Diplomatic Courier (1952)

A diplomatic courier for the state department (Tyrone Power) is sent to receive an important package from a colleague and old friend (James Millican) in Austria but the contact pretends to not recognize him and is later murdered and the package missing. Veteran director Henry Hathaway (TRUE GRIT) is behind the camera for this intriguing espionage cold war thriller. Shot in black and white by Lucien Ballard (THE WILD BUNCH), the film doesn't take advantage of the colorful Austrian and Italian locations which would have benefited from a Technicolor perspective. If would have been different if the B&W photography contributed a noir-ish post WWII atmosphere like Carol Reed's THE THIRD MAN but it's not that kind of movie. The film profits by having two femme fatales, a globe trotting widow (Patricia Neal) who Power meets on an airplane and a Czech spy (Hildegard Knef) who Power meets on a train. Hathaway keeps the film whizzing along to its conclusion with very little lagging. An enjoyable, if minor, entry into the cold war movie canon. The large cast includes Karl Malden, Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Stephen McNally, Herbert Berghof, Helene Stanley and Michael Ansara.