Achtung! Feind hört mit! (1940)

Best movie of this year hands down!

I wanted to but couldn't!

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Be ware the enemy is listening looks like a sequel to the golden spider. The three same stars Kirsten Hieberg, Rolf Christmas, the name Thiel translates literally to Christmas, and Joseph Sieber . Added to the list is Rene Deltgen and in a smaller role an actor who would play his competitor to a girl name Inge, one of the rugby players in the Big game, 1942, as one of the designers,Once again we have another factory working against us and Russia. This takes place before the war starts Kirsten is a spy for the french and English and operates a fashion shop. Rene is an English spy - I think and manages to work in this Nazi factory. He seduces one of the workers to get secrets ,Lotti Koch, isn't that a Jewish name?but he works with Kirsten since they are partners.Now don't forget who side your on. Once again I was rooting for the spies.Kirsten meets x mas at her fashion show in the restaurant. Starts to find out about the secrets in the factory. Once again you have a luncheon room sequence with symphony music as the back ground Muzak rather than music , of let's say, Kurt Widman. Erich Pronto plays a french spy. One of the managers who wears glasses is also a spy already working in the factory.Kirsten get's one of the secrets from the telephone copying the message on top of a hat box. Joseph Sieber plays a nitty gritty character again.Elsa Wagner well known character actress, who played the aunt in Gasparone, plays Lottie's mother.There are two scenes which all of a sudden every one is speaking almost good English with German subtitles.When an English spy with some British female companion visits Kirstens store.When the same English spy visits Rene at a country club then Rene is speaking good English too. He could have done some American films after the war.Eventually Rene gets Lotti in trouble and it affects her career and she is accused of something she didn't do.Chrisamas gets in trouble too and finds out about Kirsten at her shop but one of the workers were a spy for Germany and got the gestapo in the nick of time, But Rene takes of in a air plane . But is destroyed by powerful steal ropes holding up by dirigibles. What a sad ending as sad as the ending in mortal storm.Highly entertaining . Public domain print available at Reichs Kino and War film .com. It need to be remastered.

This spy story begins in the Kettwig factory (somewhere in south-west Germany) doing metallurgy and especially wires. Their latest research product is a lightweight but very strong wire, which can be used by the military to hold high-flying blimps in order to ward off air attacks. (Don't know how plausible that story is, but it sure is nicely presented.) We get to know Herr Kettwig, the CEO, his son, and other assorted white-collar and blue-collar staff. The main spy suspect is also early presented - a German who had long lived in Britain, and so is even surprised about the autobahns. Further, we have a women's fashion shop in Baden-Baden, and a strange credit company in Strasbourg that won't accept paybacks (it prefers espionage info).The film uses a lot of time to introduce the varied players and their interrelations, mostly talking ("he said, she said, ..."). Slowly, it picks up speed, first with dangerous amorous relations forming in the Baden-Baden casino, and in its final third it becomes a quite decent spy/action movie, with running and shooting, and even an air battle between Luftwaffe and the British spy who stole the young hero's airplane, but ultimately dramatically fails on.. let's say, technology.It's Nazi propaganda, but I could easily imagine a similar film made in Britain or in the US. And the high-flying blimp idea both looks good and seems to make sense.. maybe every city (and nuclear power plant) should have one :) Final note: Beate Uhse is reported to have flown the Bücker Student plane for stunts in this film. After WW2, she became kind of a "sex goddess" (well-known owner of a sex-store chain) in Germany.

A really interesting view on things back then when England was the enemy. It's a bit confusing to watch - you might get it wrong, who exactly should you be rooting for! But make no mistake: it's the English villain, an industrial spy, who is bad, as are those who work with him! There are some very beautiful actresses and actors, very elegant dresses and a rather lovely little song (in French). It gives a very international feeling, since it's not only in German, but by bits English and French are spoken. I watched a copy (a very bad one) one stormy night, and it was tremendously entertaining. You'll be able to find this DVD when you browse the net carefully.