ESPIONAGE AGENT

US, 1939, 83 minutes, Black and white.
Joel Mc Crea, Brenda Marshall, Jeffrey Lynn, George Bancroft, Stanley Ridges, James Stephenson, Nana Bryant.
Directed by Lloyd Bacon.

Espionage Agent is another of Warner Bros' attempts to alert the American public about the infiltration of Nazi spies into the United States prior to World War Two. It also produced, in 1939, The large-scale Confessions of a Nazi Spy.

This is a mixture of documentary drama and espionage action. Joel Mc Crea is a good, competent and credible hero in this regard. There are sequences in Africa, the presence of the Americans for refugees in war-stricken Europe of the '30s. It also highlights the State Department, the training for the foreign service, diplomacy and espionage. It is a warning to the American public about the dangers - which were to occur for World War Two. Direction in by Lloyd Bacon, a veteran of so many action and musical films.

1. 1939, Europe, the memory of World War One, the Nazis, the wars of the '30s, the American foreign service and espionage?

2. Black and white photography, Warner Bros production values, African sequences, the United States and Washington? Europe?

3. The docu-drama style of the film? American diplomats at work, their training? The tracing of the espionage network and its breaking?

4. The collage of World War One, industrial sabotage, the '20s and the '30s, the repealing of laws? The outbreak of the war in Abyssinia, Spain? Refugees in Africa? Switzerland and Germany on the outbreak of World War Two?

5. The refugees, the Americans demanding their rights, Barry and his work, meeting Brenda, her background, connection with espionage, the attraction, the shipboard romance, his mother's wariness? Their marrying?

6. The sequences of training and education, the importance of diplomatic careers? The reception, the marriage, Barry not listening to Brenda's secret? Muller and the contact? His being called up? The resignation?

7. His resignation and the plan, to break the winds in Europe, to change American laws? The unofficial backing? The concern of his mother? Using Lowell in Switzerland? The question of the codes? The contacts?

8. The picture of the Nazi network, Muller and his fascist opinions, Dr Rader and his group, the maps, the cleaner at the embassy? Phone calls and contacts? Brenda and Barry and the setting up of the plan? The use Dr Rader made of the plan?

9. The broadcaster and his contacts, information?

10. Rader and the trap, the plane and the train, the showdown on the train, his not trusting Brenda, Barry crashing the car?

11. The train action, Brenda and Barry and the flight, the case with the information, getting back to America? The final collage and the change of legislation?

12. The film as an action adventure? Propaganda and warning for American audiences of the late '30s?