The Odessa File

The Odessa File (1974)

Timing: 2:10 (130 min)

6.6/10
177

6.479/10
571

7/10
13000

All about film

Video 1

Photo 34

Actors and characters

Release date

1974-10-17

Country

Germany, United Kingdom

Production

Columbia Pictures, John Woolf Productions, Domino Productions, Oceanic Filmproduktion GmbH

Genre

Drama, Thriller

Budget

$0

Revenue

$0

Website

Director

Ronald Neame

Actors

Jon Voight, Maximilian Schell, Maria Schell, Mary Tamm, Derek Jacobi, Peter Jeffrey, Klaus Löwitsch, Kurt Meisel, Hannes Messemer, Garfield Morgan
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

John Woolf

Operator

Oswald Morris

Composer

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Artist

Audition

Renate Neuchl, Jenia Reissar

Editing

Ralph Kemplen, Pia Arnold
All team (35)

• The abbreviation “O.D.E.S.S.A.” stands for “Organisation der ehemaligen S.S. Angehrigen,” or the organization of former SS members.
• Edward Roschman (1908-1977) was indeed a man wanted for war crimes, and he lived in South America after the war. The search for him became even more active after the publication of a book with the same name (1972) and a film based on it directed by Ronald Nymeier (1911-2010) (1974). Roschman was found dead; it was believed that he was killed by members of “O.D.E.S.S.A.” after his search was taken seriously.
• Hannes Messemer (1924-1991) played a character who is never named in the film. It is believed that he played SS Gruppenführer Richard Glücks (1889-1945), a former head of the Nazi concentration camp system, who disappeared after World War II and is considered one of the founders of “O.D.E.S.S.A.”
• Supporting and episodic roles were largely played by actors of German origin. A significant portion of the characters were portrayed by well-known German theater and film actors. English-speaking actors were coached (by Osman Ragheb) to speak with a German accent similar to that of German actors and actresses. John Voight and Mary Tamm (1950-2012) had to learn to speak with an accent, and even with the nuances of a North German dialect, because their characters were originally from Hamburg.
• Producer John Woolf (1913-1999) and director Ronald Neame were convinced that the film had to be shot in Germany to convey the atmosphere of Frederick Forsyth's novel (1972). The author based the novel on real events and the subsequent lengthy investigation, so filming it anywhere else would have been simply unfair to it. Even the studio used authentic items as props, and the work of set designer Rolf Zehetbauer was genuinely executed in wood, stone, and metal.