A Reel Retro Review: BETRAYED (1954)

With no new films to review for the foreseeable future, Reel Speak will randomly review a classic film from the TCM library every week. Not just for the sake of filling time, but to hopefully introduce some overlooked and perhaps forgotten screen gems from the past to those of us who may be unfamiliar or unawares of their existence. 

Last week, Reel Speak reviewed a late-career film of Vivien Leigh, who was mostly known for her role as Scarlett O’Hara in GONE WITH THE WIND. Since we can’t have Scarlett without her Rhett, this week’s Retro Review features a late-career film from her co-star, Clark Gable. 

It is WWII. Col. Deventer (Gable), is an intelligence agent of the exiled Dutch government, who recruits singer Fran Seelers (Lana Turner), to go undercover into the Nazi-occupied territory to laisse with underground freedom fighters, led by a man known only as The Scarf (Victor Mature). 

Every movie has a hook, or a nucleus…the one thing that grabs our attention and gives our characters something to do. This hook comes in many forms; kill the shark, save the princess, destroy the space station, obtain a rare antiquity. The hook usually comes within the first 10 or 15 minutes of the film, or at least somewhere in the first act. With BETRAYED, the true hook of the story doesn’t come until very late. The bulk of the film spends time with Deventer and Seelers, as they prepare for the mission in Nazi occupied territory while a romance between them begins to take shape. 

Around the third act, it becomes clear that there is a spy in their midst, as the Dutch freedom fighters, acting independently, suddenly begin to suffer heavy losses; their surprise attacks against the Nazi’s not-so-surprising. Who is the spy giving up information? There are suspects everywhere; is it Seelers? The Scarf? Or is it Deventer himself? It’s an issue of double-agents and treason, and it comes in so late it almost feels tacked on. 

Based on a true story of a Dutch resistance leader, BETRAYED still offers a lot as a forgotten slice of WWII history. Director Gottfried Reinhardt keeps things close to the ground, moving us through war strategies and battle plans. The film has the feel of a predecessor to James Bond, with spies lurking everywhere and hidden passages to command centers and hideouts. Deventer himself, as a master-spy, even uses a gadget hidden in a horse cart to send radio signals. 

Even though Gable was near the end of his career, he still gives it his all. This was his fourth (and final) film with Lana Turner, and the chemistry between the two leaps off the screen. The show is stolen by Victor Mature, who is one of those blokes who seems to be having a blast fighting the war. 

The identity of the double-agent doesn’t come as a huge shock, as the seeds are planted early on of who it could be. But the script does not spoil itself, and the reasons behind the betrayal makes sense in hindsight. BETRAYED is a fine look at the legendary Gable late in his career and life, and also holds up as a curiosity piece; an early film that would help usher in Cold War spy films. Its unconventional structure just keeps it from being a must-see. 

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it 

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Reel Facts: BETRAYED was the final film Gable would make under his MGM contract, having first signed with the studio in 1930. He would complete nine more films over the next seven years before his death in 1960. BETRAYED co-stars English actor Alfred Hyde-White, who would gain international fame for his role in MY FAIR LADY (1964), and later would play Dr. Goodfellow in TV’s BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25^th CENTURY (1979-1981).