9/10
A well-made thriller with a touch of Cold War drama
25 April 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Joe Newman (formerly Joachim Deutsch) is the son of a German father and British mother. One day he receives a phone call from a man who says he is father, Kurt Deutsch. The man asks him to visit him in his home town in Bavaria. Joe is surprised, because he has long believed that his father was killed during the Second World War. It turns out that Kurt had survived the war. He had been imprisoned in a Soviet concentration camp, but escaped with his friend, a scientist. The latter was, however, shot to death. Back in Germany he moved into the large mansion of Dr. van Brecht and married a younger woman. Joe is told that his father had passed away recently.

When it is revealed that Kurt was buried as a catholic, although he was a protestant, Joe begins to question the circumstances regarding his father's death. When it is revealed that a young Eastern European refugee woman was the only attendee at his funeral, Joe believes that it was her father who was buried in Kurt's grave instead.

Brenner, an investigator for an insurance company, tells Joe that Kurt indeed is alive. His wife and Dr. van Brecht has staged Kurt's death because of insurance fraud.

The local police also seems to work against him. Well, everything is not what it seems. It is towards the end we get to know the truth.

A well-made thriller and a very good cast, although Mai Zetterling has almost nothing to do. Peter Cushing is playing a doctor, although not one of his regular "mad scientists". Nial MacGinnis is excellent as the ambiguous investigator for an insurance company. Eric Portman is good as the police officer, likewise Nigel Green as his assistant.
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