Operation Secret

The unthinkable has happened. France has fallen. Flags of Nazi occupation fly throughout the land. Defiantly, the resistance group called the Marquis fights back with sabotage and reconnaissance. Yet somewhere in that courageous organization, a turncoat lurks.

Operation Secret, from the director of Breakthrough and Guadalcanal Diary, opens with the convening of a tribunal intent on identifying the traitor. Key testimony unveils via flashback a remarkable tale of war and subterfuge boasting actual footage from aerial Allied missions. Cornel Wilde portrays the U.S. Marine whose daring covert activities and narrow escapes are the focus of the investigation. For heroic excitement, Operation Secret is mission accomplished.

Loosely based on the true story of Lieutenant Colonel Peter Ortiz, this mystery centers on an American WW II veteran who heroically served as both an officer and a member of the French Foreign Legionnaire. During the war he had been instrumental in assisting in the French Resistance. With such a sterling war record--his exploits are revealed via flashback-- it is therefore a great shock when he is charged with the murder of a Resistance leader. It does not help that the accused lieutenant is thought dead following a key mission and is not around to clear his sullied name. During the trial, several dubious witnesses tell their version of the tale. A former communist spy presents the most conclusive "proof" that the lieutenant killed the Resistance leader. Fortunately, the lieutenant is not dead and bursts in at the crucial moment to clear his name and point out which of the witnesses is the real killer.