What I thought I'd see was a tight spy thriller. What I got was something like a step barely above a Barry Newman TV show. It is all shot in Salzberg, Austria and the scenery is perhaps this films most impressive asset. The script and story are slow and plodding.Anna Karina is here a lot, but the script gives her little to make an impression. Of course, Newman does not get a lot from it either. Karen Jensen does not get a lot of script, but the camera makes her figure look like it was ready for prime time in 1972. Amazingly this beauty did not get a lot of exposure.The plot is a box of Nazi papers naming people responsible for some of the horrible things Nazis did during the war. The information is not easy to get, and there are a lot of curves and people after this box. Not a great film, very dull, and it should have been done better.

Very confusing film.If it weren't for the fact that the film takes place after the war, you would recognize the scenery of the buildings in Austria just before the Anschluss of 1938 shown in the wonderful "The Sound of Music."Everyone is after a box filled with names of Nazi collaborators during the war, many of whom could resurface should Nazism ever attempt to take hold once again.The problem with the film is that there are so many sides that you begin to lose track of which side the individuals are.You know you're in for a bumpy ride when both the photographer and the one who allegedly paid him money for the photographs both wind up dead within the first 10 minutes of the film. The bodies invariably begin to pile up.You just don't know or understand where Klaus Maria Brandauer is coming from.

Although filmed entirely in and around Salzburg, this is a disappointing adaptation of the novel by Helen MacInnes which I read and thoroughly enjoyed around the time the movie went into production. Yes, I am aware of the conventional wisdom to the effect that a movie should NOT be compared to the book on which it is based. They are two different art forms and it's therefore considered that a movie should not necessarily be a faithful transcription of the book. But that is precisely what is wrong with this adaptation. It is indeed a mirror of the book and as a result is less suspenseful, less intriguing, and far less entertaining.Director Katzin is seemingly unaware of this problem and does absolutely nothing to improve the movie's pace. Instead, he directs the action highlights in a slow-motion, stop-frame manner that admittedly makes then run longer – but with far less impact.However, the ineffective way Katzin handles what should have been the action highlights, is nothing compared to the downright incompetent way he attempts to ram the dialogue scenes down our throats. Mr Katzin is obviously a recruit from TV who knows nothing – but absolutely nothing! – about film-making, I don't know why the producer wasted his money hiring Lambert Hofer to design Karina and Jensen's wardrobe. We never see it. Any shots below shoulder level are rare – and this applies to the whole cast, not just Anna Karina and Karen Jensen.The movie also cries out for reverse shots to relieve the monotonous cutting, but the cutter, John Woodcock, evidently had no choice. Katzin apparently didn't shoot any reverse angles at all.The end result of Katzin's incompetence is a totally boring movie that, whilst certainly faithful to the book, is a real turn-off. Although Helen MacInnes can't be blamed for this unwise adaptation, I've never read any of her novels since.

After 'Vanishing Point' and 'Fear Is the Key,' Barry Newman is involved in another auto-chase, but this time with a distinct difference... The baddies, not strictly gangsters but hoodlums with Nazi connections, have kidnapped Anna Karina for some dirty purpose and are driving away with her through busy city streets...Newman, an American lawyer on holiday in Salzburg, finds himself suspected by spies of both sides... He chases the kidnap-car by continually managing to get in front of it (the high speed scenes), then slowing down to cause a traffic jam and attract the attention of the police...Klaus Maria Brandauer makes his film debut here, before his appearance in 'Mephisto,' Oscar Winner for Best Foreign Film in 1981...