General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

The Counterfeit Traitor

The Counterfeit Traitor is a 1962 American spy thriller directed by George Seaton, starring William Holden as the real-life World War II Allied agent Eric Erickson, an American-born Swedish oil trader blackmailed into spying on Nazi Germany. It is based on Alexander Klein's 1958 nonfiction book of the same title and co-stars Lilli Palmer and Hugh Griffith.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Release	13 April 1962 (Los Angeles, Warner Hollywood Theatre); 17 April 1962 (New York, DeMille Theatre)¹
Director and writer	George Seaton, who wrote the screenplay; produced by William Perlberg and Seaton for Perlsea Co.¹
Source	The nonfiction book The Counterfeit Traitor by Alexander Klein (New York, 1958)¹
Running time	140 minutes per the AFI Catalog and IMDb; Paramount's own page lists 105 minutes¹^•³^•⁴
Principal cast	William Holden (Eric Erickson), Lilli Palmer (Marianne Möllendorf), Hugh Griffith (Collins), Eva Dahlbeck (Ingrid Erickson), Carl Raddatz, Ernst Schröder, Klaus Kinski¹^•³
Key crew	Cinematography Jean Bourgoin, editing Alma Macrorie, music Alfred Newman, costumes Edith Head¹^•⁵
Format	Technicolor, Westrex sound, 1.85:1 aspect ratio¹^•⁶

Spoilers

Plot

The story is set in 1942. Eric Erickson, an American-born naturalized Swedish citizen, is placed on the Allied blacklist for trading oil with Nazi Germany. Days later Collins, a British Intelligence agent, offers to clear his name at war's end if Erickson feeds the Allies information gathered on his trips to Germany. Erickson accepts, pretends to be pro-Nazi, and wins the confidence of high German officials; the pretense costs him his marriage and his reputation, as his wife Ingrid leaves him and friends brand him a traitor.¹

By inventing a plan to build an oil refinery in neutral Sweden that would guarantee Germany's fuel supply, Erickson gains permission to tour German refineries and passes their exact locations to Collins. In Berlin he meets Marianne Möllendorf, who becomes his confederate and mistress; part of their cover is a feigned affair. The Gestapo eventually discover that Marianne is working with the Allies and send her to Moabit Prison, and the film moves from subterfuge to discovery and escape.¹^•⁴

Historical basis

Klein's book is nonfiction, and Paramount's marketing states plainly that the story is true, adding that the use of European locations where the events occurred adds authenticity.⁴ The literary scholar David Lehman, author of The Mysterious Romance of Murder: Crime, Detection, and the Spirit of Noir (2022), describes the film as true in its broad contours if not in all details, and reads it as the story of a reluctant spy's conversion into a committed freedom fighter, a change made possible by Marianne.² The Los Angeles Times review of 15 April 1962 noted that Seaton sometimes chose dramatic license over historical accuracy in the screenplay.¹ A home-video commentary also observes that the film depicts Erickson accurately as a Swedish-based trader who sold oil to both sides and profited from Sweden's neutrality.⁷

Production

The project was announced in January 1960, when the New York Times reported that Lilli Palmer would travel to Germany to appear opposite William Holden. Holden arrived in Berlin on 28 May 1960 to begin rehearsals, and production ran from 7 June to early November 1960, with additional scenes in April and May 1961.¹

Location shooting took place in Berlin, Hamburg, Stockholm, and Copenhagen, with interiors at Real Film Studio in Germany.¹^•⁶ Writing from Hamburg for the New York Times in September 1960, Perlberg and Seaton described the difficulty of filming a World War II drama in a country that had removed most traces of the conflict: the crew stripped vegetation from ruins on West Berlin's embassy row and had the rubble "freshened by bulldozers," and searched Hamburg for weeks to find adequate wreckage for one scene. About ninety percent of the crew were Germans, several of them veterans of the Wehrmacht and the Hitler Youth who advised on Nazi procedure and attire; one corrected the portrayal of a Gestapo agent as "too sweet." Travelers at Hamburg's Hauptbahnhof were reportedly aghast to find the platform dressed with Nazi soldiers and posters hailing the Third Reich.¹

While on location in Copenhagen, the production used "authentic espionage devices" loaned by the Museum of Danish Resistance, including underground printing presses, secret communication devices, and cyanide capsules.¹

Labor dispute. In September 1960 the International Cinematographers Guild voted to picket the film and The World of Suzie Wong because Holden lived in Switzerland to avoid U.S. taxes, forcing producers to shoot in Europe. The guild relented the next month ahead of contract talks, but in May 1962 it reversed course again, claiming Holden's refusal to work in the United States cost American film workers about $7 million per year in salaries.¹

Reception and afterlife

The New Yorker's review of 28 April 1962 was dismissive, calling the Holden-Palmer thriller a film that "doesn't thrill."⁸ Later assessments have been warmer: a 2022 home-video review describes a slow-burn thriller with close calls and harrowingly real scenes, and praises Erickson's transformation from cynical profiteer to a caring, courageous character.⁷ The film holds a 7.4/10 rating on IMDb from about 3,500 users.³ Alfred Newman's score, mastered for its first CD release from the original three-track Paramount tapes, has been described as classic.⁹

The film is available on digital platforms and was released on Blu-ray and 4K UHD by Kino Lorber.¹⁰^•¹¹

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › War thrillers and spy films

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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