Nazi Agent

... and director Jules Dassin has Otto Becker (Conrad Veidt) as a kindly, meek German-American immigrant who runs a small bookstore and who spends his free time growing his stamp collection. His mundane life is shattered when his twin brother Baron Hugo von Detner (also Veidt) pays him a surprise visit. Baron Detner has been assigned as a diplomatic envoy in the area, and he's also heading up a secret espionage cabal who are already responsible for the destruction of supply ships headed to the European theater of the war. The Baron wants to use his brother's bookstore as an operations front, but after a series of incidents, Otto finds himself masquerading as his brother and trying to thwart the spy ring from the inside.

This "B" effort is well put together and features one of Conrad Veidt's best English-language performances. Known primarily for playing slick and sophisticated villains, his turn as the stamp-collecting brother Otto is believable and affecting. The movie is short, and it's not trying to be anything but an entertaining flag-waver, but sometimes even movies with meager ambitions can be worthwhile viewing.

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.

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.

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.

Nazi Agent presents a rare opportunity to see the great Conrad Veidt play a lead role (as twin brothers with opposite personalities and values, no less) in a well-preserved sound film with a solid, serious theme and lasting value. Although this is obviously a "B"-level production made on a low budget, the brisk direction by Jules Dassin, the tight and literate script and some very good supporting players, make it as satisfying as many an "A" effort.

Otto is a gentle expatriate German bookseller whose quiet life in America is disrupted when his Nazi twin, Baron Hugo von Detner, threatens to reveal his illegal immigrant status to the US authorities unless he allows the Nazi spy network to use his bookstore as a message center. Otto desolately goes along for a while but when he finally resists, Hugo comes to shoot him. They struggle. Otto shoots Hugo instead, then assumes his identity and proceeds to sabotage the saboteurs, who include the memorable Martin Kosleck, whose presence in many films from this time screamed "Nazi." With his marionette-like features, lacquered hair and fey efficiency, he was a top scene stealer. Another excellent performance comes from the prolific Frank Reicher as Fritz, Hugo's aging valet who quickly realizes that his master isn't really his master. But it's really Veidt's movie, playing warm and cold, frightened and bold, kind and cruel – all with shading, subtlety and expertise. The movies suffered an irreparable loss in April 1943 when this man died on a California golf course at the age of 50.

This quietly powerful film is an adventure of ideas and ideals. The ending, though not as well shot as it might have been, is both stirring and heartbreaking.