Espiã Fascinadora

This is actually quite good.

The setup is easy to describe, you have several spies, two in particular. There's a sort of mystery about where their allegiance lies.

Its a simple idea, but done well, because this was a long-running play, so had the time work out the dramatic and narrative effects, much more attention than the normal script would have.

Its Germans as the bad guys, of course, evil just dripping in the way that it only could between the great German wars.

I like this because of the way it co-opts the detective form. The viewer is drawn in. Clearly there are bad guys and good ones, but you don't know which is which — who to cheer for — until the end. You're drawn in as a sort of virtual detective.

Everyone is watching everyone else. Its the motive and roles you must learn.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

There aren't that many World War I spy movies around. At least I haven't seen that many. Hitchcock's "Secret Agent," (1936) Sternberg's "Dishonored" (1931) and Garbo's "Mata Hari" (1932) are the only three great classics I have seen. Blake Edwards's "Darling Lili" was a waste of celluloid.

Made at the beginning of World War II (1940), there are clear reference to the war situation at that time in this movie. The talk about madmen taking over the war is clearing about Hitler and not the Kaiser.

The movie showed bombing raids against London from both zeppelins and aircraft. I assumed that these were fictional, but I was surprised to find out that there were a few zeppelin raids and 22 aircraft raids against England in the war.

Acting by Boris Karloff (creepy and effective) and Margaret Lindsay (subtle and clever) make the picture a lot of fun to watch. Although the plot is overly complicated to follow and jumps around a bit too much, there is a surprising amount of tension built up over who are the real German spies.

Some people have complained about how easy the spies had it in the movie. They seem to just need to lurk a bit and they overhear all the war secrets they need. We should remember that people were more trusting back then and the idea of an organized spy ring was quite fanciful. Today we have an ultra security conscious society.

This is a fun and easy to watch 62 minutes. I would recommend it for any spy film fan and any Boris Karloff fan.

I wonder if the name for Harry Potter's arch-villain, Valdemar, had anything to do with the name of Karloff in this movie, Valdar.

As one spy to another, Boris Karloff offers some advice: "The only way to be someone you are not is to be that person always, even in the presence of friends." This is a picture that keeps us guessing—just who is each person? It's a clever and very entertaining wartime thriller in which no one's identity is clear.

Set in 1917, the action is presented as directly relevant to the current events of 1940; more than one speech steps aside from the actual plot and appeals to an audience who would know exactly what was meant by references to future wars and to future lunatics who would again want to take over the world. The film's final speaker actually turns straight on to the camera for his inspirational closing sentences—the kind of exhortation that was frequent in WWII era films, that we rarely if ever see in pictures from any other era, and that can be strangely stirring even at this great distance.

Boris Karloff and Margaret Lindsay are both excellent, especially in their scenes together: their eyes are wonderfully expressive as they watch each other, play their roles, calculate loyalties and next moves.

Favorite moment: the late scene at the center of which Karloff purrs, "Excellent. But I'm afraid it won't quite do."

Definitely a spy vs. spy quickie worth watching.

"British Intelligence, from 1940 when Britain was locked in deadly combat with Nazi Germany, tells a tale of German espionage in The Great War (aka The War to End All Wars). Well-acted and with a tricky plot that leaves the viewer guessing who is a loyal Brit and who is a Kaiser's spy, the one-hour film also delivers at beginning and end a hefty, grave propaganda message warning that those Germans can be trusted - to produce warmongering megalomaniacs.

Boris Karloff is Valdar, the butler/valet every man wants. Obsequious and efficient, he claims to be a refugee from war-scarred Euope, a fellow who has lost his family to the murdering Hun. He is ensconced in the home of a powerful Englishman who consorts with the cabinet. Projected into the household in a convenient but not necessarily convincing way is Helene von Lorbeer, played by the very pretty Margaret Lindsay who had a good run in both "A" and "B" pictures in the 30s and 40s before she decided to fatten up thus losing her screen sex appeal.

Helene under another name was a nurse in a British field hospital and she took care of the wounded RFC pilot son of the man in whose home she is now a guest. They fall in love but she can't let him know that since she's a Florence Nightingale with a Mata Hari mission. Of course the recovered pilot returns home to find her there.

British Intelligence desperately needs to terminate a German master spy, Strengler. Who is he? How is he able to glean military secrets before, as one exasperated senior officer exclaims, junior officers are even briefed on the operational plans.

What follows is a fairly taut cat and mouse game seeking the deadly spy.

It's good fun, nice acting. Director Terry O. Morse, who edited more films than he directed, did a better than average job here.

Dated, of course, but that's part of its charm. I wonder if London moviegoers in 1940 needed to be exhorted by speeches denouncing the depraved Boche. Probably not but I'm sure they appreciated Karloff and Lindsay.

7/10

This is an especially interesting film because although on the surface it is about WWI, it seems essentially about patriotism and fifth column activity for the coming WWII. It's second release as Enemy Agent (1940) testifies to the notion that the film is prophetic rather than historical. In fact, while watching the film it is very easy to forget that it has anything to do with WWI, except in terms of the young soldier who reappears late in the plot, originally having been introduced as wounded in a German hospital. Also, the statement by Thompson of "How many millions have been killed...and how many millions more must die just because one man sets himself above the almighty" seems like a timely reference to Hitler.