13 Rue Madeleine

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13 Rue Madeleine
Directed by	Henry Hathaway
Produced by	Louis De Rochemont
Written by	John Monks, Jr. Sy Bartlett
Starring	James Cagney Annabella Richard Conte
Release date(s)	January 15, 1947
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

13 Rue Madeleine is a 1947 World War II spy film starring James Cagney, Annabella and Richard Conte.

[edit] Plot

Bob Sharkey (James Cagney) is an instructor of would-be spies for the Allied Office of Strategic Services (the predecessor of the C.I.A.). He becomes suspicious of one of the latest batch of students, Bill O'Connell (Richard Conte), who is too good at espionage in Sharkey's opinion. His boss, Charles Gibson (Walter Abel) confirms that O'Connell is really a top German agent named Wilhelm Kuncel, but tells Sharkey to pass him, as they intend to feed the mole false information about the impending D-Day invasion.

When they complete their training, three of Sharkey's pupils, Frenchwoman Suzanne de Beaumont (Annabella), American Jeff Lassiter (Frank Latimore), and Kuncel, are sent on two separate missions into German-occupied France. Sharkey tells Lassiter about Kuncel beforehand so he can keep watch on the traitor. However, when Kuncel casually talks to Lassiter, the inexperienced man lets his uneasiness show, alerting Kuncel. On the transport plane, Kuncel secretly cuts Lassiter's parachute cord, causing him to plummet to his death when they jump.

Sharkey volunteers to be Lassiter's replacement. He and de Beaumont complete their mission (freeing and getting a man named Duclois back to England), but she is killed and Sharkey is captured. He is tortured by Kuncel, but refuses to talk. Back in England, Gibson has no choice but to order a bombing raid to silence Sharkey, who knows too much. When the bombing starts, Sharkey understands what is going on and laughs in Kuncel's face just before they both perish.