Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #138660 in DVD
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, Portuguese, German
• Subtitled in: German
• Dubbed in: German
• Running time: 126 minutes

Customer Reviews

True story with panache
Based on a true story, Bond director Terence Young endowed this World War Two era espionage story with his trademark style and panache.
Cat burglar Eddie Chapman finds himself in a jail call on the island of Jersey when the territory is over run by Germany at the outset of the war.
The Germans decide to put Chapmans talents to good use and (after a series of ingenious tests) send him back to England to spy for them. However, Chapman decides his efforts would be better spend working for the allies and begins to send back false reports to mislead his Nazi handlers.
What follows is a taut, fun and entirely satisfying adventure with the admirable cast of Christopher Plummer, Yul Brynner and Gert (Goldfinger) Frobe. This movie deserves a Blu-ray release here in the U.S. (or at very least DVD). There is a DVD release in Region 2.
This movie comes highly recommended.

Missing in Action
I have no idea why this film is so hard to find. It's never shown on television, it's unavailable on US DVD, and the VHS version has been cut down from the original. This wonderful film is moving and exciting--and missing in action.

Triple Cross DVD only available in the UK and Germany...
For those who still wonder whether this title is available or not in DVD format, the answer is YES but, not in NTSC (U.S. Format).

The only two versions available are in the UK from Amazon.co.uk from an obscure Label called Prism Leisure (An Odyssey Bestseller) and includes the movie in a very shortened format (about 120 min. in PAL, equivalent to about the original U.S. Theatrical Release which in NTSC would come to about 125 to 126min. in length - The British version was originally cut at 140min.), and the other in Germany from another obscure DVD producer called E-M-S.

While I have no idea how the German copy looks like, or sounds like, the British copy I own, despite the 20min. cut-down, is fairly decent, with a clear transfer and a 2.0 channel Monaural sound, which on modern DVD players could be even further enhanced through Dolby Pro Logic.

Funny that at the opening we are served with the legendary WB, Warner Bros. Pictures Shield logo, and indeed, this movie was originally distributed by this Company. Why they didn't decide to release it in the U.S. is beyond me. Perhaps due to copyright fights and other stupid legal stuff going on behind closed curtains.

Anyhow, the picture is presented in a letterbox (non-anamorphic) version, reproducing the original theatrical 1.66:1 Aspect Ratio which, even on Standard Screens shouldn't really be too bad.

Finally, if you are lucky enough to own a code-free (region free) DVD player, you should be able to enjoy this picture without problems. The movie is fully English spoken (even the Germans speak English).

The German copy, probably includes the fully German-spoken version of the film, but as is usual for German internationally released DVDs, (see other titles from Germany such as "El Cid", "Fall of the Roman Empire", "Circus World" or even "55 Days at Peking" which amazingly are all not available on DVD or in Widescreen either in the UK, nor in the States) which all sport an English Track (perhaps in Mono, usually though in 2-channel mono), accompanying its German one.

I only hope that Warner, Paramount, Columbia (through Sony perhaps), may work up the time and the guts to finally find pristine copies of said movies, remaster them either in Stereo (there are copies around) or even in Dolby Surround 2.0/5.1.

In the case of movies such as "Fall of the Roman Empire", one would have expected a rediscovery when in 2000, "Gladiator" was released, which was set in the very same period of time.

But then again, this movie, such as "55 Days in Peking" and "El Cid" were all produced by Samuel Bronston, the black sheep producer.

Funny, because just recently, another product by Bronston has been splendidly released on DVD, and this is "Becket", starring Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole.

"Triple Cross" is not Bronston's child, it is more a James Bond son-in-law, because of who directed it, Terence Young (director of the first 4 Bond movies) and the prominent presence of Gert Fröbe (Goldfinger) in it.
This is why I cannot understand why nobody in the U.S. seems to care about this movie release on DVD.

The story is losely based on a true life adventurer (and jewel thief) of the period (an opportunist if you will). Eddie Chapman, became overnight from a nobody, but in grand-style (he had some very luxurious ambitions and habits), one of the most sought spies in Europe.
Hired at first by the Germans, who actually liberated him from a British jail on the isle of Jersey, when this was occupied by them, he then was caught by the British Military Intelligence and blackmailed into becoming a double agent.
Although caught in the middle, Chapman managed masterfully to play and manipulate the two sides, the one against the other, in order to gain more out of them both, hence the title of the movie: "TRIPLE CROSS".
Originally, the movie was known as just "The Eddie Chapman Story", which subsequently became the subtitle, and then completely disappeared altogether, leaving "Triple Cross" in place.

This is a wise buy, for all those who like spy thrillers of a certain nature, and due to the flamboyant figure played very skillfully by Christopher Plummer, the grand seigneur of the English-speaking stage, and an exceptionally great cast, varying from Yul Brynner to Romy Schneider and from Trevor Howard to Claudine Auger (Thunderball), it shouldn't be too difficult to decide to acquire this DVD.

I gave it just 4 stars, because the extras are a little bit skinny, and a second or a third language track and/or subtitles would have been in order. As said, the transfer is pretty decent and the sound is very clear, enabling everybody to enjoy this movie to the fullest.

In my humble view, a MUST BUY.