for me, as Romanian and admirer of Anthony Quinn, it remains a strange film. first for the sacrificed accuracy. then, for the Hollywood style. not the last, for a too simple portrait of a world who is mine. sure, many excuses are valuable. and the film is remains a remarkable title for filmography of actors, director, for a part of public. but... . its virtue is the remember of East. without a specific name because it could be Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria or Albania, Greece or Turkey, Hungary or Poland the motherland of the poor Moritz who is not more than version of Edmond Dantes, without revenge, without treasure. Virgil Gheorghiu is far to be a great writer and, maybe, this is the good thing for the film. because it could be used his novel for legitimate a image. fake in many points, naive in the others. but dramatic in comfortable manner. and this is all.

Considering this film was made in 1967, and on locations in France and Yugoslavia and with a mixed bag of actors, it still is an incredible and riveting film to watch, even realistic enough for Bosnia 1992 !True Anthony Quinn does not look like a Romanian peasant nor of Aryan origin, but he does a good job portraying the common man lost in the confusion of WW2, and displaced from his farm in distant Romania. Labeled and deported as a Jew despite his protestations to the contrary, he somehow ends up as a study of the perfect Aryan race for the Third Reich, and later loses on all accounts when no one wants to believe his story, least of all the Allies ...Eventually he gets repatriated with wife Virna Lisi and family somewhere in Germany but only after 8 years of European wilderness.Henri Verneuil doesn't cut corners, and the locations look authentic. But with so many nationalities, the acting suffers towards the last few scenes.A very enjoyable film, but from another era.

I was wrapped to see many other people also enjoyed this film. First watched it when I was in my early teens and then again several times late at night a few times after. Then sadly, no more. I'm now nearly 49 and so wish it could be made available on DVD. Why not? The best Anthony Quinn role, no one could have been more suited for the part or parts he plays - I've mentioned it to other film buffs of similar age and alas, no one I know recalls it. As the daughter of a generation that went through WWII and its aftermath (and myself deeply fascinated by what that generation endured) I guess this film at the time gave me a wonderful cinematic insight into some of the heartbreaking issues of the day. For classic final scenes this movie is a stand out.

This is a finely crafted movie with moving sequences, humor, and best of all a love story. Anthony Quinn is wonderfully casted and after seeing several of his movies, this has to be categorized as one of his best performances, besides Zorba. The movie makes you really wonder if its filmed in Romania, which apparently is not the case. It is sure to fool even native Romanians, with its authentic-like landscape, costume, and ways of life. According to IMDb it is actually shot in France and Yugoslavia, hmmm. The story is compelling, making you want to watch the entire movie over, to see if you missed something. It provoked me into researching to find out if this is a truth based movie, but to my disappointment, it is a novel based film, seemingly fiction. It seems a bit far fetched to have happened for real, but one never knows.... The one problem with this film, is that it doesn't seem to cast any Romanian actors, and it is a film about a Romanian character. There are probably many Romanian fill-ins in the beginning, but maybe not, it is filmed elsewhere. The author of the book was Romanian, at least thats all fine and dandy - overall a masterpiece in cinematography.