19 Mar Triple Cross
Triple Cross, WWII Spy Film starring Christopher Plummer and Yul Brynner
(1966) Triple Cross is based on the biography of Englishman Eddie Chapman. During WWII he offered his services to the Nazis as a spy, then became a British double agent nicknamed “Zigzag.”
Director Terrence Young, who knew Chapman before the war, had previously directed three James Bond films.
The best part of the movie was watching Christopher Plummer, gorgeous at 37 years old and as much a lady-killer as a James Bond.
The true story is better than the movie. The real Chapman (as well as the Plummer Chapman) was a master safe-breaker. He was imprisoned in the Channel Islands when the Germans invaded. A summary of his life can be read in his 1998 obituary.
How did he talk the Nazis into hiring him? “I’d rather live for Germany than die for England.”
In the movie, Yul Brynner plays the part of Baron Stefan von Grunen, the German that Chapman reported to. In the movie, the character was shot for his involvement in a plot to kill Hitler.
After the war, the German and Chapman became friends, and von Grunen attended the wedding of his daughter.
Now it gets even better. A book by Ben Macintyre, Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal, was released in 2008. It’s all about Eddie, and some year soon there may be a movie produced by Tom Hanks!
I’ll put it on my list!
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