Little remembered post war drama - set in the refugee camps of 1945 Austria, full of tension between Britain and Russia, with David Niven in charge of a camp, and Topol as a refugee who goes to work as an interpreter.
The main problem for me was that the piece never seemed to get its fix right. There's a new officer, played by John Hurt. There's a local innkeeper, Anna Karina. Karina sleeps with Topol and Niven and Hurt.
Is the film meant to be about Niven and Hurt? Niven and Topol? Karina and the men? I was never sure. At times I got the impression the film was distorted to give more time to Niven when it really should have been about Topol and Hurt. I could be wrong.
Everyone can act, the Austrian locations are spectacular, but the drama feels undercooked, the dialogue is on the nose. Why was this made?
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