13 Rue Madeleine is a 1947 World War II spy film starring James Cagney, Annabella and Richard Conte.
Plot
Bob Sharkey (James Cagney) is an instructor of would-be spies for the Allied Office of Strategic Services (OSS, the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency). He becomes suspicious of one of the latest batch of students, Bill O'Connell (Richard Conte), who is too good at espionage in Sharkey's opinion. His boss, Charles Gibson (Walter Abel) confirms that O'Connell is really a top German agent named Wilhelm Kuncel, but tells Sharkey to pass him, as they intend to feed the mole false information about the impending D-Day invasion.
When they complete their training, three of Sharkey's pupils, Frenchwoman Suzanne de Beaumont (Annabella), American Jeff Lassiter (Frank Latimore) and Kuncel, are sent on two separate missions into German-occupied France. Sharkey tells Lassiter about Kuncel beforehand so he can keep watch on the traitor. However, when Kuncel casually talks to Lassiter, the inexperienced man lets his uneasiness show, alerting Kuncel. On the transport plane, Kuncel secretly cuts Lassiter's parachute cord, causing him to plummet to his death when they jump.
With no time to brief anybody else to be Lassiter's replacement, Sharkey volunteers. Gibson objects, since Sharkey knows the location of the planned invasion of Europe, but reluctantly gives in. He and de Beaumont complete their mission (getting a collaborator named Duclois back to England), but Sharkey is captured. De Beaumont is killed transmitting the news to England. Sharkey is tortured by Kuncel's men, but refuses to talk. Back in England, Gibson has no choice but to order a bombing raid to silence Sharkey. When the bombing starts, Sharkey realizes what is happening and laughs in Kuncel's face just before they both perish.
Cast
Production
Prohibited from mentioning the OSS during the war due to secrecy, several Hollywood studios made their own films of the agency after the war, such as Paramount's O.S.S., Warner Bros./United States Pictures Cloak and Dagger, and RKO/Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious. Though 13 Rue Madeleine was originally written to showcase the O.S.S., with Cagney playing a character based on William Donovan and featuring Peter Ortiz as a technical advisor, Donovan raised major objections to the film, including the idea that his agency had been infiltrated by an enemy agent.[1] The agency was renamed "077" and Cagney's character had no similarities to Donovan.
The film followed Fox's The House on 92nd Street a true story of Federal Bureau of Investigation counter espionage which shared the same director, producer, and one of the writers.
Much of the filming was done in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The scene where Sharkey is leaving the "Local French HQ", on his way to meet with the local resistance was shot on rue Donnacona, with la Ursulines School in the background.
The Breen office also objected to the Americans bombing a building solely to kill Sharkey; the film made reference to the building being an acceptable military target.[2]
References
- ^ p.120 Dick, Bernard F. The Star Spangled Screen University of Kentucky Press
- ^ ibid
External links
