British Intelligence

There aren't that many World War I spy movies around. At least I haven't seen that many. Hitchcock's "Secret Agent," (1936) Sternberg's "Dishonored" (1931) and Garbo's "Mata Hari" (1932) are the only three great classics I have seen. Blake Edwards's "Darling Lili" was a waste of celluloid.

Made at the beginning of World War II (1940), there are clear reference to the war situation at that time in this movie. The talk about madmen taking over the war is clearing about Hitler and not the Kaiser.

The movie showed bombing raids against London from both zeppelins and aircraft. I assumed that these were fictional, but I was surprised to find out that there were a few zeppelin raids and 22 aircraft raids against England in the war.

Acting by Boris Karloff (creepy and effective) and Margaret Lindsay (subtle and clever) make the picture a lot of fun to watch. Although the plot is overly complicated to follow and jumps around a bit too much, there is a surprising amount of tension built up over who are the real German spies.

Some people have complained about how easy the spies had it in the movie. They seem to just need to lurk a bit and they overhear all the war secrets they need. We should remember that people were more trusting back then and the idea of an organized spy ring was quite fanciful. Today we have an ultra security conscious society.

This is a fun and easy to watch 62 minutes. I would recommend it for any spy film fan and any Boris Karloff fan.

I wonder if the name for Harry Potter's arch-villain, Valdemar, had anything to do with the name of Karloff in this movie, Valdar.

This is actually quite good.

The setup is easy to describe, you have several spies, two in particular. There's a sort of mystery about where their allegiance lies.

Its a simple idea, but done well, because this was a long-running play, so had the time work out the dramatic and narrative effects, much more attention than the normal script would have.

Its Germans as the bad guys, of course, evil just dripping in the way that it only could between the great German wars.

I like this because of the way it co-opts the detective form. The viewer is drawn in. Clearly there are bad guys and good ones, but you don't know which is which — who to cheer for — until the end. You're drawn in as a sort of virtual detective.

Everyone is watching everyone else. Its the motive and roles you must learn.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

This is very good for its genre, with an interesting story, solid atmosphere, and two good leading performances from Boris Karloff and Margaret Lindsay. Made during the early part of the Second World War (when England was enduring constant air assaults and other threats), and set during the First World War, there is an obvious patriotic slant to it. But aside from a short speech by one of the characters at the end of the movie, it mostly allows the story and characters to stand on their own.

Karloff and Lindsay star as two very resourceful spies who are planted in the home of a prominent English family, with most of the story revolving around whether they are spies on behalf of England or on behalf of Germany. Karloff is, of course, especially good in a part like this, giving his character a believably ingratiating manner in his cover role as a butler, and a steely eye in his unguarded moments. He makes it easy to believe that his character can keep everyone else in the dark.

Lindsay gets one of her best roles, and she makes full use of it. Her character obviously has weapons much different from those of Karloff's character, and she too is believable in keeping the others, even Karloff, guessing.

The story moves at a good pace, and it features several good turns as it builds up the tension. Like many movies of this kind, there are places here and there where it could have been improved. In particular, its portrayal of Britain as a traitor-riddled society threatened with imminent collapse shows the strong influence of the frightening times in which it was filmed. But in its time it probably provided some genuine encouragement, and today it still remains an enjoyable movie that is well worth the time to see.

For a minor war movie, this wasn't too bad. Cross, double-cross, double, double-cross....well, you get the idea. The whole idea of British intelligence staring Boris Karloff immediately contradicts itself. Karloff plays his usual type of role and looked like he hadn't slept in at least a fortnight. Margaret Lindsay stole the show for me with a charming and well-judged performance.I guess the secret of this movie's success for me, is that I was never entirely sure until the end, just exactly who was on which side. It's all about suspense and tension and this movie just about pulled that off. A few clichés throughout, but this was made in war time and are therefore forgivable. A stirring speech at the end to round off a movie that kept my attention and is worth a view.

In between making horror pictures at this time, Boris Karloff made this spy movie and I quite liked it.

A female German spy is sent on an undercover assignment to live in London with a British official where she teams up with the butler there, Valdar, who is also a spy. While there, she helps him to transmit secret war plans back to Germany but are found out at the end and Valder is shot and the lady spy falls in love with one of the residents where she has been staying.

Valder is played well by Boris Karloff and the female spy is played by Margaret Lindsay. The cast also includes Bruce Lester and Holmes Herbert.

British Intelligence is worth seeking out, especially for fans of Baris Karloff.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.