The film begins in Paraguay, where a resourceful young American Jew, Barry Kohler (Steve Guttenberg), tracks down several Nazi war criminals living in exile and stumbles across a conference during which infamous Nazi surgeon Dr Josef Mengele (Gregory Peck) outlines a plan to murder nearly 100 seemingly innocuous 65-year-old men living throughout the world in order to activate dozens of clones made from Adolf Hitler’s DNA.
Barry transmits his initial findings to ageing Jewish Nazi-hunter Ezra Lieberman (Laurence Olivier) who is initially sceptical.
Meanwhile, Mengele discovers Barry’s spying and has the young man killed, initiating a cat-and-mouse game – can Mengele execute his evil scheme before Lieberman brings the notorious “Angel of Death” to justice?
There are moments of suspense here and there, but the shaky story, based on Ira Levin’s best-selling novel, lapses into silliness and the leading performances are so over the top as to border on camp.
Gregory Peck always portrayed virtue by being stiff and condescending. Here, he portrays evil by being stiffer and even more condescending.
Dr Josef Mengele
Gregory Peck
Ezra Lieberman
Laurence Olivier
Eduard Seibert
James Mason
Esther Lieberman
Lilli Palmer
Frieda Maloney
Uta Hagen
Henry Wheelock
John Dehner
Herta Doring
Rosemary Harris
Mrs Curry
Anne Meara
David Bennett
John Rubinstein
Sidney Beynon
Denholm Elliott
Barry Kohler
Steve Guttenberg
Strasser
David Hurst
Jack Curry/Simon Harrington/Erich Doring/Bobby Wheelock
Jeremy Black
Professor Bruckner
Bruno Ganz
Mundt
Walter Gotell
Lofquist
Wolfgang Preiss
John Harrington
Michael Gough
Fassler
Joachim Hansen
Hessen
Guy Dumont
Trausteiner
Carl Duering
Nancy
Linda Hayden
Doring
Richard Marner
Gunther
Georg Marischka
Farnbach
Günter Meisner
Mrs Harrington
Prunella Scales
Ismael
Raul Faustino Saldanha
Kleist
Jurgen Anderson
Stroop
Mervyn Nelson
Schmidt
David Brandon
Gertrud
Monica Gearson
Schwimmer
Wolf Kahler
Berthe
Gerti Gordon
Director
Franklin Schaffner
