Stars: Jon Voight, Maximilian Schell, Maria Schell, Derek Jacobi, Peter Jeffrey, Mary Tamm, Noel Willman

Director: Ronald Neame

Summary: The tense true story of a newsman whose search for a Nazi murderer leads him to the discovery of a top secret Nazi organisation file named 'Odessa'... Based on the novel by Frederick Forsythe.

WIN DVDs by rating this DVD

Average User Rating:

WIN DVDS by being amongst the first to review this DVD. Reviewing DVDs earns you bonus entries and lets you WIN DVDs!Please login before reviewing this DVD. If you're a new user, register for free and enter to WIN FREE DVDs!

Originally released in 1974, The Odessa Fileis set in Hamburg a decade earlier. Its starting-point is the Nazi support network Odessa, and its involvement with Egyptian plans to destroy Israel. Peter Miller is a freelance journalist whose interest appears initially to be a professional one, before a personal dimension finally becomes apparent in his confrontation with SS Captain Roschmann.

Kenneth Ross adapts a well-honed screenplay from Frederick Forsyth's bestseller, and director Ronald Neame captures a typically Cold War sense of individuals and organisations playing out a scenario of political right and wrong. John Voight, long before he became a cameo star, makes a sympathetic lead, able to judge between the moral and material aspects of his profession. Mary Tamm is photogenic, if uninvolving, as his girlfriend, while Maximillian Schell is a convincing Nazi stereotype. Andrew Lloyd-Weber contributes a serviceable score, centred on the catchy "Christmas Dream" sung by Perry Como. Not a classic suspense thriller, but an enjoyable and thoughtful one.

On the DVD:the letterbox widescreen format preserves the 2.35:1 aspect ratio of the cinema release with decent if not exceptional clarity, with optional 16:9 TV enhancement. There are French, German, Italian and Spanish overdubs, and subtitles in 21 languages. Detailed filmographies for Neame, Voight and Schell are included and the theatrical trailer is to the point in a way they so rarely are these days. --Richard Whitehouse

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Trailers, Filmographies
Subtitles:	Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Year:	1974
Release Date:	March 8, 2004
Runtime:	123 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	C 822 387 4
Keywords:	General, File, Wide, Screen, Odessa, Drama
Genre:	Drama