Even more than some mid-' 60s to early ' 70s ones, this is a WWII film that plays around with all the rules. In the murder investigation, it gives you a pro-Hitler general who might not be the killer the detective is seeking, and an anti-Hitler one who MIGHT be. And a third one who's a semi-comical character. It's also full of surprisingly funny lines (especially from the Donald Pleasance character), of the understated kind - "Do you really think anyone's going to believe you?" "Naturally. I'm a general." / "Yes, he wasn't a wholehearted soldier. I imagine he's deserted." / "I'm shattered. What is the point of being a general when corporals wish to remain corporals?" And of course it has Omar Sharif as Grau, a genuinely admirable character, even though he's too reckless about his own safety (as in the last 1944 scene). And of course it's sort of left to the viewer as to whether he's right to be completely caught up in a single murder for two years of WWII itself. But as he himself says, he's concerned with the small scale rather than the large. (In the book, Grau WAS more concerned with things like the plot against Hitler, but I think the movie handled things in a more original way, as in the scene where he and Morand discuss the subject for a few moments, then Grau movies on to something else!) And Philipe Noiret as Morand, who doesn't care that Grau is a Wehrmacht officer, any more than Grau cares that HE'S in the French Resistance, not just because they're "colleagues", but because they're not just colleagues in a "grudging" way, the way it is in many similar stories. (In fact, the scene I just mentioned ends with a sort of "warm moment" between Grau and Morand.) And even though some people say that Peter O'Toole is miscast, he really draws you completely into the Tanz character. In one scene, Tanz even seems to enjoy perplexing Corporal Hartmann - he smiles slightly and says, "Any conclusions you may draw from my behavior are false." And every other actor, in big or small parts, seems to fit the character very well - Charles Gray, Coral Brown, Joanna Petit, John Gregson, Philp Noiret and of course Tom Courteney as Hartmann.