Caught this on TV the other night and it's strangely entertaining. It's not a bad movie, but it's not a great one either. Hard to put a finger on why it doesn't really hit the spot.The basic film noir story, Art Deco sets and costumes are the best things about it, and worth watching for that alone if your an Art deco/ film noir fan.I disagree with other comments about the "poor quality lighting". It's suppossed to look like that, that's the look they were after and they got it perfect. It looks lush and gorgeous. As I said, if you're a fan of the style you'll get it.As for the acting, apart from Lynne Renee who out acts everyone, it's pretty ordinary. Billy Zane sleepwalks thru the entire movie.Normally I like Billy Zane but he looked bored out of his skull the entire time. (Maybe he was.) And that's what ruins the film. You don't care for him, there's no tension or emotional involvement in the lead character. (Hey Billy, you can't just stand there and look pretty, you're old, grey and fat now. You have to at least act.) A better actor would have made it a much better film.The other characters are caricatures of the times, classic film noir stereotypes. But again the costumes and styles from the times at least make them look great.Lynne Renee is the only redeeming actor in the film and is perfect as the endlessly seemingly duplicitous femme fatale. The plot is the typical convoluted noir fare with endless twists and double crosses. So many infact that everything needs to be constantly explained by Zane's droning voice over and numerous flashbacks at the end. And even then it's still confusing.So high marks for style and art direction, let down by average acting.

The plot sounded mildly interesting, but I chose to watch this because I wondered if it was based on a true story. The opening credits said it was and that held my interest more than the overall plot. However, some things seemed odd. I'm no historian but from what I know of Germany, there shouldn't have been any German Crown Jewels outside of museums unless the Nazis stole them. A royal German duchess in 1945 also doesn't match what I know. SO after seeing this movie, I got online and confirmed these things don't match history. What it comes down to is that when Hollywood says a movie is based on a true story, the truth MIGHT be that some Private swiped a box of cigars and it got stolen while he tried smuggling it out. And from that a more exciting story is created. I'm disappointed.Technically, the movie had poor lighting through most of it. The style felt like what we saw in movies made in the 1960's—not that that's bad, but it simply has a low-budget quality.

Based on a true story about a group of WWII US army officers who take a treasure of priceless gems from a castle in Germany and there plans to get rich from it. After the fall of Nazi Germany Colonel Jack Durant (Zane) is assigned to a castle formerly belonging to the Hessen family. After stumbling onto the German crown jewels he and 3 others try to find a way to get them back to the US. This movie was pretty much what I expected. Though it is a movie movie it had the look and feel of a TV movie from a cable channel. Nothing special but fairly entertaining. The movie is full of double crosses and them playing one off of another keeps you guessing who is being honest and who is only in it for themselves. A fairly slow moving movie but interesting enough to keep you watching till the end. I give it a C.

Even though there is not much to hate or dislike about The Hessen Affair, it is not an high-quality production movie. So it's best to have least expectations before watching it; and consider that as it says at the opening scene the film is based on a true story.During the times close to the end of World War-II when U.S. Army was in lands of Germany, Colonel Jack Durant and his German spy Roy Tarlton come across a treasure full of jewels of the crown. Colonel Durant captures this treasure and shares them with his sweetheart Lt.Kathleen Nash. Hence his spy Roy Tarlton turns against him with jealousy. Tarlton flashes this secret information to German Princess Sophie Von Hessen, who sends a letter to U.S Army Colonel Jack Durant declaring that she is the owner of the treasury. In a little while Hitler goes off the deep end, so the war draws to a close. Accordingly Colonel Durant and his sweetheart got their discharge from the army, after deciding to demonstrate the jewels of the crown as spoils of war with the assistance of a lawyer named Maloney, to the Chief Warrant Officer. After coming to NYC, Lt.Kathleen Nash charms a Las Vegas casino owner to sell the treasury. In the meantime, Colonel Durant faces hard circumstances like losing his accountant and lawyer against Roy Tarlton. Roy appears in NYC as well to put up a trouble on Durant. But working separately for the same purpose, Durant and Nash prevail over Tarlton selling the treasure to the Vegas millionaire at a very high cost.There are no good guy nor bad guy in the film. A happy ending awaits for the leading part. The story is very unique, but screenplay hasn't been transferred well enough to the script. Billy Zane acted pretty good. I guess he was the only one that fits with his character. Leading actress Lyne Renee, a 30-year-old Belgian nymph, has nothing <...no talent, no capacity, no voice, no capability, no harmony...> but her charming beauty. Here ,of course, the best job has done by the costume designer of the film crew: Karyn Wagner. The nostalgic French style see-through black lingerie for women of the 1960s' -that has introduced by Brigitte Bardot once- ... The charm of the red high heel shoes on a woman... The official mini skirt wear... The jewelry choice for a naked woman body -that also has been displayed in Titanic(1998) before-... And the best choice for a morning dress for the women is ,of course, to wear her man's white dress-look shirt with the top 3 buttons and cuff links undone... The loudest applause for Karyn Wagner, who also costumed the actors in the Notebook(2004) and the Green Mile(1999) a while ago. If someone ,like me, wants to edit a short compilation movie of the nude and sex-related scenes of this film, it wouldn't be less than 15 minutes. Although, the images and scenes are not disturbing; that's how it must be done. It's still good and OK to watch with whole family.Don't ask me the technical aspects, I wonder if there is any. It's a silent, more talking less action type of movie and the sound at the action scenes cannot be evaluated as average. Cinematography is low, we cannot even tell which scenes are in studio which scenes are open-air. Basically the light scheme is a total failure. Camera works are so-so; camera movements and locations are good enough to keep your eyes open till the end. It can be a boring film, but it's never a sleeper. You cannot tell what's going to happen next. This also possesses the only good aspect of the film that holds the watching loyalty of the viewer: There is always a little mystery through a suspension.