Captain Ernst Hardt
Conrad Veidt
Captain Ernst Hardt
The Spy in Black
“Today's U-boat terror makes this the year's timeliest picture!”
6.4
1939
1h 22m
WarThriller
Director: Michael Powell
Overview
A German submarine is sent to the Orkney Isles in 1917 to sink the British fleet.
Trailer
The Spy in Black 1939 Trailer | Conrad Veidt | Valerie Hobson
Cast
Ashington
Sebastian Shaw
Ashington
The School Mistress
Valerie Hobson
The School Mistress
Lieutenant Felix Schuster
Marius Goring
Lieutenant Felix Schuster
Anne Burnett
June Duprez
Anne Burnett
The Rev. Hector Matthews
Athole Stewart
The Rev. Hector Matthews
Mrs. Matthews
Agnes Lauchlan
Mrs. Matthews
Mrs. Sedley
Helen Haye
Mrs. Sedley
The Rev. John Harris
Cyril Raymond
The Rev. John Harris
Captain Ratter
George Summers
Captain Ratter
Engineer
Hay Petrie
Engineer
Bob Bratt
Grant Sutherland
Bob Bratt
Reviews
Peter McGinn
This is a classic black and white spy thriller, thought of highly enough to be part of a national project to restore old films. The movie is entertaining, with a couple of departures from normal thrillers, I think (though I am not a follower of the genre). The bulk of the story is told from the perspective of the Germans, the enemy, as it were. It would be like the movie The Alamo being told from the perspective of Santa Anna’s Mexican army. Also, the ending is unusual compared to a modern thriller, where then good guy and bad guy usually square off and settle things in a climactic final scene. But they do produce a plot twist, the norm for any spy movie, and it works. It is a short movie, well under 90 minutes, and it moves right along. The lack of color adds to the atmosphere of the film. The script is fine. Oddly, several lines are delivered in German with no translation, but obviously nothing critical is left out because of it. You can sort of get what they must be saying and they are brief bits of dialogue. I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch this movie a second time, but I don’t regret the time spent watching it.
Read full reviewCinemaSerf
Valerie Hobson steals the show here in this dark, tense, wartime espionage drama about a German U-boat captain (Conrad Veidt) sent to the Orkney Islands in WWI to gather intelligence on the British Grand Fleet. Released at the start of the Second World War, this first outing for Powell/Pressberger delivers in a much more ominous tone than that of a mere piece of propaganda. There is a depth to the writing and a sinisterness to the story that is gripping for just shy of 90 minutes before culminating in the sort of "gallant" ending that I suspect would not have been considered appropriate five years later.
Read full review Movies
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