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 | Butler | Double Agent | WWI

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:

Some cast members in studio records/casting call lists did not appear or were not identifiable in the movie. These were (with their character names): Sidney Bracey (Crowder), Jack Mower (Morton), Gordon Hart (Doctor) and John Sutton (Officer). The voice of the man in the car bringing home Frank Bennett sounded a bit like Sutton, but he was not fully on camera and could not be identified.

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)

London's crawling with spies in this recycled stage potboiler

"British Intelligence" is a moderately successful WW1 espionage thriller, with perhaps too many coincidences and double-crosses for its moderate length. Spies change sides with such regularity that scorecards should have been passed out along with ticket stubs.

This is a recycled stage play from 1918, obviously brought back for its propaganda value. That also explains why it's so claustrophobic. How many good spy movies spend most of their time in a few indoor locations?

Having recently watched a number of spy films from 1939-1950, I'm left with the impression that London was virtually crawling with German agents, disguised as porters, milkmen, secretaries, butlers, etc. But historical evidence shows that the Abwehr was fairly inept at placing spies and saboteurs during WW2. (Check out "Agent Zigzag" by Ben McIntyre, a book which deserves to be a movie.) Most of the problems in these movies could be solved if high-ranking Brits would stop talking about secret plans in front of open windows, or sinister-looking office staff. Who was vetting these other employees?

There are some fine aerial sequences to relieve the claustrophobia, especially the destruction of a munitions dump, and an eerie nocturnal zeppelin raid over London.

Boris Karloff is given top billing for one of his least convincing performances. Of course, he has the chance to loom and lurk (his trademarks), but his French accent is so bad that any moron could tell he wasn't who he claimed to be. (And what about that name "Valdar" - sounding more like a Transylvanian than a Frenchman?) The ending of the film will come as no surprise to anyone who has watched more than a handful of spy films.

Three speeches in the film (one by a German in spiked hat; two by Brits) were obviously inserted in this WW1 drama as warnings about the rise of Hitler. If there's any doubt, the final speech is delivered straight to the camera, reminding Britons that "we hate war, we despise it, but when war comes we must and will fight on and on and..." (fade to black).