Judith (1966)

In Palestine in 1948, the British prepare to end their Mandate, leaving an independent Israel behind. The problems of the British might be ending, but for the new state of Israel, they're just beginning. Israel is surrounded by hostile Arab nations and must fight to defend itself from aggression. The Israeli defense force, the Haganah, has received intelligence that Arab forces, Syria in particular, are employing former German Panzer commander General Gustav Schiller to train them in tank tactics against Israel. The Israelis also learn that General Schiller's wife, Judith Auerbach Schiller, is a Jewish woman who was betrayed by her husband and left to die in a concentration camp. Judith has survived the camp and is searching for her husband to exact revenge and to locate their son. The Haganah decides to find Judith and use her knowledge to locate the general, positively identify him, and make him reveal the Syrian attack plans. Judith is smuggled into Israel and hidden in a kibbutz under the care of Haganah commander Aaron Stein. Life in the kibbutz is not easy for Judith, work is hard, safety is not guaranteed and she grows impatient and frustrated. Haganah leaders suggest to her that the British may have a file on her husband, like on most war criminals, and it might contain his latest whereabouts. However, this means Judith needs to get close to the local British commander, Major Lawton, who has access to the files. When Major Lawton finally succumbs to sensual Judith's charms, he hands over the file to her, and she learns that General Gustav Schiller was last seen in Damascus, Syria. The Israeli intelligence team decides to go into the lion's den and try to capture the German General. Judith is asked to go along with the team to identify the General, but she is only thinking of revenge.

From IMDB:

Her Own Mission
I first saw Judith years ago on the big screen when it first came out and was blown away by both Sophia Loren's beauty and her performance as concentration camp survivor Judith Auerbach. Even among the nameless, faceless members of her faith in those camps Judith has a unique story to tell.

For she was in fact the wife of Wehrmacht General Hans Verner who was given a choice by the Nazis his career or his Jewish wife. Verner disowned her and she was thrown into Dachau her daughter taken from her and presumed dead. She lived on hate to survive with only one mission, nail her ex-husband any way she can.

But the Haganah in Palestine in the days just before the formation of Israel want Verner as well. He's rumored to be in Damascus teaching the Arabs the rudiments of tank warfare, Nazi blitzkrieg style. There aren't any good pictures of Verner and there is only one who can really identify him. Hence Loren is smuggled into Palestine from the refugee camps at Cyprus that we all know from Exodus.

She's brought to a Kibbutz on the Syrian border in the care of Haganah commander Peter Finch. He's the one with the mission of getting Verner taken alive to extract information and they need Loren, but Loren has other ideas.

Finch also takes an interest in Sophia personally, who wouldn't. Another who is taken with her is British Major Jack Hawkins in one of his last films before throat cancer claimed his larynx. He's a spit and polish army regular, but he turns out to have a streak of humanity in him that even he didn't realize.

Judith kind of got lost between those other two great films about the founding of Israel, Exodus and Cast A Giant Shadow. It's been not broadcast for several years for inexplicable reasons and that's a pity because Sophia and the whole cast is wonderful.

Judith more than either of the other two films shows a good deal more of life on the Kibbutz. Israeli actress Zaharira Harifai plays the camp doctor and more than anyone else awakens in Loren a feeling that she is among friends and that the new state of Israel will give her a home and she can make a unique contribution to its founding.

Judith is not a film to be missed if it ever sees the light of day again. Demand TCM broadcast it.

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