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Does anyone have biographical information on Claire? Her birth name was Claire Snyder. Anything you have will help, such as birth date/place, parents, siblings, etc., as well as what happened to her after her book "I Was an American Spy" was published? In the 1950s, she was remarried, with the surname Clavier.

I've found a speech by Senator Wayne Morse (he was an Oregon Republican who became an independent in 1952, then switched to the Democratic Party in 1955) about Claire Phillips Clavier (at a rough guess about 80% of the people with that surname are from Louisiana).

I also found a studio synopsis of the movie. Based on that, Boone is John Peyton Boone (then a corporal).

Claire's book "Manila Espionage" is out of print, and very difficult to find.

Based on a true story U.S. citizen Dvorak poses as a cabaret singer in Manila during WW2 to help combat a Japanese attack. Code name "High Pockets" she endures many dangers and severe punishment for the sake of her country in this tense spy story. Also impressive in the cast are Gene Evans, Douglas Kennedy and both Richard Loo and Philip Ahn performing their nasty Japanese soldier bits. However it's Dvorak who makes it all worth while. The veteran actress who excelled in such films as "Scarface" (1932), "Three on a Match" (1932), "G Men" (1935), "Our Very Own" (1950) etc. is outstanding as the American spy. Also featured in the film is the song "Because of You" which was a big hit for crooner Tony Bennett.

Ann Dvorak is real-life spy Claire Phillips in "I Was an American Spy," a 1951 film also starring Gene Evans (known to baby boomers as the father in My Friend Flicka on TV) and with a prologue and an appearance at the end of the film by General Mark Clark.

Though the movie takes the usual dramatic license, it does tell the true story of Claire Phillips, a woman living in Manila with her daughter when the war broke out. After she becomes a widow, Phillips helps the Americans by changing her identity and starting a gentlemen's club in Manila, which becomes popular with the Japanese soldiers. From her club, she provides information, food, boots, and medicine to the soldiers and prisoners of war (although if prisoners of war were mentioned in the film, I missed it). Her code name is "High Pockets" because she would put notes in her brassiere.

If Claire Phillips did a third of what Ann Dvorak portrays in this film -- and I think actually she did much more -- one can see why she was given the Medal of Freedom. I do think the beginning, with her following her husband's battalion around is probably a little fanciful. I mean, walking around in the jungle by yourself - is anyone that foolhardy.

Ann Dvorak is wonderful as Claire. She portrays the woman's bravery, finesse, sophistication, coolness, pluck, and her fear and suffering. An underrated actress who usually played supporting roles and retired from the screen after marrying her third husband in 1952, Dvorak shows that Warner Brothers should have given her better movies.

I thought this was a very good, compelling story of a courageous woman who served our country.

This is a good movie about a real life character. It has to be viewed in the context of the time. It was shortly after the war and the wounds left by the Japanese treatment of prisoners of war were still deeply felt. Some of the acting is a little over the top by today's standards. But, watch it, and try to imagine going through what these people (the allied POW's) went through. I enjoyed it. And I appreciate their sacrifice.

It's 1941 Manila. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Claire (Ann Dvorak) is an American nightclub singer desperately following her soldier boyfriend Sgt. John Phillips. They get married on the run from the Japanese. After Corregidor falls, she joins up with a ragtag group of soldiers led by Cpl. John Boone. As secret agent High Pockets, she returns to her club life and befriends Japanese Col. Masamato.

This is based on a true story. Of course, there are some liberties taken and quite frankly, the true story is questionable in the first place. Ann Dvorak is too blonde. It is hard to believe that such a white lady could operate behind the lines. Her acting is also too melodramatic. It is rather an old style of acting. She is pretending to be Italian although it may be asking too much for her to speak Italian or even speak English with an Italian accent or a Spanish accent or a Philipino accent. On the other hand, it does feel more dangerous if she has no language skills. At the end of the day, this feels like halfway in terms of realism and story telling.