The Devil Makes Three (film)
The Devil Makes Three is a 1952 thriller film set in post-World War II Germany, starring Gene Kelly, Pier Angeli and Richard Egan.
The Devil Makes Three | |
---|---|
Directed by | Andrew Marton |
Produced by | Richard Goldstone |
Written by | Lawrence P. Bachmann Jerry Davis |
Starring | Gene Kelly Pier Angeli Richard Egan |
Music by | Rudolph G. Kopp |
Cinematography | Václav Vích |
Edited by | Ben Lewis |
Distributed by | Loew's Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 96 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,005,000[1] |
Box office | $1,485,000[1] |
Plot
Former Eighth Air Force bomber crewman Captain Jeff Eliot returns to Germany in 1947 to visit the family who rescued and hid him from the Nazis after his plane was shot down over Munich in World War II.
He learns that most of the family was killed by an American air raid. The only survivor is the daughter, Wilhelmina Lehrt, who is working as a hostess in a nightclub and hates Americans. Eliot nonetheless manages to romance "Willie" and in his time at the nightclub, he develops a friendship with Heisemann, a comic.
Heisemann, it turns out, has secret ties to an underground Nazi revivalist movement. When Eliot discovers this, he tells his superiors, who order him to continue his relationship with Willie to learn more about Heisemann's operation.
The climax of the picture takes place in Berchtesgaden, and the scenes of Heisemann being chased through the rubble were filmed inside the ruins of Hitler's house just before its final demolition by the German government. Heisemann in the scene's final frame stands facing his captors in the notorious huge picture window of the house.
Cast
- Gene Kelly as Captain Jeff Eliot
- Pier Angeli as Wilhelmina "Willie" Lehrt
- Richard Rober as Colonel James Terry
- Richard Egan as Captain Parker
- Claus Clausen as Heisemann
- Margot Hielscher: Bar Singer
- Ruth Megary: Waitress
Reception
According to MGM records the film made $743,000 in the US and Canada and $742,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $57,000.[1]
References
- The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.