The Counterfeit Traitor

{{Short description|1962 film by George Seaton}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = The Counterfeit Traitor | image = Film poster for "The Counterfeit Traitor".png | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = [[George Seaton]] | screenplay = George Seaton | based_on = {{based on|''The Counterfeit Traitor''|Alexander Klein}} | producer = {{Plainlist| * [[William Perlberg]] * George Seaton }} | starring = {{Plainlist| * [[William Holden]] * [[Lilli Palmer]] * [[Hugh Griffith]] }} | cinematography = [[Jean Bourgoin]] | editing = [[Alma Macrorie]] | music = [[Alfred Newman (composer)|Alfred Newman]] | studio = Perlberg-Seaton Productions | distributor = [[Paramount Pictures]] | released = {{Film date|1962|04|17}} | runtime = 140 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = | gross = $2.7 million (US and Canada [[Distributor rentals|rentals]])<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/variety-1963-01/page/n69/mode/2up?q=1963|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=9 Jan 1963|page=13|title=Big Rental Pictures of 1962}}</ref> }} '''''The Counterfeit Traitor''''' is a 1962 American [[Spy film|spy]] [[thriller film]] written and directed by [[George Seaton]] and starring [[William Holden]], [[Lilli Palmer]], and [[Hugh Griffith]]. Holden plays Swedish-American oil executive [[Eric Erickson (spy)|Eric Erickson]], who is forced to spy on the [[Nazi Germany|Nazis]] in [[World War II]]. It was based on a nonfiction book of the same name by Alexander Klein.<ref name="Klein">{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9400EEDE123CF937A1575BC0A9649C8B63 |title=Alexander Klein, 83; Wrote Spy Thriller |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 24, 2002 |access-date=2007-11-16 |url-access=registration |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506044555/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/24/arts/alexander-klein-83-wrote-spy-thriller.html |archive-date=May 6, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Plot== Eric Erickson is an American-born Swedish oil executive who is pressured by Allied intelligence agents, led by British agent Collins, to spy for the Allies. Erickson begins his job reluctantly, as it causes marital discord and forces him to pose as a Nazi. He agrees because otherwise his business would be destroyed by the Allies, but over time, realizes it is the right thing to do. Besides, Collins recorded the meeting.

He is influenced in making this moral decision by one of his contacts in Germany, a religious German Christian woman named Marianne Mollendorf, who gives him guidance on the meaning of life and right and wrong. Erickson has a number of close calls, but eventually escapes to Sweden in a harrowing sea voyage.

==Cast== * [[William Holden]] as [[Eric Erickson (spy)|Eric Erickson]] * [[Lilli Palmer]] as Frau Marianne Möllendorf * [[Hugh Griffith]] as Collins * [[Carl Raddatz]] as Otto Holtz * [[Ulf Palme]] as [[Max Gumpel]] * [[Ernst Schröder (actor)|Ernst Schröder]] as Baron Gerhard von Oldenburg * [[Charles Régnier]] as Wilhelm Kortner * [[Ingrid van Bergen]] as Hulda Windler * Helo Gutschwager as Hans Holtz * [[Wolfgang Preiss]] as Colonel Nordoff * [[Werner Peters]] as Bruno Ulrich * [[Erica Beer]] as Klara Holtz * [[Stefan Schnabel]] as Gestapo agent at funeral * [[Klaus Kinski]] as Kindler, Jewish refugee * Jochen Blume as Dr. Jacob Karp * [[Erik Schumann]] as Nazi gunboat officer * Dirk Hansen as Lieutenant Nagler * [[Poul Reichhardt]] as fishing boat Skipper * Ludwig Naybert as stationmaster * [[Louis Miehe-Renard]] as Poul * [[Kai Holm]] as Gunnar * [[Jens Østerholm]] as Lars * [[Eva Dahlbeck]] as Ingrid Erickson

==See also== * [[List of American films of 1962]] * [[Eric Erickson (spy)|Eric Erickson]], the real-life spy on whom the book and film are based<ref name="Klein"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb title}} * {{AFI film}} * {{TCMDb title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Counterfeit Traitor, The}} [[Category:1962 films]] [[Category:1962 drama films]] [[Category:1962 thriller films]] [[Category:1962 war films]] [[Category:1962 American films]] [[Category:1962 English-language films]] [[Category:1960s spy drama films]] [[Category:1962 spy films]] [[Category:1960s spy thriller films]] [[Category:1960s war drama films]] [[Category:American spy drama films]] [[Category:American spy thriller films]] [[Category:American war drama films]] [[Category:English-language spy drama films]] [[Category:English-language spy thriller films]] [[Category:English-language war drama films]] [[Category:Films about Nazi Germany]] [[Category:Films based on biographies]] [[Category:Films directed by George Seaton]] [[Category:Films produced by George Seaton]] [[Category:Films produced by William Perlberg]] [[Category:Films scored by Alfred Newman]] [[Category:Films set in the Baltic Sea]] [[Category:Films set in Berlin]] [[Category:Films set in Copenhagen]] [[Category:Films set in Hamburg]] [[Category:Films set in Stockholm]] [[Category:Films shot in Berlin]] [[Category:Films shot in Copenhagen]] [[Category:Films shot in Hamburg]] [[Category:Films shot in Stockholm]] [[Category:Paramount Pictures films]] [[Category:World War II spy films]]