1957's "The Traitor" centers on a small band of resistance fighters whose leader was murdered by the Nazis after being betrayed by one of their members. Every year since the war's end, they all gather together in the English country home of Colonel Charles Price (Donald Wolfit), except that this time, the Colonel expects a visit from one Theodore Dehmel (Colin Croft), who will be flying in from Berlin, having discovered the traitor's identity. As had been the case during wartime, Price intends to dispense justice himself without any police involvement, but Dehmer arrives and promptly expires with a knife in his back, uttering the mysterious words, 'There's been a mistake.' Once the characters are introduced in the opening reel, the scene never leaves the Colonel's home, making for a claustrophobic screenplay that benefits hugely from its exceptional cast. As another commentator noted, the solution is ingenious, but without any concrete evidence that points to the guilty party. Most of the group are established as being German, except for the Swiss Alfred Baum (Frederick Schiller) and the Polish Joseph Brezina (Anton Diffring), the latter a brilliant concert pianist, allowing Diffring to display a more sympathetic side to his normally villainous countenance. The most notable supporting player is Christopher Lee, still a few months before his star making turn in Hammer's "The Curse of Frankenstein," and sporting a flawless German accent as Doctor Neumann, whose presence no doubt inspired the American distributor to change the generic British title from "The Traitor" to "The Accursed," giving it more of a horror slant. Seldom seen since the old days of black and white television, its obscurity seems destined to continue.

A very wordy and stagey production that could almost have been a filmed stage play with no scene changes so confined is the action in the lounge of an (old dark) house. Central is late great British classical stage thesp Sir Donald Wolfit (the inspiration for the film "The Dresser") who as usual bigs up his part. The premiss (German resistance fighters suffering betrayal to the Gestapo) did deserve superior plot and screenplay and it is regretable that this is something of a pot-boiler. The closing scene is stagey almost to the point of self-parody (indeed I believe subsequent comic parody versions have appeared). However the method by which the murderer is tricked into revealing himself at the end is perhaps worth sitting through the remainder on a rainy afternoon.

This is a wonderful example of post-war British thrillers at their very best. Members of a French Resistance unit meet each year in England on the anniversary of their leaders death at the hands of a traitor in their midst. When they learn that the identity of the person responsible for this treacherous act is about to become known he or she decides to prevent their secret from being revealed. The ensemble cast are all ideal for their roles, Anton Diffring stands out as a concert pianist instead of his usual role as a nasty Nazi. He really could play the piano well, although I don't think he played the score in this film. It is difficult to guess who the murderer is, I'm still not sure how the investigating military officer comes to his conclusion, but I have watched this film dozens of times and never tire of going along for the ride! It is good to see Christopher Lee also playing a role other than his well-known vampire ones, along with many other well-known European faces, especially Jane Griffiths. This film is impossible to find on video or DVD so if you have the chance to see it don't let the opportunity pass you by!