Frederik Forsyth’s novel, The Odessa File, was an amalgam of fact and fiction. So is Ronald Neame’s eponymous feature film, which was adapted from Forsyth’s best-seller and released in 1974.

A hard-hitting thriller, it is driven by several interlocking themes: Israel’s quest for survival. The Holocaust. The attempt by diehard Nazis to evade justice. The crusade by a dogged German journalist to find and expose them.

Appearing nearly three decades after the ignominious defeat of Nazi Germany, it was one of the first postwar movies to tackle such hot-button topics. I missed it when it started its theatrical run, but I belatedly caught up with it on the Turner Classic Movies channel.

Featuring a German, British and American cast, it unfolds in Israel and West Germany in 1963 and 1964. Its advisor, Simon Wiesenthal, was a Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter.

The brief opening scene sets it into motion.

A high-ranking Israeli army........

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