It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Robert Mitchum, employee of a mysterious rich guy with a mysterious source of income, gets involved in FOREIGN INTRIGUE when he seeks out the source of his newly dead employer's seven figure lifestyle on the Riviera. Will the natural scenery of the Riviera, Sweeden and Vienna overwhelm the scenery provided by Bob's bodacious costars? This is an entertaining enough movie -- and would have been a lot better without the atrocious musical score -- but it is slumming for Mitchum, who probably took the role for the free visits to European hotspots. The main interest IS Mitchum, who acts the role in an interesting fashion. By acting, in each scene, that he just can't quite believe the mother lode of BS that he has just been handed by some suspect, spy type, cute girl, or plot development, he sort of steps aside from the move, and whispers to us that he knows this is all nonsense, but bear with him, the movie won't be too bad. And, because he does that, it really isn't.Now, frankly, this is a dead-end as an acting approach, and the cul-de-sac at the end is Roger Moore at the close of his James Bond period. But it works for this movie and this actor, where a straighter approach probably just would have failed. We should be grateful, though, that a sequel, suggested by the ending, was not produced.

This tale of intrigue concerns the American business manager (Robert Mitchum playing "David Bishop") of wealthy European Viktor Dannamore in post-WWII Europe. Without the barest introduction, the action draws the protagonist into a whirlpool of downward-spiraling intrigue surrounding the death of his boss. One learns first that there is something going on between Mitchum and the dead man's wife. The wife then turns out to be "in the game" as well, and from this point--with Mitchum fleeing the Austrian police only to fall into the arms of a beautiful girl (whose late father was an associate of Dannamore). A dizzying array of characters enters this swirling, yet understated drama, either singly or in pairs. And while seem drawn straight out of period spy and intrigue, not one is stereotypical or boring, but highly individualistic and perfect in his (or her) role. The spare, refined dialogue, set against the backdrop of great post-war capitals such as Vienna and Stockholm, is enticing and convincing. And despite the intrigue everywhere, the film's most striking undertone is romantic.A real surprise was that the film moved quickly without the help of modern gaudy action sequences, riveting the viewer to the screen. Not one step or one turn is predictable, and the perfect casting lends an intense attractiveness to this period film. Although not nearly as well-known as other spy-films of the era, "Foreign Intrigue" should rank with great espionage thrillers such as "The 39 Steps" and the far bleaker and more realistic "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold".I was not prepared at 2:30 in the afternoon for a film of this quality and have never seen a surprise ending of this caliber.

Why this film has not been issued on video is puzzling. It has an unusual and compelling plot, attractive locales (shot on location in Europe) and features the inimitable Robert Mitchum. Derived from the television series of the same name, it captures the "take me somewhere far away and adventuresome" escapism of the time. The musical underscore (the original TV introductory piano concerto and a coronet forward jazz theme) continues to this day to swim in my head. Mitchum plays a reluctant investigative patsy persuaded against his better judgment by interpol intelligence to help track down the perpetrators of a scheme to blackmail various politicians who had secretly agreed to ease the invasion of their respective countries by the Nazis. While the film lacks a true denouement (it ends with the Mitchum character about to rendezvous with the prime suspect), the photography, the acting and above all its ingratiating style certainly have made it memorable in the mind of this viewer.

Foreign Intrigue is as bland and generic as its title. Its scantily credentialed director/writer/producer, Sheldon Reynolds, did an early-1950s TV series with the same name, so this movie looks like a bid for big-screen immortality. Alas, it's one of those polyglot productions that suggests financing flowed from several European countries, with strings attached to several cast members; there's no other way to account for their presence.A wealthy man of mystery drops dead in his villa on the Riviera. His American press agent (Robert Mitchum) finds him but suspicions grow when he's asked four times in succession if his employer `said anything' before he died. So Mitchum sets out to discover who the man was and how he accumulated his fortune. He starts with the merry widow (Genevieve Page) and travels on to Vienna and Stockholm, where he falls for the daughter (Ingrid Thulin) of a deceased industrialist whom may have been a blackmail target. Mitchum finds that he, too, is being followed....Foreign Intrigue brings to mind Orson Welles' Mr. Arkadin of the previous year, memories of which emphatically ought not to be freshened. There's little true suspense, though the score, by Paul Durand and Charlie Norman, insists that yes, there is. Reynolds tosses in a little Alfred Hitchock here, a little Carol Reed there, but to little avail. About three-quarters of the way through, the picture reaches a lugubrious crescendo by revealing a vast global conspiracy harking back to the Third Reich. The only sensible reaction to all this is Mitchum's, who knew a good paycheck when he saw one and saunters through the movie with his eyes half-shut, as only he could do. Even so, he remains the only reason to sit through this foreign travelogue devoid of intrigue.