Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Anatole Litvak

Writers:

Leon G. Turrou (book)
Milton Krims (writer) ...

Release Date:

6 May 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Ed Renard is a G-Man investigating a huge Nazi spy ring in the United States. Contacts are discovered and arrested in the U.S....

Plot Keywords:

Spy | Nazi | FBI | Scotland | Patriotism

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Edward G. Robinson	...	Edward 'Ed' Renard
Francis Lederer	...	Kurt Schneider
George Sanders	...	Franz Schlager
Paul Lukas	...	Dr. Kassell (Credits) / Dr. Karl F. Kassel
Henry O'Neill	...	U.S. Atty. Kellogg
Dorothy Tree	...	Hilda Kleinhauer
Lya Lys	...	Erika Wolf (Credits) / Erika Wolff
Grace Stafford	...	Mrs. Helen Schneider
James Stephenson	...	British Military Intelligence agent
Hedwiga Reicher	...	Mrs. Kassell (Credits) / Mrs. Lisa Kassel (as Celia Sibelius)
Joe Sawyer	...	Werner Renz
Sig Ruman	...	Krogman (Credits) / Dr. Julius Gustav Krogmann (as Sig Rumann)
Lionel Royce	...	Hintze
Henry Victor	...	Hans Wildebrandt
Hans Heinrich von Twardowski	...	Max Helldorf (as Hans von Twardowski)

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Vitaphone

Certification:

Norway:16 (1945) | Norway:(Banned) (1939 - 1945) | Australia:G | Sweden:(Banned) | USA:Approved (PCA #5084)

Company:

First National Pictures

Trivia:

On Manday, July 3, 1939, Warner's legal department advised company's theaters that "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" must not be publicized as "based on the book written by Leon Turrou."

Goofs:

Factual errors: In one scene there is a large sign on a fence reading, "Fort Wentworth Base Hospital." The Army does not refer to its installations as "bases." A correct sign would have read "Post Hospital."

Movie Connections:

Featured in Warner at War (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

America

Good story telling and a moral that is not overplayed

Even though this is a documentary of real events, the film never forgets that it is a film and must entertain as well as teach. The story illustrates how insidious treachery is and how the enemy always comes disguised as a friend.

The spies at first see themselves as the "master race" and the Americans as "simple minded." But soon the egos of the Nazis become their undoing. The film never stoops to melodrama but is emphatic in its point -- that one must never take democracy too much for granted.

The director went on to assist Frank Capra in the "Why We Fight" series which includes a scene from this film in part VII, "War Comes to America." Another effective film that is similar in theme is MGM's KEEPER OF THE FLAME with Tracy and Hepburn.