This film is so well crafted that it still can't be faulted - 60 years later. There's not a weak player in the cast - and this must be the film to remember both Peck and Crawford by. Peck by his mastery of the very complex character he has to play, Crawford by the masterful way in which he plays his usual, boorish, stereotype - but then brilliantly wises up to reality. The scenes where Peck and Crawford interact are electric.The plot is very, very complex. Even if you pay full attention to every word and every character nuance, you'll probably still be unprepared for the twists and turns of Nunnally Johnson's subtle and complex story.On this topic, you'll note some reviews criticising the plot for weaknesses. Not So. It is a foolhardy reviewer who goes up against a Nunnally Johnson script! To elaborate I'd have to spoil. Suffice it to say that this story is a wild horse - and you'll have one heck of a job staying on its back as it bucks, twists and cavorts.Worth seeing - has to be seen, some might say - more than once!

Gregory Peck "almost always played courageous, nobly heroic good guys who saw injustice and fought it."(IMDb)And from the very start as his debut (Tourneur's "days of glory" ) shows.I cannot remember him playing a villain.A GI was kidnapped in Germany during his military service (it was a time when conscripts trusted their superiors,which was not that way in the late sixties;see the scene with the girlfriend );we do not exactly who abducted him:Russians or former Nazis.Peck portrays an officer who may seem cold and indifferent at first sight.The boy's father is a wealthy man who believes that money can buy anything: "your money does not mean anything here" says Peck .They have to deal with "night people" in the cold war.The most interesting side of the movie is:shall we exchange innocent (and even heroic) people for an unfortunate rich kid?Which makes Charles Leatherby(Broderick Crawford) the most endearing character of the movie.The selfish millionaire discovers compassion and sacrifice.The ending of the movie,on the other hand ,is too implausible to convince.Hoffy (Anita Bjork) is only an amateur and her bosses should have known better.

Gregory Peck plays a U.S. Army Provost caught up in exchanging a married couple wanted by Russians for a captured American soldier in "Night People," set in post-war Berlin. By today's standards, this film is on the talky side, with not much action. Although the script was nominated for an Oscar, it's problematic - the denouement was much too simple, for one thing.Broderick Crawford is the father of the captured soldier, and he does an excellent job. Rita Gam is Ricky, Peck's beautiful and feisty secretary. There are several TV faces as well: Buddy Ebsen, Walter Abel, and Max Showalter. Anita Bjork is "Hoffy," a woman who works for Peck yet may be playing both ends.But the film is really Peck's, who does a fantastic job creating an interesting, tough, passionate, decisive, and funny character. He's instantly both likable and admirable.

Nunally Johnson proves again here that he was not really a film-maker. This so-called "thriller" is intelligent, literal and well acted - but way over-talkie and lacking in any visual style. They went to Berlin to film - and what a fascinating back-drop this is - but they hardly ever go outdoors. It seems to have been filmed mostly in poorly constructed studio sets. The best thing here is Peck's commanding performance as the hard-bitten military man, embittered by his dirty job. The attempt to use Buddy Ebsen for comic relief rarely works, and the political propaganda is offensive, particularly the referral to the Russians with terms like "cannibals". All in all pretty lame stuff.