Operation Secret (1952)

A tribunal is investigating the murder of a French resistance fighter (Paul Picerni) by an American soldier (Cornel Wilde) several years after WWII. The soldier has long disappeared and presumed dead so the tribunal attempts to reconstruct the events leading up to the murder using several witnesses who were participants in the affair (Steve Cochran, Karl Malden, Phyllis Thaxter, Jay Novello, Lester Matthews) by the use of flashbacks until the truth is revealed. Directed by Lewis Seiler (GUADALCANAL DIARY), this WWII espionage thriller has an intriguing premise. There's a lot of unnecessary padding in what should have been a leaner film that releases the tension a good thriller should possess. There's also the air of "Red" paranoia so prevalent in American films of the 1950s that dates it. Curiously some of the actors playing French, like Karl Malden, attempt a French accent while others, notably Steve Cochran don't even bother. Still, I must confess that with all its drawbacks, I was totally into it. With Dan O' Herlihy and Wilton Graff.