Cinquième bureau

George Brent and Basil Rathbone working together to debunk a Nazi sabotage enterprise to stop American help from going to England in the beginning of the war (before Pearl Harbour), being both intrigued by that lovely Hungarian singer Ilona Massey, who in the film is a Norwegian called Carla Nillson, but all her lovely songs are in Hungarian. It's actually the music which is the best in this film, beautifully composed and mainly arranged on classical pieces by Chopin and Liszt, but Ilona Massey's voice is really a wonder of beauty, like all her acting and appearance. This was before Basil Rathbone was established as the ultimate Sherlock Holmes, but George Brent is always completely reliable, whether as a hero or as a villain, but usually he was quite normal, as he is here. Of course, you could question the espionage technique going on here, appearing to be extremely advanced, but turning music into a system of code is rather far-fetched, although most intriguing and attractive, especially as the music is glorious indeed all the way through. Great entertainment with even some excitement and a few murders on the way, but of course, Ilona Massey as an international lady of exceeding culture, beauty and integrity objects from the start to any murders done for the cause.

American George Brent (Hanley) and Englishman Basil Rathbone (Oliver) are on the trail of Nazi spy Ilona Massey (Carla). Massey is a classical music performer who gives instructions during her performances through the phrasing of her music. It's a code that Brent and Rathbone need to help to crack as every time Massey gives a performance, the Nazis score a successful military strike on the Allied Forces aircraft capacity.

There is no mystery in this film as it is clear from the beginning that Massey is a baddie. This does not matter, though, as the film is fast-moving and keeps you watching. In fact, there may be a few sequences too many. The cast are good and it seems like a pilot film for a series starring Brent and Rathbone as they solve a different mystery together each week. It would have been a good idea as they have a chemistry that works between them. Massey reminded me slightly of Marlene Dietrich and her low-pitched voice is slightly freaky. I'm surprised that she didn't sound a bit more freakish when she sang.

Unfortunately, the copy I watched was poorly taped off the TV and had serious sound interference throughout the whole film. Overall, the film entertains while it runs its course but there's nothing too special going on.

In this 1941 film,Illona Massey stars as a breathtakingly beautiful musician who has the eye of about every man in the audience including a duo of British and American Agents who knows she's a Nazi Spy as they chase her through the cities of London and New York which makes the movie a must see seductive spy thriller!!

This film is set during the time when the British were in WWII and the United States was not officially in the war. However, the US was aiding the British with the Lend Lease program...where the US rented surplus and not so surplus planes, ships and other war supplies.

The film is a spy yarn involving an American FBI agent (George Brent) and a British equivalent (Basil Rathbone). Both are investigating a Norwegian opera singer, as she seems to have some connection with a German sabotage program...and they've been destroying airplanes and ships from the US bound for the UK.

This film would have played well in Britain, and SOME Americans also would have enjoyed it because more and more Americans were of the opinion that the country would soon be pulled into the war. I say SOME because in the US, until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, quite a few Americans were pro-German. However, by 1941, Hollywood was no longer worried about alienating the pro-Germans or folks interested in neutrality...and more and more films were casting the Germans as the bad guys.

So is this film any good? Well, Brent and Rathbone was good...as you would expect. As for Ilona Massey who plays the Norwegian, she was not so wonderful...and I'll say no more about that. As far as the story goes, it's almost competently written and interesting...though having Rathbone in disguise as a waiter at the dinner party was pretty dumb. Folks at the party (both friends and foes) surely would recognize him in his flimsy getup. Also, the evil opera singer's actions through the course of the story simply make no sense at all...none. But again, the good outweighs the bad and overall it's a decent film.

What a pleasant surprise to accidentally tune in to this movie on late night television, a film totally unknown to me.

Ilona Massey is the sophisticated spy, Carla Nillson, in this suspenseful drama who succeeds in subtle deceptions throughout by camouflaging her real identity behind her singing engagements and exquisite good looks, a beauty that ordinarily puts her beyond suspicion. But it doesn't last. George Brent (as Tim Hanley) and Basil Rathbone (as Reggie Oliver) are federal agents who become alerted to her actions and pursue the trail of her activities.

She displays a beautiful singing voice in a few instances. It's quite ingenious of her as a spy to pass on messages of important information through her singing in a foreign language for radio broadcast during an evening soirée. Her sheet music subsequently comes under considerable scrutiny, something about sabotage, etc. and is painstakingly dissected to break the code. And so the story unfolds. Eventually she is suspected of serious incriminating activity and must face the consequences.

Ah, to be blonde and beautiful! I remember as a youngster seeing her in a comedy film where she was walking on an elevated fence wall with the wind blowing her evening gown seductively. I always thought of her as surrounded in mystery, such are the memories of a young mind.

George Brent as always plays the suave romantic lead, attentive and caring. And leave it to Basil Rathbone to get caught up in the intrigue firsthand! It's nice to see a youngish Gene Lockhart, here as Sidney Grenner, involved in the plotting and scheming.

The story does hold one's attention to the end, wondering how it will be resolved. All in all, a very good early movie prior to the onset of the war films that followed. Well worth watching.

I can only wonder why they don't have this available on video. It would be great to have it in one's collection.