David Harding, Counterspy

Although Taking Place During the "Cold War", this Surprisingly Rich Low-Budget Espionage Film is Shown as Flash-Backs to the Underground of WWII Spy Infiltration at a Defense Plant.

It is Based on a Long Running (1942-57) Radio Program of the Same Name.

The Fast-Paced, Multi-Layered Story is Packed to the Brim with Military Types and a Government "Secret" Organization (Pre CIA/NSA).

With Agents, Double-Crosses and a Tight, Suspenseful Script that is Intriguing.

It Rises Above its Budget Limitations with some Sharp Characterizations, Gritty Violence, and Cracker-Jack ( 71 min) Pacing.

There's Real Suspense, Dodging Chases, Great Action (for type), some Romance, Betrayals, and Dry-Humor that Propels this Little-Seen Cheapo Above the Average Bottom of the Bill Filler.

All the Actors Give it a Go with Believable Situations Always On the Edge of Discovery or Confrontations.

There are Some Really-Cool, Almost Sci-Fi Gadgets and Stunts that are Amazing for its Limitations.

In 1950 the "Spy-Film" was just Getting Started and This One can Side with its Bigger-Budgeted Brethren in the Newly Emerging Genre and is Well...

Worth a Watch.

Chief of counterintelligence Howard St. John calls in broadcaster Alex Gerry. Gerry has been complaining on his radio that America has been letting nuclear secrets get through to foreign nations; none is specified, but he mentions a mustache. St. John tells him about a wartime case in which he sent Navy Lt. Commander Willard Parker to a plant manufacturing submarine torpedoes after his friend, who had been doing the work previously, had been killed under suspicious circumstances.

It's derived from COUNTERSPY, a long-running (1942-1957) radio drama devised by Phillips Lord, who also produced the better known GANGBUSTERS. This has everything a lover of cheap drama could wish for : spies, people with machine guns shooting up airports, romance in the person of Audrey Long, and a Murphy Bed. Obviously shot cheaply, it's typical of the second features that Columbia was turning out in the dying days of B series. Look for John Dehner in a small role.

"David Harding, Counterspy" is a low-budgeter almost exclusively populated by indistinguishable men in suits, mouthing enough hard-boiled dialogue ("when somebody throws surprises my way, I throw punches") to fry an egg factory. Ironically, the only source of life comes from the single female cast member, the beautiful (if little-known) Audrey Long, as a woman caught between dual loyalties. Apparently this was based on a popular at the time radio series: on radio obviously you only need dialogue to get the story across, but on the screen you need to visualize it as well, and this film lacks the means to do that. *1/2 out of 4.

Based on the radio series Counterspy. the title role of David Harding is played by Howard St. John as the rather stern Allen Dulles like section chief of an unnamed Intelligence agency. But the real action is handled here by Willard Parker who gets called back from the Pacific War to takeover the operation of a plant in California that is manufacturing torpedoes for the Pacific War.

As it turns out the widow of the guy that was in the job before Parker is Audrey Long who was going out with Parker while he was in Annapolis. After a while the two take up where they left off before. Still Parker's job is to find a nest of fifth columnist spies who've been getting information out of the plant.

I was pleasantly surprised in that I thought while hardly a great film, it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I was expecting a Cold War flag waver and it was not all that. The characters are not paste board figures, they do have some depth to them.

Take particular note of Raymond Greenleaf's portrayal of the plant doctor. Talk about hidden depth.

Nothing great here, but David Harding Counterspy might be worth a look.

Tough luck if you are a woman to happen to this: you have no life of your own, it is entirely controlled and manipulated by others, your destiny is not in your own hands, and if you are ordered to marry someone in a position just to further the espionage interest, you just have to do it and be completely powerless when your husband has to be murdered for having discovered or even suspected your double play. It's a grim and fast thriller about the facts of espionage, how it works, how relentlessly efficient every move must be to curtail the actions of the robbers of state secrets, and how every detail of the technique must work perfectly to get everything in order. This was a successful radio series for 15 years which was transferred for a film like this, it is not easy to follow all the sudden turns of the actions, but it sure is efficient. Howard St. John as Howard Parker is the chief actor and character, while Willard Parker and Audrey Long just have to follow along. The plot becomes quite plausible and reasonable when it appears that Audrey Long is the daughter of her doctor (Raymond Greenleaf), which no one could suspect. A kind old gentlemanly doctor is always absolutely above any suspicion. Only his motives are never explained.