to the Gestapo.The ideal patsy should resist interrogation under torture, if captured, but should eventually crack and reveal what he knows. Of course, he would reveal what he was told by British Intelligence, which is plain misinformation. Thus misinformed, the Germans would concentrate their troops in the wrong area, leaving the landing zones vulnerable. The British spy sent to France with the fake information would willingly be sacrificed to Gestapo torture. However, he would have a cyanide capsule logged inside a tooth, if torture would escalate. The selected volunteer is Canadian Captain Paul Raine who's bilingual, had lived in France and could pass for a Frenchman. British Intelligence is secretly assessing him via Capt. Thomas Rawson's pretty secretary, Lucy. What starts as a test changes to love when Lucy and Paul fall for each other. She's pained about sending an unsuspecting Paul to certain capture, torture and death. Not suspecting being a pawn in an elaborate misinformation game, Paul insists in volunteering. He reassures Lucy about his return but she knows the truth about his mission. Her misgivings are belated. The die is cast! —nufs68

france torture french resistance spy disinformation 18 more

Taglines
- One of the strangest spy stories ever revealed !
Genres
Certificate
- Approved
Parents guide
- Add content advisory

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

Goofs
When Paul Raine is remembering events that took place in the war, there is a caption "Occupied France 1944". However when a despatch rider arrives at the Combined Services Catering Research office in London, apparently in the same time period, a Morris Minor car is seen in the background. This did not start production until 1948, well after the date in that caption.

Quotes
Capt. Thomas Rawson: The instructions our agent were to carry to Ballard were that on a certain day, on receipt of a certain signal, he and the Maquis were to attack all major roads and bridges in the Marignon sector. It didn't matter if they didn't destroy them so long as they attacked them. What was important was that the Germans would deduce from this attack that the invasion of France would take place in that area, thereby forcing them to hold troops there which would be more useful elsewhere.
Maj. William Spence: Well, it won't work now Ballard's arrested.
Capt. Thomas Rawson: But the Germans don't know we know that. It'll still work.
Maj. William Spence: But they have his radio.
Capt. Thomas Rawson: Yes, and they'll be sitting there, waiting for a signal. Well, we'll send them one. We'll say that one of our people is coming in with orders for Ballard. He'll land, the Germans will pick him up and try to beat out of him what those orders are.
Maj. William Spence: Plant a phony agent on them?
Capt. Thomas Rawson: So he breaks, he talks. And gives away to the Germans the plan to destroy communications in that area.
Maj. William Spence: The Maquis can't make the attack now.
Capt. Thomas Rawson: But the Germans will draw exactly the same conclusions as if they could - which is what we want.
Maj. William Spence: Would the phony agent get away with it?
Capt. Thomas Rawson: He won't know he's phony. He'll really believe he's got vital information. He'll try his hardest not to talk. Then things will get too tough for him. He won't be able to take it and he will talk.
Maj. William Spence: What, deliberately let them get a man of ours and break him?
Capt. Thomas Rawson: Yes. But he must be a man trying to do his duty; devoted, brave, utterly convincing. Well?
Lucy Bowen: He'd be a sacrifice.
Capt. Thomas Rawson: [he's handed a message] This is on Ballard's radio and in his code. The Germans don't know we know.
Capt. Thomas Rawson: Get on the phone to Holding Centre and tell Taylor we'll be down this afternoon.
Capt. Thomas Rawson: We've been trying to find men who won't crack under pressure. Now we've got to find one who will. But not too easily.

Crazy credits
Opening credits prologue: LONDON - JUNE 8TH 1946

Soundtracks
Standard of St. George
(uncredited)
Music by Kenneth Alford
Arranged by Al Sherman

Top review

7/10

actually a remake of fox TV show

When 20th Century Fox entered TV in the 1950s, one of the programs was an hour-long anthology series. This series took many Fox classics (THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR, HOUSE OF STRANGERS, MIRACLE ON 34th STREET, THE LATE GEORGE APLEY, YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, et al) and reduced them to less-than-an-hour. One of the entries in that series was titled DECEPTION, and it starred Linda Darnell and Trevor Howard; it was about a woman intelligence officer in charge of a complicated spy mission: she has to pick a man who will turn out to be a coward, so that he can be given false information which he will divulge (under torture) to the Nazis. Unless i'm very much mistaken, this is one instance when the TV episode was embellished into a feature film (made in 1961). The movie provides a lot more exposition, but the story is the same, including the female intelligence officer seeking out the man after the war. This film stars Suzy Parker as the intelligence agent, and Bradford Dillman as the man; soon after this movie, they would marry and she would retire from acting. Though they don't have the same depth as Darnell (an exceptional performance) and Howard, Parker and Dillman are nevertheless quite a glamorous couple (as they were in real life).

(Though the film is well-done, the TV show, in this instance, packed more of a punch, and the performances of Linda Darnell and Trevor Howard were exceptional.)

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