British Intelligence [Enemy Agent] *** (1940, Boris Karloff, Margaret Lindsay, Maris Wrixon, Bruce Lester) – Classic Movie Review 5,639

Director Terry O Morse’s 1940 Warner Bros espionage thriller film British Intelligence is enjoyable and well played, especially by its stars Boris Karloff and Margaret Lindsay as the WW1 German spy villains.

Margaret Lindsay plays World War One German agent Helene von Lorbeer who meets German spy Valdar (Boris Karloff), masquerading as a butler at the house of a British war official. Helene (Lindsay) re-meets her old lover, British flier Frank Bennett (Bruce Lester), and together they try to stop Valdar (Karloff)’s evil bomb plot.

Naturally, Karloff smoothly steals the show in a thoroughly entertaining turn as the villain. It helps that, despite its humble co-feature status, there is a decent Warner Bros production, with classy black and white cinematography by Sid Hickox. The running time is just 60 minutes.

The wartime propaganda-led screenplay by Lee Katz and John Karigan adapts the 1918 play Three Faces East by Anthony Paul Kelly, and the film is a remake of a 1926 silent (directed by Rupert Julian and starring Jetta Goudal and Clive Brook) and 1930’s Three Faces East with Constance Bennett and Erich Von Stroheim.

Principal photography began in mid-March 1939 and it was released on January 29, 1940.

Aerial sequences from the 1930 film The Dawn Patrol are re-used.

The film is also known as Enemy Agent.

Also in the cast are Maris Wrixon, Leonard Mudie, Holmes Herbert, Winifred Harris, Lester Matthews, John Graham, Austin Fairman, Clarence Derwent, Louise Brien, Frederick Giermann, Joe De Stefani, Arno Frey, Leyland Hodgson Ferdinand Schumann-Heink, Hans Schumm, Bob Stevenson, John Sutton, Lawrence Grant, Glen Cavender, Dennis D’Aubrun, Carl Harbaugh, Gordon Hart, Morton Lowry, Crauford Kent, Paul Panzer, Jack Richardson, Evan Thomas, David Thursby, Leonard Wiley, Sidney Bracey, Stuart Holmes, Frank Mayo, Jack Mower, Frederick Voderling and John Graham Spacey.

British Intelligence [Enemy Agent] is directed by Terry O Morse, runs 60 minutes, is made by Warner Bros, is released by Warner Bros, written by Lee Katz Based on the play Three Faces East by Anthony Paul Kelly, is shot in black and white by Sid Hickox, is produced by Bryan Foy, and is scored by Heinz Roemheld.

The cast are Boris Karloff as Valdar, Margaret Lindsay as Helene Von Lorbeer, Bruce Lester as Frank Bennett, Leonard Mudie as James Yeats, Holmes Herbert as Arthur Bennett, Austin Fairman as George Bennett, William Bailey as British Intelligence agent (uncredited), Glen Cavender as Under Officer Pfalz (uncredited), Carlos De Valdez as Von Ritter (uncredited), Clarence Derwent as Milkman (uncredited), Arno Frey as German junior officer (uncredited), Lawrence Grant as Brigadier General (uncredited), Carl Harbaugh as German soldier (uncredited), Winifred Harris as Mrs. Maude Bennett (uncredited), Leyland Hodgson as Lord Sudbury (uncredited), Stuart Holmes as Luchow, German soldier (uncredited), Morton Lowry as Lt. Borden (uncredited), Lester Matthews as Henry Thompson (uncredited), Frank Mayo as intelligence agent Brixton (uncredited), Paul Panzer as Peasant (uncredited), Ferdinand Schumann-Heink as German officer (uncredited), Hans Schumm as German senior officer (uncredited), Evan Thomas as Major Andrews (uncredited), and Maris Wrixon as Dorothy Bennett.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5,639

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