Confidential Agent ** (1945, Charles Boyer, Lauren Bacall, Katina Paxinou, Peter Lorre, Victor Francen, George Coulouris, Wanda Hendrix, George Zucco, Miles Mander) – Classic Movie Review 6,308

Warner Bros’ 1945 American spy film Confidential Agent stars Charles Boyer and Lauren Bacall, and is based on the novel by Graham Greene, who strongly defended both the film and Bacall against widespread attack.

Director Herman Shumlin’s faithful and intriguing, but mostly unconvincing and hollow 1945 film of Graham Greene’s classic 1939 novel The Confidential Agent about fascist dealings, diplomacy, romance and murder is wrapped up in the form of an espionage melodrama.

Naturally, a cast as good as this does help, with excellent acting contributions from Charles Boyer, Katina Paxinou, Peter Lorre, Victor Francen, George Coulouris, Wanda Hendrix, George Zucco and Miles Mander. And, despite its duff scripting by the film’s producer Robert Buckner, the film manages many interesting moments and remains true to Greene’s story.

Boyer is quietly commanding as Luis Denard, a former pianist, General Franco’s man come to England to make a coal deal at the time of the Spanish Civil War. But the young Lauren Bacall is oddly cast and uncomfortable and unpersuasive as Rose Cullen, the English tycoon’s daughter who falls for him.

Bacall had universally poor reviews for her performance, in her third film after her much-praised debut in To Have and Have Not. Warner Bros delayed releasing her second movie, The Big Sleep, till after this one was released, and then substantially reshot it after pressure by her agent, and its success put her back on course as a new star. Warner studio head Jack L Warner agreed to allow scenes in The Big Sleep re-shot to rectify Bacall’s perceived performance issues here in Confidential Agent,

Also in the cast are John Warburton, Holmes Herbert, Dan Seymour, Art Foster, Lawrence Grant and Ian Wolfe.

There are jump cuts suggesting frantic editing (by film editor George Amy) to get a still overly long film under two hours (118 minutes), which probably harm the film in terms of flow and clarity.

Astoundingly, the film and Bacall were strongly defended by the usually grouchy Graham Greene: ‘This remains the only good film ever made from one of my books by an American director, and Miss Bacall gave an admirable performance, and so did Charles Boyer.’

Bacall recalled she begged not to have to do the film, but couldn’t break her contract that early, and her career never fully recovered from Confidential Agent.

Confidential Agent directed by Herman Shumlin, runs 118 minutes, is made and released by Warner Bros, is written by Robert Buckner, based on the novel The Confidential Agent by Graham Greene, is shot in black and white by James Wong Howe, is produced by Robert Buckner with Jack L Warner as executive producer. and is scored by Franz Waxman.

It was released on November 2, 1945 (US).

Charles Boyer and Lauren Bacall also appear together in the 1955 film The Cobweb.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6,308

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