DARK JOURNEY

UK, 1937, 82 minutes, Black and white.
Conrad Veidt, Vivien Leigh, Joan Gardner, Anthony Bushell, Ursula Jeans, Eliot Makeham, Austin Trevor, Edmund Willard.
Directed by Victor Saville.

Dark Journey is a brief espionage story from the late '30s - anticipating the espionage stories that were to come during World War Two. Vivien Leigh is attractive as the heroine and Conrad Veidt is sinister as the German spy.

The film is contrived, has a small budget - but manages to keep audience interest in the clash between the hero and the heroine. The film was directed by Victor Saville, who was to move to Hollywood and direct a number of thrillers, including some versions of Mickey Spillane's stories.

1. Interesting British thriller? Espionage of World War One? Antagonism towards the Nazis? Preparation for World War Two?

2. British production, black and white photography, sets? Musical score by Richard Addinsell? Songs?

3. The title, reference to Madeleine and her espionage work?
4. World War One, travel on the continent, submarines in the North Sea, ships? Swiss citizens? The role of Sweden? French and German spies? The British spies?

5. Madeleine, her Swiss background, her travelling, her dresses, her shop in Sweden? The dresses and their codes? Her front in the shop? The squabbles between her saleswomen? Her customers? Karl and his visits, infatuation? Buying all the dresses? Courting her? The clash at the cafe with his trick response to women? Her going out with him? Under suspicion? The wrong information? The death of Anatole? Her having to go back to France, the arrest? Her being presented with the French medal? Going back to Sweden, finding out Karl's identity, his knowing hers? The bond between the two? Bob arranging her escape, the arrest in the shop, the sentence of deportation, on the boat? Being taken by the Germans, rescued by the British? British heroine?

6. Karl and his cover, his being expelled from Germany, his playboy life in Sweden? Socialising, the women, his attentions to Madeleine? Buying the dresses? Germans spurning him? The truth about his identity, the revelation to Madeleine, his knowing who she was? His tracking the boat, the capture of Madeleine, the sea rescue, his being sent back to Germany?

7. The presentation of British Intelligence, espionage and information, the communication of information? French Intelligence? German Intelligence?

8. Life in Sweden, socialising, shops? The atmosphere of the war in a neutral country? The police?

9. Popular ingredients, an early example of the espionage story, the influence on World War Two spy stories?