The ODESSA File (film)
Encyclopedia
The Odessa File is a 1974 film
adaptation of the thriller novel
by Frederick Forsyth
, about a struggle between a young German
reporter and the ODESSA
, an organization for ex-Nazis
. The film stars Jon Voight
and was directed by Ronald Neame
, with a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber
.
was assassinated
. Peter Miller, a young German
freelance reporter
, pulls to the curb to listen to a radio report of the assassination. As a result he happens to be stopped at a traffic signal as an ambulance passes by on a highway. He chases the ambulance and discovers it is en route to pick up the body of an elderly Jewish Holocaust
survivor who had committed suicide
, leaving behind no family. The reporter obtains the diary of the man, which contains information on his life in the World War II
Riga Ghetto
, and the name of the SS officer who ran the camp, Eduard Roschmann. Determined to hunt Roschmann down, Miller dares to go undercover to join and infiltrate the ODESSA and find Roschmann, who now runs a high tech company which plans to send radio gyroscopes and biochemical warheads to Egypt to use against Israel. The word ODESSA mentioned in the film is an acronym, which translated from the German, means the Organization for former Members of the SS.
The movie's theme song was "Christmas Dream
", sung by Perry Como
.
1974 in film
The year 1974 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 7 - Blazing Saddles is released in the USA.*August 7 - Peter Wolf, lead singer of The J...
adaptation of the thriller novel
The Odessa File
The Odessa File is a thriller by Frederick Forsyth, first published in 1972, about the adventures of a young German reporter attempting to discover the location of a former SS concentration-camp commander....
by Frederick Forsyth
Frederick Forsyth
Frederick Forsyth, CBE is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan and The Cobra.-...
, about a struggle between a young German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
reporter and the ODESSA
ODESSA
The ODESSA, from the German Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen, meaning “Organization of Former SS Members,” is believed to have been an international Nazi network set up toward the end of World War II by a group of SS officers...
, an organization for ex-Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. The film stars Jon Voight
Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....
and was directed by Ronald Neame
Ronald Neame
Ronald Elwin Neame CBE, BSC was an English film cinematographer, producer, screenwriter and director.-Early career:...
, with a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
.
Plot
The plot opens on November 22, 1963, the day John F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
was assassinated
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
. Peter Miller, a young German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
freelance reporter
Freelancer
A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...
, pulls to the curb to listen to a radio report of the assassination. As a result he happens to be stopped at a traffic signal as an ambulance passes by on a highway. He chases the ambulance and discovers it is en route to pick up the body of an elderly Jewish Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
survivor who had committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, leaving behind no family. The reporter obtains the diary of the man, which contains information on his life in the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Riga Ghetto
Riga Ghetto
The Riga Ghetto was a small area in Maskavas Forštate, neighborhood of Riga, Latvia, designated by the Nazis where Jews from Latvia, and later from Germany, were forced to live during World War II. On October 25, 1941, the Nazis relocated all Jews from Riga and the vicinity to the ghetto while the...
, and the name of the SS officer who ran the camp, Eduard Roschmann. Determined to hunt Roschmann down, Miller dares to go undercover to join and infiltrate the ODESSA and find Roschmann, who now runs a high tech company which plans to send radio gyroscopes and biochemical warheads to Egypt to use against Israel. The word ODESSA mentioned in the film is an acronym, which translated from the German, means the Organization for former Members of the SS.
The movie's theme song was "Christmas Dream
Christmas Dream
Christmas Dream is a song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice with German lyrics by Andre Heller for the 1974 Columbia film The Odessa File. It is sung by Perry Como and The London Boy Singers and is included on the album "A Perry Como Christmas"....
", sung by Perry Como
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...
.
Cast
- Jon VoightJon VoightJonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....
- Peter Miller - Maximilian SchellMaximilian SchellMaximilian Schell is an Austrian-born Swiss actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Judgment at Nuremberg in 1961...
- Eduard RoschmannEdward RoschmannEduard Roschmann alias "Federico Wagner" was a member of the Nazi SS organization. He was commandant of the Riga ghetto from January 1943 until the ghetto was closed in the fall of that year. He was responsible for numerous murders and other atrocities... - Maria SchellMaria SchellMaria Margarethe Anna Schell was an Austrian/Swiss actress, who won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival in 1956 for Gervaise....
- Frau Miller - Mary TammMary TammMary Tamm is an English actress. She is best known for being the first actress to play the character of Romana in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, opposite Tom Baker as the Doctor, from the 1978–1979 season known collectively as The Key to Time.-Early life:Mary Tamm was born in...
- Sigi - Derek JacobiDerek JacobiSir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
- Klaus Wenzer - Peter JeffreyPeter JeffreyPeter Jeffrey was a British actor with many roles in television and film.Jeffrey was born in Bristol, the son of Florence Alice and Arthur Winfred Gilbert Jeffrey. He was educated at Harrow School and Pembroke College, Cambridge but had no formal training as an actor...
- David Porath - Klaus LöwitschKlaus LöwitschKlaus Löwitsch was a German actor, best known in Germany for his starring role in the television detective series Peter Strohm....
- Gustav Mackensen - Kurt MeiselKurt MeiselKurt Meisel was an Austrian actor and film director. He appeared in 65 films between 1934 and 1994. He also directed 21 films between 1949 and 1984.Meisel was married to the actress Ursula Lingen...
- Alfred Oster - Hannes MessemerHannes MessemerHannes Messemer was a German actor best known for his role as the commandant in The Great Escape . The movie had a star-studded cast, but it was the relatively unknown Messemer who uttered the film's most famous line Hannes Messemer (May 19, 1924 – November 2, 1991) was a German actor best...
- General Richard GlücksRichard GlücksRichard Glücks was a high-ranking Nazi official. He attained the rank of a SS-Gruppenführer and a Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS and from 1939 until the end of World War II was the head of Amt D: Konzentrationslagerwesen of the WVHA; the highest-ranking Concentration Camps Inspector in Nazi... - Garfield MorganGarfield MorganGarfield Morgan was an English actor who appeared mostly on TV and occasionally in films.Born in Birmingham, Morgan was apprenticed as a dental mechanic before going to drama school. He started his acting career with the Arena Theatre, Birmingham...
- Israeli General - Shmuel Rodensky - Simon WiesenthalSimon WiesenthalSimon Wiesenthal KBE was an Austrian Holocaust survivor who became famous after World War II for his work as a Nazi hunter....
- Ernst SchröderErnst Schröder (actor)Ernst Schröder was a popular German theatre, film and TV actor.-Life:Born in Herne, Schröder began his acting career at the nearby Bochum Theatre in 1934, under the legendary director Saladin Schmitt. He worked there until 1936, also working as Assistant Director and Stage Designer...
- Werner Deilman - Günter StrackGünter StrackGünter Strack was a German television actor.He was born in Darmstadt and died in Münchsteinach of heart failure.In 1966 he played the role as Professor Karl Manfred in Hitchcock's thriller Torn Curtain...
- Kunik - Noel WillmanNoel WillmanNoel Willman was a Irish actor and theatre director of English descent..His films included Androcles and the Lion , The Man Who Knew Too Much , Across the Bridge , Carve Her Name with Pride , The Kiss of the Vampire , Doctor Zhivago , The Reptile...
- Franz Bayer - Martin Brandt - Marx