COUNT FIVE AND DIE (1957) Directed by Victor Vicas.

Russian born Victor Vicas (1918-1985) spent most of his career as a director in Germany and France with occasional forays into English language productions such as this. COUNT FIVE AND DIE id not really outstanding but is of some interest thanks to its uncompromising and unsentimental attitude to WW2 espionage. Nigel Patrick and Jeffrey Hunter head a team whose job is to convince the Nazis that the invasion of Europe will take place in Holland. The team soon begin to suspect that they have been infiltrated by a German spy. The lies and counter lies are well enough handled and the background of wartime London is fairly convincing given that it avoids many of the visual clichés seen it other depictions of the era. As a footnote I had an uncle who (unknowingly, at the time) was involved in similar wartime deception prior to D-Day while serving in the Royal Navy. Rating **