Customer Reviews

Spy in Black [VHS]

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's always hard to review a spy movie without giving away some of the twists and turns, but Amazon's own editorial - "From the back Cover" gives away a big spoiler, and I'm glad I hadn't read it before seeing the movie !

This movie is actually available on DVD in Australia, though there are no special features and the print is quite scratchy with a few clumsy editing cuts.

I could also swear that some of the actors' lines have been revoiced, though this is not really a big issue for such an old movie.

Certain parts of the movie have a flurry of fast-cuts, enough to rival your average MTV music clip.

Other reviewers have covered the plot well enough, so I'll just say that the first half is an interesting, fast-paced, intricately plotted spy yarn.

Unfortunately the second half is just a simple sea drama. The movie tries to end with a big action sequence but the low budget and pedestrian direction takes the story out with a whimper rather than a bang. The earlier emphasis on characters and motivations evaporates into uninspired action scenes which leave the viewer with no-one and nothing to care about.

And as for my review title , perhaps I'm misinterpreting something, but the spy in black wasn't a spy at all. He just seemed to be a high-ranking courier for the information gained by the real spy. But I guess "Courier in Black" lacks punch !

An early British WWII film, featuring Conrad Veidt as a German naval officer, afoot on a sinister mission in the Northern UK. This film was apparently the first pairing of director Michael Powell and producer Emeric Pressburger; the plot is pretty thin, but has a few interesting, offbeat Powell-ian moments, including a great comedic scene when Veidt's cover is blown and he takes control of the situation. Interesting to see how, at this early stage in the war, the German baddie was still allowed the trait of military honor.

It's the middle of WWI, and Conrad Veidt is a U-Boat captain who is sent on a secret mission to the Orkney Islands. There he meets secret agent Fraulein Teal (Valerie Hobson) and a traitorous English ship captain, Ashenden (Sebastian Shaw - he who played Darth Vader at the end of Return of the Jedi). Objective, learn date and time that the English fleet is to sail so that German u-boats can sink them. But who'se really in the trap?

"The Spy in Black" aka "U Boat 29" (1939) is one of several pre WW 2 films set in WW 1 as a warning against the Germans. Other examples include "Sergeant York" (1941) with Gary Cooper, "British Agent" (1934) with Leslie Howard, "Waterloo Bridge" (1940) with Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor and "Secret Agent" (1936) with John Gielgud and Peter Lorre.

"The Spy in Black" involves a German submarine Captain (Conrad Veidt) who is trying to obtain information from a British spy (Sebastian Shaw) in order to sink the British fleet near the Orkney Islands (Scotland) in 1917.

Conrad Veidt was one of the best known German silent screen stars, appearing in "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari" (1920) among other classics. An anti-Nazi married to a Jew, Veidt fled Germany in 1933 when Hitler took power. He moved to England and then the US in 1940 where, ironically, he played a Nazi in several films such as "Nazi Agent" (1942), "Above Suspicion" (1943), and most memorably "Casablanca" (1942). Veidt died of a heart attack in 1943.

Valerie Hobson (1917-98) was popular in the 30s with films like "Clouds Over Europe" (1939), "Werewolf of London" (1935), and "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935). In the 50s she married John Profumo and was his wife during the Christine Keeler scandal. Hobson plays a school teacher.

The film was produced and directed by Michael Powell (1905-90) and written by Emeric Pressburger. This was their first collaboration. Powell was a producer (30 films), writer (35 films), and director (60 films). Among his films are "Pursuit of the Graf Spee" (1956), "Black Narcissus" (1947), and "A Canterbury Tale" (1944). He was active in the WW 2 period with films like "The Lion Has Wings" (1939), "Blackout" (1940), and "49th Parallel" (1941).

Pressburger (1902-88) was a Hungarian Jew. He was nominated for an Oscar 4 times, for "49th Parallel" (1941), "The Red Shoes" (1948) and "One of Our Aircraft are Missing" (1942) and won for Best Writing for "49th Parallel". He worked often with Michael Powell on films such as "49th Parallel" (1941), "Stairway to Heaven" (1946), "Tales of Hoffman" (1951), and "Pursuit of the Graf Spee" (1956).

Unfortunately this film is grim on all fronts. Production values are poor. The picture is so dark it looks like a mid 20s silent film. I suspect it is deterioration of the original rather than some German expressionist film elements, because the camera shots are mostly pedestrian. In addition the sound track is poor making it difficult to hear the dialogue, which doesn't seem to be important anyway. At one point the plot is so confusing that on screen characters have to explain it twice, after which one wit says "That's about right."

Bottom line - This film has some historic importance since it was released just before the war broke out in Europe, and since it was the first Powell/Pressburger collaboration, but even hard core fans of Conrad Veidt will be disappointed.