Confessions of a Nazi Spy ***½ (1939, Edward G Robinson, Francis Lederer, Paul Lukas, George Sanders, Henry O’Neill) – Classic Movie Review 8,023

Warner Bros take on the Hun in the 1939 film Confessions of a Nazi Spy, a timely exposé of Nazis at work in America just before the Second World War. Edward G Robinson stars as FBI man Ed Renard. 

Warner Brothers take on the Hun in director Anatole Litvak’s 1939 American spy political thriller film Confessions of a Nazi Spy, a timely exposé of Nazis at work in America just before the Second World War. Edward G Robinson stars as FBI man Ed Renard, the American government agent who – with great patriotic fervour – roots out the hidden evil within the United States and uncovers the spies’ connections with Europe and Latin America.

The distinguished acting of Robinson, Francis Lederer, Paul Lukas, George Sanders and Henry O’Neill, Sol Polito and Ernest Haller’s crisp black and white cinematography and Litvak’s sharp, documentary-style direction bring conviction and distinction to this passionately told, sincere saga.

Milton Krims and John Wexley’s screenplay is based on a series of articles by former FBI agent Leon G. Turrou, recounting his investigation of Nazi spy rings in the US. Parts of the story derive from the Rumrich Nazi spy case, the first major international espionage case in US history. Turrou was placed in charge of the case and eventually fired from his FBI job when he published the articles without permission.

Francis Lederer co-stars as Kurt Schneider, the role equivalent to the real Guenther Gustave Maria Rumrich, who was arrested on 14 February 1938 and charged with spying for Germany. The FBI were alerted when he tried to get 50 passport application forms from the Passport Office in New York City.

It is the first explicitly anti-Nazi film made by a major Hollywood studio, released on 6 May 1939, four months before World War Two and two and a half years before the US entered the war. Warner Bros. had been warned by the Dies Committee against slurring a ‘friendly country’.

It features many German actors, including some who had fled to the US after the rise of Adolf Hitler. Chillingly, many of these actors changed their names or went uncredited fearing reprisals against relatives still living in Germany. These actors include Hedwiga Reicher (‘Celia Sibelius’), Wolfgang Zilzer (‘John Voigt’), Rudolph Anders (‘Robert Davis’), Wilhelm von Brincken (‘William Vaughn’), and Martin Kosleck (uncredited). Kosleck was playing Joseph Goebbels.

At the film’s US premiere, there were nearly as many policemen and special agents in the audience as there were patrons.

The film won the 1939 National Board of Review Award for Best Film but failed at the box office. It was banned in Germany, Japan, and many Latin American and European countries, including Norway. Adolf Hitler banned all Warner Bros productions from being shown in Nazi Germany because of the film.

Also in the cast are Lya Lys, James Stephenson, Sig Ruman, Dorothy Tree, Joe Sawyer, Grace Stafford, Hedwiga Reicher, Lionel Royce, Hans von Twardowski, Wolfgang Zilzer, Frederick Vogeding, Willy Kaufman, Rudolph Anders, Wilhelm von Brincken, Frederick Burton, Eily Maylon, Bodil Rosing, John Deering, Ward Bond, Egon Brecher, Alec Craig, Creighton Hale, John Hamilton, John Harron, Stuart Holmes, Selmer Jackson, Edward Keane, Robert Emmett Keane, Milton Kibbee, Frank Mayo, Jack Mower, Tempe Pigott, Lucien Prival, John Ridgely, Lester Sharpe, Charles Trowbridge and Emmett Vogan.

Confessions of a Nazi Spy is directed by Anatole Litvak, is made by First National, is released by Warner Bros, is written by Milton Krims and John Wexley, based on articles by Leon G Turrou, is shot in black and white by Sol Polito and Ernest Haller, is produced by Jack L Warner (in charge of production), Hal B Wallis (executive producer) and Robert Lord (producer), is scored by Max Steiner, and is designed by Carl Jules Weyl.

The cast are Edward G Robinson as Edward Renard, Francis Lederer as Kurt Schneider, George Sanders as Franz Schlager, Paul Lukas as Dr Karl Kassel, Henry O’Neill as US Attorney Kellogg, Dorothy Tree as Hilda Kleinhauer, Lya Lys as Erika Wolff, Grace Stafford as Helen Schneider, James Stephenson as British Military Intelligence agent, Hedwiga Reicher as Lisa Kassel, Joe Sawyer as Werner Renz, Sig Ruman as Dr Julius Krogmann, Lionel Royce as Hintze, Henry Victor as Hans Wildebrandt, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski as Max Helldorf, Wolfgang Zilzer as Johann Westphal, Rudolph Anders as Captain Wilhelm Straubel, Eily Malyon as Mrs MacLaughlin, Martin Kosleck as Joseph Goebbels, Lisa Golm as Mrs. Anna Westphal, Ward Bond as American Legionnaire, Creighton Hale as Draftsman,  John Hamilton as FBI Chief, Egon Brecher, Alec Craig, Creighton Hale, John Harron, Stuart Holmes, Selmer Jackson, Edward Keane, Robert Emmett Keane, Milton Kibbee, Frank Mayo, Jack Mower, Tempe Pigott, Lucien Prival, John Ridgely, Lester Sharpe, Charles Trowbridge, Bodil Rosing, John Deering, and Emmett Vogan.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 8,023

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