[huwg]

My wife remembers a film which I can't recall ever seeing.

Set after WWII. (probably made in 70s)
towards the start, a number of people (possibly ex-German officers/spys) receive a phone call in which a coded message is given (possibly something like 'The Eagle is in the North' or 'My hovercraft is full of eels' you know the type of thing)
Anyway, on hearing the message they go into a trance, or are reactivated...

At the end of the film there are some dobermans and snow.

That's all folks. It may be a confused mix of 2 films, but if anyone has any ideas, shout up.

My wife is reading the 'odessa file' just to find out if it is that.

Cheers

[Kazuya Mishima]

Part of your description sounds like "Telefon" to me - not sure if it's an exact match. It was made in the late 70's and starred Charles Bronson and Donald Pleasence. The phrase used in it was something like "I have many miles to go before I sleep and promises to keep" ...?

Here's a description I pulled off IMDB:

Nicolai Dalchimski, a mad KGB agent steals a notebook full of names of "sleeping" undercover KGB agents sent to the U.S. in the 1950's. These agents got their assignments under hypnosis, so they can't remember their missions until they're told a line of a Robert Frost poem. Dalchimski flees to the U.S. and starts phoning these agents who perform sabotage acts against military targets. Since the Soviets can't disclose the crisis to the U.S. government, they send Colonel Borzov, a military intelligence officer, to find and eliminate Dalchimsky before his actions trigger a war.

[Garrett]

The Dobermanns in the snow could have come from the film Gorky Park (there were Dobermanns in the snow in True Lies but that was at the start).
But the description form the phone call does sound like as just said Telefon. SPOILER Charles Bronson and Lee Remick go off together at the end.

[huwg]

From what you've described, and what I've read on IMDB, Telefon is the prime suspect.

Thankyou.

Do you both know the film, or did you use some magical search on IMDB that I'm not familiar with.

Is it worth a watch (6.3 in IMDB)? and is it one that gets a dusting off and a TV broadcast every now and then?

[Kazuya Mishima]

I knew the film (I thought) and then I checked on IMDb to see if it matched all of your criteria. As far as I know, there is no magical search available....but I am glad of this because we all get the enjoyment of trying to answer the question!

I think that's the first time I have been first with the correct answer....yippee!

And whether it's worth a watch, I haven't seen the film since I was a young teenager, I was obsessed with this sort of creepy thing and it's maybe not as good as I thought at at the time. But Charles B is always worth a viewing.

[Garrett]

I also do mine from memory as to knowing about the dogs I like dogs so anything with doge tend to stick. I also remember if you look close at the ones in True Lies when Arnie knock the heads together they are rubber. Also a trick they use to make dogs nasty is to wire there top lips up to make them look as though there snarling. They would not have vicious dogs never there valuable actors.

[Mr.D]

There is a plot option on the imdb search which can prove fruitful if used with a bit of devious thought.