The Secret Ways (1961)
The Secret Ways is a 1961 American neo noir mystery thriller film based on Alistair MacLean’s 1959 novel The Last Frontier. It was directed by Phil Karlson and stars Richard Widmark.
Directors – Phil Karlson, Richard Widmark (uncredited)
Writers – Alistair MacLean (novel “The Secret Ways”), Jean Hazlewood (screenplay)
Cast –
Richard Widmark as Michael Reynolds
Sonja Ziemann as Julia
Charles Régnier as The Count
Walter Rilla as Jancsi
Senta Berger as Elsa
Howard Vernon as Colonel Hidas
Heinz Moog as Minister Sakenov
Hubert von Meyerinck as Sheffler
Oskar Wegrostek as The Fat man
Stefan Schnabel as Border official
Elisabeth Neumann-Viertel as Olga
Helmut Janatsch as Janos
John Horsley as Jon Brainbridge
Walter Wilz as Peter
Raoul Retzer as Special Agent
Georg Köváry as Language Professor
Ady Berber as Sandor
Jochen Brockmann as The Commandant
Brigitte Brunmüller as Waitress
Reinhard Kolldehoff as The Count’s Men
Rudolf Rösner as The Count’s Men
Watch “The Secret Ways” (1961)
Plot
In 1960 Vienna, after Soviet tanks crush the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, American adventurer Michael Reynolds (Richard Widmark) is hired by an international espionage ring to smuggle a noted scholar and resistance leader, Professor Jansci (Walter Rilla), out of Communist-ruled Hungary. Reynolds goes to Vienna to see the professor’s daughter, Julia (Sonja Ziemann), and he persuades her to accompany him to Budapest. Once there, Reynolds is kidnapped by “freedom fighters” who take him to the professor’s secret headquarters.
Meanwhile, one of Jansci’s trusted aides is captured by the Hungarian Secret Police and forced to reveal the professor’s hiding place. Reynolds, Julia, and Jansci are quickly rounded up and taken to Szarhaza Prison, where they are tortured by the sadistic Colonel Hidas (Howard Vernon).
They are rescued by a resistance fighter known as The Count (Charles Régnier), who tricks the Communists into placing the prisoners in his custody. At the last moment the ruse is discovered. The Count is killed as the other three race to the airport where a chartered plane is waiting. Hidas pursues them but is killed in an accident on the runway. Safe at last, Reynolds, Julia, and the professor leave Hungary.