“The Counterfeit Traitor” is a 1962 movie based on the ordeals of Eric Erickson, an American-born, Swedish oil broker who is blackmailed into undertaking a combined British/American intelligence mission in 1942. William Holden superbly portrays the disillusioned and increasingly desperate oil broker who must pretend to be a Nazi sympathizer in order to travel to Germany and obtain industrial secrets. His immediate reward is the alienation of his wife and friends, and the blacklisting of his business.

You won’t see any big battles in this flick, only the quiet, secret ones desperately played out by courageous underground contacts in German-occupied Scandinavian countries. Even after the movie ends the bravery of these people will come back to you again and again.

What fascinated me most about “The Counterfeit Traitor” was the dramatic evolution of Erickson’s cynical and disillusioned character into a dedicated freedom fighter.

I’m amazed at the trouble the movie’s producers took to make this film authentic. Every scene was filmed where the real life events actually took place. Even though the dialogue is all in English, Swedish actors were used to portray Swedish characters and the same was done for the Danish, German, and British characters as well. Two cast members really stood out for me: Lili Palmer (Frau Mollendorf) and Wolfgang Preiss (Gestapo Colonel Nordorff). I recall Preiss played Major General Max Pemsel in “The Longest Day” and Herren in “The Train”.

At a little over 2 ˝ hours in length this two-tape set is available at Amazon, which you can access via the Combat web site. It can also be occasionally seen, without commercial interruption, on premium cable channels. I give this movie a solid 3 ˝ out of 4 bayonets and recommend it highly. IMDb gives it 7.8 out of a possible 10 stars.

So long from your friendly 349th Heavy Weapons Crew