British Intelligence (1940)

Director:

Terry O. Morse

Writers:

Lee Katz (screenplay)
Anthony Paul Kelly (play)

Release Date:

29 January 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Thriller | War

Plot:

Although the home of cabinet minister Arthur Bennett is a hotbed of spies, moles, and double agents, no one knows the true identity of notorious German spymaster Strendler.

Plot Keywords:

Spy | German | British | WWI | Mole

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	Valdar
Margaret Lindsay	...	Helene von Lorbeer
Bruce Lester	...	Frank Bennett
Leonard Mudie	...	James Yeats
Holmes Herbert	...	Arthur Bennett
Austin Fairman	...	George Bennett

Also Known As:

Enemy Agent (UK)
Secret Enemy (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

USA:61 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #5228)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The play opened in New York City, New York, USA on 13 August 1918 and had 335 performances. It was produced by George M. Cohan and the cast included Frank Sheridan and Cora Witherspoon.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Arthur Benneft: But, tell me, Yeats, these sacrifices we are all making - do you think they will eventually mean something to mankind?
Colonel James Yeats: I wish I were able to answer that question. We want to help humanity. We fight wars only because we crave peace so ardently and pray that each war will be the last. But always in the strange scheme of things some maniac with a lust for power arises and, in one moment, destroys the peace and tranquility we've created through the years. We hate war! We despise it, but when war comes, we must and will fight on and on.

Movie Connections:

Version of Three Faces East (1930)

Will the Real Dastardly German Spy Step Forward!

"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