Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Leofwine_draca ORDERS TO KILL looks and feels like a straightforward wartime thriller at the outset. It features Paul Massie (the Canadian actor best known for playing the lead in THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL, a role he no doubt got on the strength of his fine conflicted performance here) as an American agent who is parachuted into occupied France to take down a French traitor whose association with various resistance fighters has seen many of them die.During his early training scenes with the delightfully gruff James Robertson Justice, Massie seems like the ideal man for the job. Things are a little different in the field: he soon finds himself questioning the man's guilt, and ORDERS TO KILL becomes a very different type of film all of a sudden: an intense 'moral dilemma' movie which puts the protagonist and the viewers through the ringer.The only fault I can find with this film is that it's slightly overlong and some of the early scenes drag a little. Otherwise, it's a delight, and a surprisingly mature and brutal effort for the era. Some of the scenes are so suspenseful and disturbing that they're almost unwatchable. An exemplary supporting cast really add to the authenticity of the piece, but the whole thing hangs on Massie's shoulders and he doesn't disappoint; I think it's fair to say that he peaked early in his career and was never better than here. ORDERS TO KILL is a fine thriller without a single action scene in it to distract from the storyline.

ianlouisiana Anthony Asquith,son of the Earl of Oxford,public school and University - educated,was a charming,intelligent and sophisticated man who made films that tended to reflect his personality."Pygmalion","The Winslow Boy","The Browning Version" were all popular with the moviegoers of Middle England who comprised his core audience.But in the late 1950s he suddenly changed tack and produced two extraordinary works debating the nature of courage,moral and physical."Carrington VC" starred David Niven,and "Orders to kill" featured Associated British contract actor Paul Massie. Canadian - born Mr Massie - slim,aesthetic - looking and sensitive - had a somewhat irregular movie career but won a richly - deserved BAFTA for "Most promising newcomer" for his performance as a French - speaking American flyer sent over to Occupied France to assassinate a Resistance member turned traitor. He is willing if not happy to kill from 20,000 feet up,but mano a mano is quite a different matter,particularly as the more research he does on his putative victim the more doubts he has about the man's guilt. He expresses his misgivings to his superiors but they are implacable,he must carry out his mission. "Orders to kill" brings into question the ethics of war just as "Carrington VC" does its effects on the individual. Is it ever "right" to take a human life even if such an act is sanctioned by Church and State?This is an argument familiar from the days of Capital Punishment,and a pillar of the stance of the Conscientious Objector. Will Massie's moral scruples be interpreted as cowardice by London in just the same fashion as would his refusal to fly any more bombing missions on similar grounds? Asquith reveals no easy answers. Not a War Film per se,"Orders to Kill" remains the British Cinema's finest examination of the minutiae of man's conduct in time of conflict. Generally ignored when Puffin Asquith's movies are discussed,it is criminally neglected and the work of a man of conscience who understood such insubstantial words as "Duty" and "Courage" and wasn't afraid to put a debate about their meaning to the cinema audience.

dhughpitman This remarkable little film contains some excellent performances, the best of all coming from Irene Worth (Leonie, Paul's contact in occupied Paris), and from Leslie French as the suspected informer Lafitte. The musical score too is noteworthy, particularly when it picks up a nursery tune used by Paul to commit details of his mission to memory and amplifies it to emphasise the horrible consequences. The script and handling of Paul's doubts (brushed aside by Worth) and finally the completion of his mission are unforgettable. It should be noted that this is one of the best scripts from the film critic Paul Dehn - he also made a notable contribution to Jack Clayton's fine film "The Innocents".

Atty1337 This World War II movie has a realistic well written script, good acting and presents the viewer with a powerful moral dilemma to contemplate about war. Do you follow orders regardless of what your own observations suggest you do? I saw this movie 40 years ago and have never forgotten it. The tragedy is that it apparently did not have big promotional dollars behind it so has never reappeared. Nine stars out of ten.