Espion nazi

I saw that there was a couple of Nazi films on TNT last night and decided to give them a viewing. Sometimes these old black and whites can really have interesting stories. This was true to my expectations.

This was a Jules Dassin film. He was one of the most important directors in post-WWII America. Unfortunately he got caught up in the Red Scare led by Senator McCarthy and was blacklisted. he moved to Europe, where he continued to make movies.

His most influential film was the heist movie Rififi, which inspired a genre of movies including Ocean's Eleven and Mission: Impossible.

The movie stars Conrad Veidt, who is himself a very interesting character. Most movie goers would remember him as Gestapo Maj. Strasser in the classic Casablanca. This is interesting because he was a staunch anti-Nazi who was himself chased out of Germany under threat of assassination. He was to play Dracula in 1931, but Bela Lugosi got the job. His performance in The Man Who Laughs, was used as the basis for "The Joker" in the early Batman.

Veidt give a good performance as a twin whose brother is a Nazi agent. he kills him and takes his place to fight against the Nazi underground in America.

It is not a terribly exciting film, but it was suspenseful, and a chance to see one of the great American directors and a great German/British actor.

Directorial Debut for Jules Dassin and it Shows a Talent in the Rough as the Film has Flourishes that Enhance its Low Budget. It has Style. Conrad Veidt is Excellent in what Starts Out as a Dual Role.

The Film was Made Early in the Turmoil of the Beginning of WWII and as such was Able to Show a Sympathetic German. The Implausibility of the Story is a Suspension of Disbelief but Nevertheless it is Intriguing and Suspenseful with Good Performances All Around.

An MGM B-Movie with Class. Dassin would Dismiss All of His MGM Output in Later Years. Worth a Watch because of the Director and Veidt and for an Early Hollywood Effort to Rally the Citizenry.

In one of his last roles, Conrad Veidt plays both the GOOD twin and the EVIL twin, during WW II. The "bad" twin tries to talk the "good guy" into helping the dark side, but he doesn't want to. According to IMDb, this was released in March of 1942, so just a couple months after the U.S. was dragged into WW II, in December of 1941. Just like the Bette Davis films, or every other "twins" movies, one of them poses as the other. Veidt would die quite young at age 50.....heart attack. Mostly slow. Predictable. No big surprises here, but an entertaining WW II film. The suspense of watching him maneuver as he tries to avoid being found out as an imposter. This could have been a Hitchcock, but its not. This was Jules Dassin's second film as director, making him the young age of 31 when the film was made. Not bad.

Conrad Veidt plays two roles here, as a self-assured Nazi and a mild-mannered Ally. The brothers confront each other and the Nazi is murdered, but now the surviving brother must impersonate the Nazi in order to deflect attention from his crime and also to gather information that can help the Allies.

This is an intense movie to watch, and thanks to being made by MGM it is very polished. I saw it screened at Cinevent in 2013 and remember it vividly a year later. Conrad Veidt could have ruined the movie if he were a lesser actor, but he handles both parts remarkable and never gives the audience a reason to doubt him.

This was a nice little programmer from the '40s that played the lower half of double-features. CONRAD VEIDT is interesting (as always) as a pair of identical twins, one of whom is a Nazi agent. When the bad brother is killed, the good brother takes his place and has to convince everyone that he is the loyal Nazi. Only gradually do a couple of people come to realize who the man really is.

Veidt excels in the kind of role he always fared well in, especially riveting as the bad twin. Not the leading man type, he nevertheless manages to hold the screen with his histrionic finesse at playing either smooth villains or men with deeper convictions of honor.

ANNE AYARS is the lovely romantic lead and the supporting cast, which includes MARTIN KOSLECK as a fierce Nazi (a role he's played so often and so well) is more than adequate.

Good entertainment of its kind, it's a low-budget film directed by Jules Dassin.