British Intelligence (1940)

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Well made picture.Well paced fight scenes of WWI.This is a very short movie -- only about 60 minutes. Boris Karloff plays a German spy.He's all scarred up in the face.Has a British accent not German. And sports a limp.Not a bad picture.Too bad Karloff is sort of forgotten except for Frankenstein.The plot:During WWI pretty German master spy Helene von Lorbeer is sent undercover to London to live with the family of a high-placed British official where she is to rendezvous with the butler Valdar, also a spy, and help him transmit secret war plans back to Germany.

With my 8th IMDb anniversary being on the same day as a bank holiday,I decided take advantage of the day,by taking a look at Boris Karloff in a non-Horror role for the first ever time.The plot:Taking advantage of having recently won a battle which has forced The Allies to retreat,a German army officer decides to send double agent Helene Von Lorbeer undercover to a house that is used for meetings by the UK government.Arriving to the house,Lorbeer is met by a fellow undercover agent called Valdar,who tells Lorbeer that she must watch her step as she gathers information from government minister's.As Helene starts to get deeper into the workings of the government,Lorbeer begins to fear that some minister's may be starting to come suspicious of her true identity.View on the film:Mostly going against the grain of the time, (with the exception of the flag waving ending) in his adaptation of Anthony Paul Kelly's stage play,the screenplay by Lee Katz tells the story of the film from the point of view of the German's,with Katz gradually increasing the tension as he reveals the lengths that the German's will go to for picking up any information on The Allies.Backed by a lively score from Heinz Roemheld and Bernhard Kaun and also having a surprisingly good public domain print,director Terry O. Morse superbly uses candle lights to create a chilling espionage atmosphere,with Boris Karloff emphasising Morse's chilling feel with a very good creepy performance,and the cute Margaret Lindsay giving a good performance which shows Von Lorbeer's increasing fear of her true identity being uncovered by British intelligence.

Did the butler do it? That's what you'll be wondering the minute you see Boris Karloff opening the door with a sinister air about him. There's so much double-talk and divided loyalties that it is difficult to figure out is on what side, at least until the end. The lovely Margaret Lindsay adds some class to this pre-war spy drama (set in World War I) that tries to be complex but sadly remains simple but confusing. While there are some suspenseful moments, the remainder of the film is hard to sustain major interest. Had this been made at the Hollywood Warner Brothers studio rather than its British cousin (or even at Monogram), it might have been more thrilling, but the obvious Hollywood touch is missing. Karloff draws everything he says out to death, and that is what the viewer is ultimately bored to.

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.