L'espion du diable

This flick is a passable representation of what one can call an "economical espionager". Something like what Sean Connery's wayward son Jason might have made if he beat his dad to the punch. It was co-produced by any number of countries, but mostly friendly ones, after-all, it was the early 1960's. Directed by John Paddy Carstairs of British B movie fame who did films like George Sanders "The Saint in London" which was a rarity for the time because it was shot on location. Its all about a Viennese wine merchant becoming a double agent for the United States. The agent is ably played by German and/or Dutch actor Peter Van Eyck, I've never been able to tell what his true nationality was. He gets suckered into the profession by Russian brutes and in those years they were the biggest and baddest of the bads. The cast is good for the time and offered it some good scenery chewing. Macdonald Carey, Mr. Stone Face as usual, Christopher Lee, minus fangs, Billie Whitelaw, a sweetener for certain and Marius Goring doing a dance with numerous demons. "The Devil's Agent" holds up OK though its past is definitely passed.

When the cold war heated up is what this movie is trying hard to accomplish. but fails to get started. Peter Van Eyck tries to keep the story going but changes side so often it is hard to keep track of. Made in 1962 it was seen as a pre-Bond movie. (even thought the James Bond books were published in 1954, so they weren't a secret). When you watch this you will notice many actors who later went on to play in the actual James Bond movies. Certainly entertaining but slow and somewhat predictable.

1962's "The Devil's Agent" is a long forgotten programmer in the bygone Cold War days of black and white espionage, ending with the surge of Eurospy glamour in the wake of James Bond. We open in 1950 Vienna, as wine merchant Georg Droste (Peter Van Eyck) sees his son off to school, then bumps into an old friend of 25 years, Baron Ferdi von Staub (Christopher Lee), who invites Georg over to his country estate for a little fishing. This seemingly idyllic setting soon gives way to the coldest of Cold War plots, as Georg quickly realizes that he has been used as a courier for the Soviets, forced to trade information to the US through Secret Service chief Mr. Smith (Macdonald Carey), otherwise he's a dead man. From Vienna to Budapest to Hamburg, he must use his wits to outmaneuver his captors at every turn, for he learns to his eternal detriment, 'once an agent, always an agent.' The other supporting actors are a choice bunch, with Billie Whitelaw, David Knight, Niall MacGinnis, Eric Pohlmann, Peter Vaughan, Michael Brennan, and Walter Gotell offering up vivid characterizations in little screen time. The presence of Christopher Lee, even in a disappointingly small role (returning to Ireland's Ardmore Studios for 1965's "The Face of Fu Manchu"), provides the strongest marquee value, a missed opportunity indeed for the lost footage featuring Peter Cushing, whose role has been sadly lost in time, deleted prior to release, and no other information surfacing on his participation (one can assume that other commitments made it impossible for him to complete his scenes). Perhaps the movie would be better remembered today as a Cushing-Lee vehicle, despite neither in the starring role, but at least we get half the equation.

This was another low-budget Christopher Lee movie that I was totally unfamiliar with – in fact, I had initially mistaken it as merely an alternate title for the Edgar Wallace "Krimi" THE DEVIL'S DAFFODIL (1961; which I also recently acquired in tribute to his passing and which I will be getting to presently)!

That said, the result proved quite a surprise – not least for the remarkable cast its producers managed to hire: Peter Van Eyck in a rare and atypically heroic leading role; Macdonald Carey (who had just supplied the obligatory marquee value to Hammer's extraordinary THESE ARE THE DAMNED {shot 1961 but released 1963}), a one-armed Marius Goring, Walter Gotell, Albert Lieven (also from THE DEVIL'S DAFFODIL and who had himself assumed the central part for director Carstairs' SLEEPING CAR TO TRIESTE {1948}), Marianne Koch, Niall MacGinnis, Eric Pohlmann, Peter Vaughan and Billie Whitelaw. Incidentally, the IMDb claims that Peter Cushing was also involved but had his scenes deleted – however, I doubt this, since that same site also gives the running-time as 77 minutes…while my "Something Weird Video"(!) print clocks in at 97! As for Lee, though his role is fairly brief, it is the one that sets the protagonist on his globe-trotting doom-laden path.

Indeed, the film is an episodic Cold War thriller (the title, then, boasts no occult underpinning but merely refers to Van Eyck's precarious status within the narrative as a spy working both sides!) made before the subgenre's heyday, which kicked off around 1965; with this in mind, the plot line is predictably convoluted and decidedly short on action, yet the whole emerges a reasonably suspenseful outing just the same – complete with an unexpected downbeat 'curtain'. Interestingly, nominal leading lady Koch's best-known role was similarly a damsel-in-distress saved by a double-faced hero, albeit against a Wild West setting, i.e. Sergio Leone's seminal A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964)!

Peter Van Eyck came from a noble and rich family. The war ended all that, and now he makes a living as a wine merchant. His real source of income is as a spy for the Russians. And the Americans. And the East Germans. He recognizes he's got too many bosses, and wants to get out, but he can't.

John Paddy Carstair's last theatrical release is a dark little thriller, well populated with fine performers like Macdonald Carey, Marianne Koch, Christopher Lee, Marius Goring, Billie Whitelaw, and Eric Pohlman. In a year when James Bond was the big news, with its sexy spies and big production, a dirty little movie like this was swimming against the tide, no matter how good it was. And it is, very good, but just a few years too early for a countertrend that would make itself known in.adaptations of John LeCarre.

Van Eyck had a leg up in his performance. Like his character, he was born in a wealthy and noble Pomeranian family. He, however, was not interested in the family's military tradition. Instead, he went to Berlin to study music. He left Germany in 1931 and came to New York, where he made friends with Irving Berlin and became a composer and performer in night club music. A later friendship with Billy Wilder led him to acting. His blond looks let him play Nazis for most of a decade, and then he tried expanding his range with movies like this. He died in 1969, one day short of his 58th birthday.