I Was an American Spy

This is a good movie about a real life character. It has to be viewed in the context of the time. It was shortly after the war and the wounds left by the Japanese treatment of prisoners of war were still deeply felt. Some of the acting is a little over the top by today's standards. But, watch it, and try to imagine going through what these people (the allied POW's) went through. I enjoyed it. And I appreciate their sacrifice.

During WWII, Claire Phillips was stuck in Manila after the Philippines fell to the Japanese. Following her husband's death, she apparently became an important member of the underground...though she did it in wide open as a hostess of a night club. The story is interesting and should have been made...but there is one serious problem. It seems that Claire was a liar. Yes, some of this DID happen but later when folks began investigating her claims, they found many exaggerations and outright lies. It's a shame...but the film still is entertaining and worth your time.

In the lead is Ann Dvorak. It's one of her last films and she was good in the role..particularly because she was older and less glamorous...and looked a lot like Phillips. The direction and production were all good...and the only reason I don't give the film a higher score is due to the dubious nature of the details of her exploits.

That's the film from westerns chain made specialist Lesley Selander that amazed me the most. If this movie had been shown to me without any credits, I would have never - I mean NEVER - bet one dime it was from the B western film maker Lesley Selander. It nearly looks like a Raoul Walsh, John Farrow, or even Michael Curtiz' film. I insist on the "nearly" of course. Ann Dvorak here is not a surprise for such a war drama inspired from real life story. Yes, a damn good movie from Lesley Selander whose filmography, I repeat, was mainly focused on westerns. However, this story saves no surprise, a propaganda biopic among others. But, because it is from Lesley Selander, it is worth the watch.

It's 1941 Manila. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Claire (Ann Dvorak) is an American nightclub singer desperately following her soldier boyfriend Sgt. John Phillips. They get married on the run from the Japanese. After Corregidor falls, she joins up with a ragtag group of soldiers led by Cpl. John Boone. As secret agent High Pockets, she returns to her club life and befriends Japanese Col. Masamato.

This is based on a true story. Of course, there are some liberties taken and quite frankly, the true story is questionable in the first place. Ann Dvorak is too blonde. It is hard to believe that such a white lady could operate behind the lines. Her acting is also too melodramatic. It is rather an old style of acting. She is pretending to be Italian although it may be asking too much for her to speak Italian or even speak English with an Italian accent or a Spanish accent or a Philipino accent. On the other hand, it does feel more dangerous if she has no language skills. At the end of the day, this feels like halfway in terms of realism and story telling.

Ann Dvorak is real-life spy Claire Phillips in "I Was an American Spy," a 1951 film also starring Gene Evans (known to baby boomers as the father in My Friend Flicka on TV) and with a prologue and an appearance at the end of the film by General Mark Clark.

Though the movie takes the usual dramatic license, it does tell the true story of Claire Phillips, a woman living in Manila with her daughter when the war broke out. After she becomes a widow, Phillips helps the Americans by changing her identity and starting a gentlemen's club in Manila, which becomes popular with the Japanese soldiers. From her club, she provides information, food, boots, and medicine to the soldiers and prisoners of war (although if prisoners of war were mentioned in the film, I missed it). Her code name is "High Pockets" because she would put notes in her brassiere.

If Claire Phillips did a third of what Ann Dvorak portrays in this film -- and I think actually she did much more -- one can see why she was given the Medal of Freedom. I do think the beginning, with her following her husband's battalion around is probably a little fanciful. I mean, walking around in the jungle by yourself - is anyone that foolhardy.

Ann Dvorak is wonderful as Claire. She portrays the woman's bravery, finesse, sophistication, coolness, pluck, and her fear and suffering. An underrated actress who usually played supporting roles and retired from the screen after marrying her third husband in 1952, Dvorak shows that Warner Brothers should have given her better movies.

I thought this was a very good, compelling story of a courageous woman who served our country.