The Good German. 2006. USA. Directed by Steven Soderbergh. 108 min.
Screenplay by Paul Attanasio, based on the novel by Joseph Kanon. With George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire. As the Allies attempt to divide the spoils of postwar Berlin, an American war correspondent (Clooney) becomes embroiled in a murder mystery. As the plot thickens, he is reunited with a former lover (Blanchett), a Jew whose wartime survival required difficult decisions—with potentially dire consequences. Shot primarily on soundstages with wide-angle lenses, and converted to black-and-white, Soderbergh’s film is a meticulous homage to both the classical Hollywood style of Casablanca and the moral quagmire of Carol Reed’s noir classic The Third Man.