Duello di spie

The Scarlet Coat is based on Benedict Arnold's 1780 plot to surrender West Point to the British and end the revolution in favor of the redcoats. Cornel Wilde plays Major John Boulton, an undercover counterspy who goes behind the British lines to learn the identity of the mysterious "Gustavas" the man the Americans know is in contact with the redcoats. Michael Wilding plays real life hero Major John Andre, adjutant general of the English army. Ann Francis plays Sally Cameron, a woman of questionable loyalties who is attracted to both Andre and Boulton. George Sanders is on hand playing a Tory doctor who suspects Boulton of being a spy. All in all, the cast is uniformly good. While the story gets a little talky and complicated, it's still quite interesting. The technicolor is great and keeps the viewer's eyes riveted to the brilliant colors on the screen. The film takes a lot of literary license, but is historically accurate enough to count as a real history lesson.

I just finished watching The Scarlet Coat on TCM. Each year the TCM 4th of July schedule always includes several great films about the Revolutionary war, including: The Howards of Virginia, The Time of Their Lives, The Scarlet Coat, John Paul Jones, and The Devil's Disciple. The Scarlet Coat is my favorite and I always try to watch it. Thanks to TCM for keeping the Spirit of 76 alive on their channel every July 4th.

scarlet coat like most revolution flicks wasnt well received but is nears perfection in the art of movie making. a great character study of john andre the heroic redcoat who is revered by both friend and foe for courage,,, scarlett coat also probes the duality of the undercover agent ,,, as a counterfeit traitor maj bolton befriends andre and undertakes a high level penetration of british intelligence yet he defends andre in andre's courtmartial ... the film captures the moral ambiguity of the spy

how much of the spy's world is real ,,, which reality does he belong to the reality of his mision or the reality which the cover story creates

andre's capture and courtmartial is a success for bolton in his mission beyond that whch wahington would have ever demanded ,,, the mission was merely to identify the traitor in us ranks ,,, bolton has knocked out enemy intelligence as well ,,, yet bolton mourns the death of the man he was sent to destroy

ann francis plays a stock american character,,, compliant with the british but willing to engage them in a war of wits

a movie well worth revisiting

It seems rather strange that with the American Revolution being so important that very few films have been made about it...even by Hollywood. In fact, during the 1930s, Hollywood made tons of films about the British Empire and how magnificent it was...which is rather strange as well! While "The Scarlet Coat" is not one of the best of them, it is one of the few American Revolution films you can find.

The story purports to be true and while I know nothing about Major Boulton (Cornel Wilde), the other events in the movie are based on the true story of Benedict Arnold and his becoming a traitor to the United States' cause. Boulton is a spy who pretends to be working for the Brits and the film consists of him working hard to determine WHO the British are contacting within the Continental Army.

There is nothing wrong with this movie other than the fact that it is a bit talky AND there's a female relationship in the film that seems unnecessary. Wilde is fine, though not one of the best actors of the day. All in all, adequate is the best way to describe this movie.

At the film's beginning, a card tells us this is to be about Benedict Arnold's unmasking as a traitor. So, I expected the usual historical action film, depicting the heroic Americans and the villainous British. And, at first, the film seemed to be going this way.

But then, it became richer as it focused not so much on Benedict Arnold as on Major John Andre, the British Adjutant General, and Major John Boulton, an American secret agent. The essential plot point is that Boulton will pretend to desert the American forces and go over to the British, his object being to learn who the mysterious Gustavus is. Gustavus is a pseudonym for an American (Arnold, of course) who is revealing secrets of the American forces to the British.

But once Boulton has "defected," he encounters two very interesting men. One is Dr. Jonathan Odell, who never trusts Boulton, thinking from start to finish that Boulton is an American agent. The other is Major John Andre, who accepts Boulton as a true defector. In his guise as defector, Boulton appears to be a man without ideals, someone interested in making money for the information that he can carry.

As the film develops, Boulton and Andre come to respect each other, tho they are men on opposite sides. Andre always claims that Boulton has ideals, and so it proves to be. And Andre comes across as a loyal British subject, a man of integrity. It was amazing to see the story line develop in this way: both sides in the Revolutionary War (and every war) have fine people, people of honor and integrity, loyal to their country and its ideals. Were it not for the war, these people might be good friends and work together.

In the climatic scene, Andre is found guilty of enticing Arnold to betray his country, even to offering Arnold money for information. As Andre makes clear, that is his job, and there are Americans who are trying to do the same thing with British officers as well. Andre is sentenced to death.

Boulton so respects Andre he goes to George Washington in an attempt to get a reprieve from the death penalty for Andre. And Washington does provide a solution: If Andre will sign the papers, he will be exchanged for Arnold, who has deserted to the British and is among their troops. But Andre refuses. As Andre explains, from his position as a British officer, he sees Arnold as having "seen the light," i.e., that the British position is correct and the Colonists are wrong for rebelling. Andre rises to heroic status in this scene, a man to be respected, and a true British patriot, willing to sacrifice his life for his ideals. And so he does. He was executed October 2, 1780.

The film is beautiful. I saw a pristine Cinemascope print. A note in the credits (read carefully) indicates that much of this film was shot at the Sleepy Hollow Restoration on the Hudson where many of the original events took place. It was shot in the autumn with the color of the leaves at their full beauty. The costumes rival the colors of nature, particularly the scarlet coats of the British officers. But color is well used (symbolically) throughout the film. For example, Odell is usually dressed in brown or gray. And Boulton is often in blue, sometimes a very vibrant blue. The film makes fine use of the Cinemascope aspect ratio.

My only objection to the sets is this: Everything looks new, as if the furniture had just been purchased at a local store, as if the painters had just left yesterday, the lawn crews had just finished mowing the grass and tending the flower beds. Of course, the trees at the Sleepy Hollow Restoration have almost 175 years on them from what they looked like in 1780. The roughness of the true colonial days isn't here.

Cornel Wilde and Michael Wilding do fine jobs with their roles. A lot of critics wrote off Wilding as a lightweight actor. But here his British demeanor and accent are perfectly correct for Andre, and Wilde's rougher looks are correct for the American he plays.

Sanders is also satisfactory in a good part of the suspicious doctor. And Bobby Driscoll--remember him from "Song of the South"?--has a small supporting part as a teenager anxious to join the Revolutionary forces.

Anne Francis is window dressing as Sally Cameron, whom both Andre and Boulton are in love with. At his end, Andre asks Boulton to look to Sally, for, should the Colonists win the war, she will probably be treated as a traitor because of her late husband's British sympathies.

The script was written by Karl Tunberg, who'd done the script for "Beau Brummel" just before this. Earlier (1945), he'd written "Kitty." "The Scarlet Coat" is finer than either of these.

There was only one line that was false, a storybook line: Andre says, "I must go to my rendezvous with history." But, apparently, Andre actually said this line or legend has attributed it to him. It is on his tomb in Westminster Abbey.

This film is well worth your attention.

Although no one should depend on this film for his honor's thesis on the American Revolution. But this account of the foiling of the plot of Benedict Arnold to betray the American Revolution is certainly a fine drama with Cornel Wilde in the lead as an American secret agent who stops the Arnold betrayal of the fort at West Point way before the site became where the U.S. Military Academy is located. Wilde is no James Bond type spy, he's got the charm of an 18th century Bond, but he survives on his wits not any gadgets.

The focus on this story is Major John Andre who was the go between for Arnold with the British. Andre is played with the charm and heroic dash that he has come down in history with by Michael Wilding. He's captured but Arnold escapes and joins the British army in the last year of the Revolution. A little too late for the Mother country to put his knowledge to good use.

Although I liked this film very much I wish a film would come out with Arnold as the central character instead of Andre. Arnold is played here by Robert Douglas. With some very good reason Arnold felt he was not getting his due from the colonial cause. He may have been a sellout rat, but he was in possession of a brilliant military mind. His second wife Peggy Shippen of Philadelphia who was of Tory sympathies had a lot to do with him selling out the Americans. She's fascinating in herself and we don't see her.

Wilde and Wilding are a matched pair of gallant adversaries. I recommend The Scarlet Coat for dash and élan, if not accuracy.