O.S.S. (1946)
Grade: 65
"O.S.S." is a competent spy drama, set during World War II. Alan Ladd stars as an American agent operating in France, trying to obtain information about German troop movements. The O.S.S. is the Office of Strategic Services, a CIA predecessor. While workmanlike in its story developments, and with Ladd surprisingly dislikable (although credible) in the lead role, the film has good script and direction, and plenty of action and suspense.
Ladd and other future O.S.S. agents are first seen being trained in the U.S. Ladd's fellow spies include sculpter Geraldine Fitzgerald, friendly hockey player Richard Benedict, and middle aged and uneffacing Don Beddoe.
Proud nazi officer John Hoyt falls for Fitzgerald, who uses him to plant plastic explosives in a bust, sabotaging a train. Hoyt survives, and spends the rest of the film hunting her down. Meanwhile, O.S.S. activities are aided by a greedy German traitor (Harold Vermilyea) and a successful plant in the German Army (Richard Webb).
Predictable, the relationship between Ladd and Fitzgerald is a plot focus. Ladd is initially chauvinistic, but Fitzgerald's field successes change his mind. Benedict also gets a love interest, with his unseen contact Gloria Saunders.
The American agents are heroic, ready to sacrifice their lives if necessary for the cause of Allied victory. Not surpringly, the Germans don't come off as well. Both Hoyt and Vermilyea put selfish interests first. When Ladd is getting a beating in a later scene, a group of German soldiers is shown drunken and approving.
kollers@mpsi.net http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html
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