The Two-Headed Spy

The amazing thing about this film is its actuality - it's a true story, general Schottland was actually a British spy in Germany from 1914 to the end of the second world war, with high responsibilities as a general and trusted implicitly by Hitler himself. The one fellow officer who didn't trust him is played by Alexander Knox who makes a fearful Nazi bully and idiot. Gia Scala plays the woman, a singer in a relationship with Jack Hawkins and others, and there is a traumatic story very similar to "The Counterfeit Traitor" with William Holden and Lilli Palmer some years later, but this is in black and white and sticks very strictly to realism, postponing true romance till after the war, if possible. The situation of general Schottland is hair-raising. His responsibility was tremendous, and he had the power and means to obstruct several of the most vital operations of the Germans during the war, for example the outcome of the battle of the Ardennes, actually causing immense casualties, and that's the shocking insight of this film - you learn how little millions of human lives mattered to officers in charge of the war. They are perfectly strict in casualness, and if one mark with a pen means the sacrifice of millions, it's for them just a mark of the pen. Jack Hawkings keeps up a terrible balance, constantly throwing a glance behind his back, constantly watched by the Gestapo, and ultimately no longer able to suppress his humanity. It's a great film on a small scale and definietely an enduring classic for all times.

A high ranking German wehrmacht officer, General Schottland (Jack Hawkins) who has access to Hitler is actually a British spy feeding information back to the Allies and uses a clockmaker (Felix Aylmer) as a go-between.

Although the film claims to be a true story "inspired by" it is sadly anything but. The real life Alexander Scotland was a British spy in the First World War and did not have access to the Kaiser, although he did pose as an officer in the German army and did meet Hitler in 1937. In the Second World War he was in charge of overseeing the interrogatin of German PoWs. Otherwise the film has little relation to actual events and is pure fiction but is a good suspenseful war thriller.

At times the film does seem far fetched, but is good entertainment none the less with some quality moments of suspense.

Whatever the achievements of Colonel Alexander Scotland on behalf of British Military Intelligence, infiltrating Hitler's general staff as a supply officer was certainly not one of them. This myth had been perpetrated by the Press who knew that Scotland had served in the German army earlier in the century and he was apparently advised by Whitehall to say nothing and 'let the story rip.' Film makers of course seldom allow truth to get in the way of a good story whilst Scotland seemed perfectly content to perpetuate the myth by acting as technical advisor on 'Two-Headed Spy', directed by one-eyed André de Toth.

The plot might be absolute bunkum but the film itself is utterly engrossing and holds our attention from the outset with de Toth and his team giving us a real sense of 'being there'. There are to be sure a few weaknesses but these are amply compensated for by some exemplary performances from a mainly British cast which has wisely eschewed cod German accents.

As the title character Jack Hawkins perfectly portrays a man who is walking a tightrope without a safety net and there is a fine performance as his nemesis by Alexander Knox who had played a Nazi in the earlier 'None shall escape' for the same director. Felix Aylmer impresses and genuine German Erik Schumann makes an assured film debut whilst Donald Pleasance makes the most of his brief screen time. The linchpin of the piece is the unconsummated romance between Scotland/Schottland and Lily as played by Gia Scala, an immensely appealing, sensitive but ill-fated artiste who met her tragic end at just thirty-eight.

The interrogation scene of Felix Aylmer's character is particularly gruesome for a British film of the time and reflects de Toth's dictum: "Life is goddam black and I photograph life."

I have nothing much to add to the reviews already here, but that I loved the film. Stylish, beautifully paced, and remarkably suspenseful, it features an intriguingly controlled and flawlessly nuanced performance by Jack Hawkins, who makes you believe it possible that a British agent, hidden for twenty years, could exist undercover at the highest levels of the Third Reich. And as a sign of the 1958 that produced "The Two-Headed Spy," most revealing of the relationships between international film interests that the blacklisted Michael Wilson and Alfred Levitt were denied credit as scriptwriters in a British film because of its U.S. release by Columbia.

However, for the record, I would like to correct a remark made by oxbridgeup from New Hampshire, who took issue with the use of tape recording in a scene, stating that it was not invented until 1947. Tape recording had actually been invented in Germany in the 1930s; it was used extensively in radio stations and by the Gestapo, most effectively as a tool to issue simultaneous statements by Hitler to units at all the various military fronts to give the Fuhrer the illusion of omnipresence. 1947 is the year the technology was introduced in the United States, and was patented by a group funded by Bing Crosby, who saw the potential in the format. An American audio engineer who, while assigned to the U.S. Army Signal Corps, had absconded with two of the pioneering German Magnetophon recorders (and numerous IG Farben magnetic tapes) at WWII's end, presented the technology to MGM and Crosby. Before this forming of Ampex, Farben had held the rights for magnetic tape (originally patented in the '20s as a long paper strip with an iron oxide coating) and AEG for recording/playing decks and their improvements -- most significantly, AC tape bias and stereophonic recording. Farben was, of course, dissolved in 1945 because of its cooperation with the Nazi regime (and notorious production of Xyklon-B), thus leaving its patents for the taking. How the AEG patents were voided is a mystery to me, but perhaps some knowledgeable reader might enlighten us.

First of all, thanks to DavidGPS of GB for rectifying what we already knew - that Germany pioneered magnetic tape in the late 1930s. Now lets get to this little-known Jack Hawkins film. Andre DeToth made some excellent movies in his time, but this true story was as gritty as it got in 1958. There are some very hard to stomach scenes of a tyrannical and evil police state at war - not for the squeamish or children, by any means. Among the greatest of WWII movies, Hawkins depicts General Schottland, a British native of German decent who came back to the Fatherland during WW1 and fought in the German ranks. As a result, he was able to infiltrate the German High Command and even became trusted by Hitler. As he became a valued and important source of information to the British, he also endangered himself and all those who helped him. There were some really great WWII movies, but this one has you on the edge of your seat and riveted to the screen for the entire duration. Definitely my favorite Jack Hawkins movie of all time, and hats off to DeToth for daring to be so bold as to show how ruthless the Nazis really were.