# The Odessa File
**The Odessa File** is a 1974 thriller film directed by Ronald Neame, adapted from [Frederick Forsyth](https://www.edgepedia.org/frederick-forsyth)'s best-selling 1972 novel of the same name, in which a West German journalist hunts a Nazi war criminal through a secret organization of former SS members. It stars [Jon Voight](https://www.edgepedia.org/jon-voight) as reporter Peter Miller and [Maximilian Schell](https://www.edgepedia.org/maximilian-schell) as SS Captain Eduard Roschmann, the wartime commandant of the Riga concentration camp[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSA-FILE). It was the second Forsyth novel adapted for the screen, after Fred Zinnemann's *The Day of the Jackal* (1973), which was produced by the same producer, John Woolf, with a screenplay by the same writer, Kenneth Ross[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/84039/the-odessa-file).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | World premiere at the San Francisco International Film Festival, 16 October 1974; New York and Los Angeles openings, 18 October 1974[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSA-FILE) |
| Director and writers | Ronald Neame; screenplay by Kenneth Ross and George Markstein, from Forsyth's 1972 novel[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSA-FILE) |
| Lead cast | Jon Voight (Peter Miller), Maximilian Schell (Eduard Roschmann), Maria Schell, Mary Tamm, Derek Jacobi[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSA-FILE) |
| Real figures portrayed | Eduard Roschmann (1908–1977) and Simon Wiesenthal (1908–2005); Wiesenthal served as the film's technical advisor[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSAFILE) |
| Music | Andrew Lloyd Webber; the song "Christmas Dream," sung by Perry Como, reached number 92 on the Billboard Top 100 in December 1974[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/84039/the-odessa-file) |
| Production | Filmed on location in West Germany at Bavaria Studios, Munich, and completed at Pinewood Studios, London; produced by John Woolf for Columbia[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSA-FILE) |
| Reception | 69% Tomatometer from 16 critics; 64% audience score from more than 2,500 ratings on Rotten Tomatoes[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1015389-odessa_file) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The story opens in Israel in September 1963, where an intelligence agent learns that Egyptian President Gamal Nasser's attack plans against Israel depend on a missile tele-guidance system being developed in an unknown West German factory under the supervision of an organization known as Odessa[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSA-FILE). In Hamburg that November, on the evening of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, freelance reporter Peter Miller receives the diary of Salomon Tauber, an elderly Jewish man who has just committed suicide[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSA-FILE).
The diary recounts Tauber's deportation with his wife to the Riga concentration camp in 1941, overseen by the ruthless SS Captain Eduard Roschmann, nicknamed the "Butcher of Riga"; Tauber's wife was gassed to death on Roschmann's orders, and Tauber survived by using his skills as an architect[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSA-FILE). Wartime sequences, including Tauber's experiences, appear as black-and-white flashbacks narrated from the diary[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSA-FILE).
Miller learns that Roschmann is alive under a different name and that the authorities are doing nothing to prosecute him. His investigation leads him into Odessa, a secret organization formed after the war to help SS members escape prosecution by providing new identification and relocation[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSAFILE). In Vienna he consults the Nazi hunter [Simon Wiesenthal](https://www.edgepedia.org/simon-wiesenthal) (played by Shmuel Rodensky), who fills in details about Odessa and Roschmann's flight to South America[5](https://sheldonkirshner.com/the-odessa-file/). Israeli intelligence operatives then recruit Miller to infiltrate Odessa disguised as a former SS man, both to reach Roschmann and to protect Israel from the missile threat[5](https://sheldonkirshner.com/the-odessa-file/) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/84039/the-odessa-file). When Miller finally finds Roschmann, the former Nazi has become the leader of a weapons complex of international strategic consequence[6](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/theodessafile), and the confrontation is resolved largely through a verbal exchange between the two men[7](https://www.jestersreviews.com/reviews/9447).
## Fact and fiction
The film opens with a written statement from Forsyth: "There really was a secret society called Odessa, linking former members of Hitler's murderous SS, among them Roschmann, the 'butcher' of Riga Concentration Camp." The title card renders the double "s" in Odessa in the form of the SS double lightning-bolt insignia[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSA-FILE). Two real individuals appear as characters: Roschmann (1908–1977) and Wiesenthal (1908–2005), the latter serving as the film's technical advisor[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSAFILE).
Forsyth's novel, published by Viking on 1 November 1972, was praised on publication for its "corroborative details," down to the blood-group tattoo under the left armpit that identified SS members[8](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/frederick-forsyth-9/the-odessa-file/). In his memoirs, Forsyth credited the Nazi hunter Wiesenthal and Lord Russell of Liverpool, an advisor at the [Nuremberg trials](https://www.edgepedia.org/nuremberg-trials), with guiding the book; when he asked Wiesenthal for help inventing a fugitive Nazi as protagonist, Wiesenthal replied that there was no need to invent one, since he had real ones, and too many of them[9](https://elpais.com/cultura/2026-03-14/la-venganza-de-odessa-vuelven-los-nazis-secretos-de-frederick-forsyth.html). Miller's investigation in the novel closely reproduces the research Forsyth himself conducted[9](https://elpais.com/cultura/2026-03-14/la-venganza-de-odessa-vuelven-los-nazis-secretos-de-frederick-forsyth.html).
## Production
Producer John Woolf's Romulus Films was reported in July 1973 as set to produce the film[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSA-FILE). Shooting ran from 3 January to mid-April 1974 in Hamburg and at Bavaria Studios in Munich, West Germany, with completion at [Pinewood Studios](https://www.edgepedia.org/pinewood-studios) in London[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSA-FILE). The film was shot in [Panavision](https://www.edgepedia.org/panavision) and Eastmancolor, with a duration of 128 minutes and an MPAA rating of PG[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSA-FILE). Its German release title was *Die Akte Odessa*[10](https://www.filmportal.de/film/die-akte-odessa_bb31d2f654634cb589ded46b952b8095).
[Andrew Lloyd Webber](https://www.edgepedia.org/andrew-lloyd-webber) composed the score, and the bilingual pop song "Christmas Dream," with lyrics by [Tim Rice](https://www.edgepedia.org/tim-rice) and Andre Heller and sung by [Perry Como](https://www.edgepedia.org/perry-como), was released as a single and placed at number 92 on the Billboard Top 100 in December 1974[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/84039/the-odessa-file). Some later critics found the score dated; one reviewer contrasted it with *The Day of the Jackal*, which had virtually no music[7](https://www.jestersreviews.com/reviews/9447).
At the film's premiere at the San Francisco International Film Festival, an American Nazi protest backfired when festival attendees mistook it[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSA-FILE).
## Cast and performances
The supporting cast was largely made up of native German actors, including Klaus Löwitsch as an Odessa hitman, Hannes Messemer and Kurt Meisel as Odessa figures, and [Derek Jacobi](https://www.edgepedia.org/derek-jacobi) as Klaus Wenzer, a jittery identity forger[7](https://www.jestersreviews.com/reviews/9447). [Maria Schell](https://www.edgepedia.org/maria-schell), who plays Miller's mother, is the sister of Maximilian Schell[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/84039/the-odessa-file).
Maximilian Schell appears on screen for only about twelve minutes, mostly in flashbacks, until the climax, where his Roschmann delivers a forceful monologue justifying his past crimes and attempting to persuade Miller of the glories of [Nazi Germany](https://www.edgepedia.org/nazi-germany); reviewers have singled out this performance as the film's strongest[7](https://www.jestersreviews.com/reviews/9447).
## Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 69% Tomatometer from 16 reviews and a 64% audience score from more than 2,500 ratings[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1015389-odessa_file). Critics have generally ranked it below *The Day of the Jackal*. Time Out wrote that Voight's performance gives credibility to his character's obsession but cannot overcome the gap between the film's deeper themes of mass execution and the expiation of guilt, and its routine nature as box-office action adventure[11](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-odessa-file). Tony Sloman in Radio Times called it eminently watchable, with a terrific Forsyth plot and impressive production values, while finding that Neame lets the pace drag and the length feels excessive[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1015389-odessa_file). Dennis Schwartz judged Neame's direction uninspired despite a strong performance from Voight[12](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/odessafile/).
The film has been noted for its treatment of postwar German attitudes: the editor's disinterest in Roschmann reflects a [West Germany](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-germany) in which many people wanted to forget the war and move on, and the film's appraisal of Germans is measured rather than blanket[5](https://sheldonkirshner.com/the-odessa-file/). Later commentary has also seen it as a prototype for later Nazi-hunting and conspiracy thrillers[13](https://film-authority.com/2025/08/16/the-odessa-file/).
## References
1. [The Odessa File (1974), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSA-FILE)
2. [The Odessa File, Turner Classic Movies article by James Steffen (2004)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/84039/the-odessa-file)
3. [The Odessa File (1974), AFI Catalog history page](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55280-THE-ODESSAFILE)
4. [The Odessa File, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1015389-odessa_file)
5. [The Odessa File, Sheldon Kirshner Journal (2026)](https://sheldonkirshner.com/the-odessa-file/)
6. [The Odessa File, Sony Pictures Entertainment](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/theodessafile)
7. [The Odessa File (1974), Jesters Reviews](https://www.jestersreviews.com/reviews/9447)
8. [The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth, Kirkus Reviews (1 November 1972)](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/frederick-forsyth-9/the-odessa-file/)
9. [La venganza de Odessa: vuelven los nazis secretos de Frederick Forsyth, El País](https://elpais.com/cultura/2026-03-14/la-venganza-de-odessa-vuelven-los-nazis-secretos-de-frederick-forsyth.html)
10. [Die Akte Odessa, filmportal.de](https://www.filmportal.de/film/die-akte-odessa_bb31d2f654634cb589ded46b952b8095)
11. [The Odessa File, Time Out film review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-odessa-file)
12. [Odessa File, The, Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/odessafile/)
13. [The Odessa File, film-authority.com (2025)](https://film-authority.com/2025/08/16/the-odessa-file/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 1970s films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license