Christopher Plummer in "TRIPLE CROSS"

Posted by DEWEY on Jan 9th 2024

"Triple Cross" offers plenty of action; occurring in Germany, England and France during World War II. But there is such an emotional and moral void at the center of the movie, the audience will likely feel unmotivated and unmoved.
Christopher Plummer stars as amoral, narcissistic criminal Eddie Chapman. After a year locked up in solitary confinement, Chapman is willing to do anything to get out. The Nazis think he will make a good spy, and Chapman will say "Heil, Hitler" or "God Save The Queen", as long as he gets out alive.
Baron Von Gruner (Yul Bryneer) thinks he can be controlled. But Chapman is such a master manipulator, he also offers his services to the British, (as a "double agent"), and tries to set up a similar deal with France. Even the Nazis don't trust or like Chapman, and the British wonder if they have made a deal with the Devil.
Along the way, Plummer beds Romy Schnider and Claudine Auger, and somehow manages to avoid death several times. All the characters are duplicitous in the extreme, and the audience has nothing to care about. This increasingly convoluted thriller relies very heavily on the charismatic appeal of Christopher Plummer.