British Intelligence

Plot synopsis:
During World War I, Franz Strendler, a master German spy has cost the British dearly. In desperation, they send for their best agent, currently undercover in Germany. Pilot Frank Bennett (Bruce Lester) is sent to pick him up, but the Germans are forewarned and Bennett is shot down. Luckily, he survives and is rescued by friendly soldiers. While recovering in a hospital, Bennett is tended by a pretty nurse, Helene Von Lorbeer (Margaret Lindsay). He tells her he loves her, but she informs him she is leaving, and they will not see each other again. However, after Bennett falls asleep, she kisses him on the cheek.
Von Lorbeer turns out to be a spy herself. She is recalled to Germany to receive a high honor sent personally by the Kaiser and to undertake a new mission. Posing as a refugee named Frances Hautry, she infiltrates the London household of Arthur Bennett (Holmes Herbert), a cabinet minister, and, coincidentally, Frank's father. She takes her orders from Valdar (Boris Karloff), the butler. However, unbeknownst to her, he is a British double agent. Valdar later secretly reports to Colonel Yeats (Leonard Mudie), the head of British Intelligence.
When Bennett's secretary, also a German spy, taps out a secret message in code on her typewriter, Yeats is present and recognizes it. Since only Hautry is also in the office at the time, he sets a trap for her. A captured spy named Kurz seemingly escapes from the British and flees to Hautry's bedroom. She hides him in her closet, but then betrays him when Yeats and his men show up. Afterwards, she tells Valdar that she knew "Kurz" was an imposter.
Frank Bennett unexpectedly shows up, his squadron and others having been recalled to London for some reason. He is surprised to find his former nurse there and under a different name. Hautry is forced to reveal that she is loyal to the British. However, Valdar overhears their conversation.
That night, the British cabinet meets in Bennett's home. It is the moment Valdar has been waiting for. He forces Hautry at gunpoint down in the cellar, where he has set a bomb to blow the house up under cover of a Zeppelin bombing raid. Hautry tells Valdar that she had no choice but to make up a story to allay Frank's suspicions. Convinced when she shows him the award she was given, Valdar finally reveals that he is Strendler.
Fortunately, Valdar has been under surveillance. Yeats and his men rush to the cellar door. When Valdar escapes through the coal shute, Hautry unlocks the door and informs Yeats about the bomb. Valdar rushes to his hideout to transmit the stolen British plans for the spring offensive, pursued by the British, but, ironically, a Zeppelin bombs the location and kills him and his confederates before he can send his information.

Tags: cult, murder

Review:
"British Intelligence, from 1940 when Britain was locked in deadly combat with Nazi Germany, tells a tale of German espionage in The Great War (aka The War to End All Wars).
Well-acted and with a tricky plot that leaves the viewer guessing who is a loyal Brit and who is a Kaiser's spy, the one-hour film also delivers at beginning and end a hefty, grave propaganda message warning that those Germans can be trusted - to produce warmongering megalomaniacs.Boris Karloff is Valdar, the butler/valet every man wants.
Projected into the household in a convenient but not necessarily convincing way is Helene von Lorbeer, played by the very pretty Margaret Lindsay who had a good run in both "A" and "B" pictures in the 30s and 40s before she decided to fatten up thus losing her screen sex appeal.Helene under another name was a nurse in a British field hospital and she took care of the wounded RFC pilot son of the man in whose home she is now a guest.
Of course the recovered pilot returns home to find her there.British Intelligence desperately needs to terminate a German master spy, Strengler.
It's a clever and very entertaining wartime thriller in which no one's identity is clear.Set in 1917, the action is presented as directly relevant to the current events of 1940; more than one speech steps aside from the actual plot and appeals to an audience who would know exactly what was meant by references to future wars and to future lunatics who would again want to take over the world.
The film's final speaker actually turns straight on to the camera for his inspirational closing sentences—the kind of exhortation that was frequent in WWII era films, that we rarely if ever see in pictures from any other era, and that can be strangely stirring even at this great distance.Boris Karloff and Margaret Lindsay are both excellent, especially in their scenes together: their eyes are wonderfully expressive as they watch each other, play their roles, calculate loyalties and next moves.Favorite moment: the late scene at the center of which Karloff purrs, "Excellent.
But aside from a short speech by one of the characters at the end of the movie, it mostly allows the story and characters to stand on their own.Karloff and Lindsay star as two very resourceful spies who are planted in the home of a prominent English family, with most of the story revolving around whether they are spies on behalf of England or on behalf of Germany.
Karloff is, of course, especially good in a part like this, giving his character a believably ingratiating manner in his cover role as a butler, and a steely eye in his unguarded moments.
There's a sort of mystery about where their allegiance lies.Its a simple idea, but done well, because this was a long-running play, so had the time work out the dramatic and narrative effects, much more attention than the normal script would have.Its Germans as the bad guys, of course, evil just dripping in the way that it only could between the great German wars.I like this because of the way it co-opts the detective form.
In between making horror pictures at this time, Boris Karloff made this spy movie and I quite liked it.A female German spy is sent on an undercover assignment to live in London with a British official where she teams up with the butler there, Valdar, who is also a spy.
While there, she helps him to transmit secret war plans back to Germany but are found out at the end and Valder is shot and the lady spy falls in love with one of the residents where she has been staying.Valder is played well by Boris Karloff and the female spy is played by Margaret Lindsay.
Old Fashion Spy Thriller of Historical Value and Still Fun. There aren't that many World War I spy movies around.
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.
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..
***Spoilers*** 1940 movie made during the hight of the German Blitz on England in WWII about a German Zappaline air attack on London in 1917 during WWI with a complicated story about British and German spies and double as well as even triple agents in both England and Germany.
Boris Karloff is at his creepiest best as the German spy or British double agent Valdar, you never really know until the end of the movie who he really is.
The British have their top spy Williams inside Germany and in an attempt to get him out of the country plan to pick him up behind the German lines with an airplane flown by Let. Frank Bennett, Bruce Lester.
It later turns that Helene is really the German spy Helene Von Lorbeer who back in Berlin is sent to England to work for British Cabinate Minister Arthur Bennett, Holmes Herbert, who's also Frank's father.
The movie "British Intellengence" goes on with Helene getting in touch with her fellow German spies in England including Valdar who also works for the Bennett household.
You never really know who Helene and Valdar work for, the British or the Germans or both, until almost the very end which leaves you up in the air to whats happening in the film.
The ending is very contrived with the German Master Spy Strendler, guess who, setting up the entire British Cabinate to be blown up at the Bennett Estate, where their to meet, with a bomb that he planted there.
How many good spy movies spend most of their time in a few indoor locations?Having recently watched a number of spy films from 1939-1950, I'm left with the impression that London was virtually crawling with German agents, disguised as porters, milkmen, secretaries, butlers, etc.
(And what about that name "Valdar" - sounding more like a Transylvanian than a Frenchman?) The ending of the film will come as no surprise to anyone who has watched more than a handful of spy films.Three speeches in the film (one by a German in spiked hat; two by Brits) were obviously inserted in this WW1 drama as warnings about the rise of Hitler.
Given who's in the cast you kind of know what the result will be in the end.Margaret Lindsay is a German agent, planted in the home of a cabinet minister during World War I with one objective, make contact with the guy who's the chief German spy in Great Britain.
Her immediate contact is Boris Karloff who is a French refugee employed by the minister, Holmes Herbert as a butler.The one thing that comes through in this film is that our friends across the pond want this guy bad.
The Spy Who Nursed Me. Sent off on a World War I spy mission, Bruce Lester (as Frank Bennett) is shot down during an aerial attack; he survives, and believes he has fallen in love with nurse Margaret Lindsay (as Helene Von Lorbeer), after she nurses him back to health.
Mr. Lester doesn't know it, but Ms. Lindsay is really German spy Frances Hautry; coincidently, her mission involves moving into Lester's own home, where she makes contact with newly-hired family servant Boris Karloff (as Valdar).
With Lester away, Karloff and Lindsay will play; their game is delivering Allied secrets to the Germans.
But, wait, Karloff appears to also be working for "British Intelligence"; their mission is to eliminate mysterious German spy "Strengler".
Now, hold on, Lindsay reveals she's also a double agent, when Lester returns home and recognizes her as Nurse Helene...Third time around for "Three Faces East" (1926, 1930).
"British Intelligence" from 1940 is a quick film starring Boris Karloff, Margaret Lindsay, Holmes Herbert, and Bruce Lester.Though it's supposed to take place in World War I, it's really a World War II film about espionage, spies of unknown loyalty, and the German urge to take over the world which surfaces from time to time.Lindsay and Karloff both play secret agents placed in the home of a Mr. Bennett, a British official who has campaign secrets and troop placements worth investigating.
Karloff is a servant in a British general's house during the war -- he helps the pretty German agent who's been placed there, but he may be a double -- or triple -- agent.
Boris Karloff and Margaret Lindsay both play undercover agents, though until the very end it isn't possible to know exactly who was on which side during this film set in WWI.
During World War l, Helene von Lorbeer(Margaret Lindsay) is a nurse in a French hospital assumes the role of a German spy and goes to England.
She meets Valdar (Boris Karloff), the butler, who is a German spy also and that she will be receiving instructions from him.
Valdar suspects she is a British agent and brings her into the basement of the home to normally do what Karloff does in all his films.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I.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.
The film begins with The Great War in full swing and London is crawling with German spies.
Boris Karloff might be a German spy, and so might Margaret Lindsey, who has really great looking teeth by the way.
Fine WWI spy thriller featuring two of my favorites, the great Boris Karloff and lovely Margaret Lindsay.
The story centers around a German secret agent (Lindsay) going undercover at the home of a British cabinet minister (Holmes Herbert), whose scar-faced butler (Karloff) is really a double agent.
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..
Boris Karloff plays a German agent trying to put the kibosh on the Allied war plans.
Most of the movie is centered in the home a minister where Karloff is working as an butler.The source is a stage play and it shows.
A spy is suspected within British headquarters and steps are taken to find him It goes without saying the thinking behind this film released by Warner Brothers in 1940 but I'll say it anyway that Europe was at war and just like last time it's the Germans who were the bad guys .
Obviously being a propaganda piece a population not yet at war might get slightly bored with seeing arrogant Germans strutting about on screen all the time so we get corny scenes where a British pilot declares his love for a French nurse by saying " I've fallen in love with you " which will elicit a groan .
the British military and government officials are simply stupid, so stupid that they would discuss every important secret plan at home or any place, they never suspect the people around them might be a German spy, albeit a spy ring surrounding them.
this film's weakest point is allowing all the German spies to be introduced to the viewers one by one, and allowing the viewers to know how stupid is on the British side.
Counterintelligence (a) Use of "deep plant" British agent who penetrates German intelligence then comes to the UK pretending to spy on the British, but with the single intention of helping locate the "chief of station".
It helped that Boris Karloff was on hand as an undercover German spy operating in a British official's home as a butler.
It turns out that Karloff's character Valdar was in fact the German master spy Von Strendler that was constantly alluded to but never introduced, another excellent example of misdirection.
The only single element that felt contrived was the insertion of the British flier Frank Bennett (Bruce Lester), who falls in love with Helene Von Lorbeer/Frances Hautry (Margaret Lindsay).
The coincidence involved with Bennett being the son of the British official who takes in Miss Hautry defies most laws of probability, but stuff like that is done in movies all the time, so taken as a given, I guess it's not so far fetched.Given the right material, Karloff can be genuinely good as an actor, and this is probably one of his finer efforts.
At least I didn't get the impression that he would turn into a double agent the way Lindsay did in her characterization.This is one of the better 'B' programmers you're likely to come across, and works well as an espionage thriller.
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..
Months pass then spy Helene Von Lorbeer is sent to Britain by the Germans with orders to link up with Valdar and agent working under Strendler.
Margaret Lindsay is pleasant in the roll of Helene and Boris Karloff is nicely over the top as the limping, scar-faced Valdar.
During World War I the spy Helene von Lorbeer goes to London to stay in the home of the cabinet minister Arthur Bennett as a refugee and meets with fellow agent Valdar who works there.
Slowly it is revealed what the true mission is and the identity of the German spy master Strendler whom the British secret service have been after for years.
The director keeps the film moving on apace up to the explosive climax.Boris Karloff is excellent as Valdar and Margaret Lindsay, always an under rated actor I've always thought, is good as Helene.
Helene Von Lorbeer, a British secret agent infiltrating German intelligence & posing as one of their spies, is given the task of supporting one of their top agents, the shadowy Franz Steindler, who is working in British territory.
Settling into the household of Arthur Bennett, a lawyer working with the British war cabinet, Hautry is contacted by Bennett's butler Valdar, who is actually a German agent posing as a British spy, although what nobody in the house knows is actually Steindler himself.
It is a remake of a 1930 film, which in turn was based on a play named Three Faces East.Not much of a fan of WWII-era spy thrillers, I was expecting this to be an average affair.
The film is also filled with good acting, particularly from Boris Karloff, who plays a triple agent working for the Germans.
The film might have been set in WWI but there are tell-tale signs of its era – at the end Leonard Mudie delivers a monologue claiming to hate war but saying that it is necessary in case any tyrant arises who threatens world peace – a clear reference to Nazi Germany & its evil tyrant Hitler.The film is quite unusual in that its pace is quite fast for a spy thriller – at little over an hour long it doesn't overstay its welcome & the climax with Karloff caught & trying to escape, only to become a victim of his own side's Zeppelin bombs, is exciting enough to make this a good example of the 1940s wartime spy thrillers.
And here the Americans enter the war without having to be bombed into doing so.Boris Karloff is an obsequious French butler in a classy London house where all the British high staff seem to meet and trade secrets in front of open windows and whatnot.
The film has a sedate pacing and is, perhaps, a little too confusing at times, but Boris Karloff lends a hand by playing the kindly but sinister butler with relish and his presence lifts things immensely..
60 minutes.U.K. release title: "Enemy Agent".SYNOPSIS: This time, Boris Karloff essays the German spy who has secreted himself in the household of a cabinet member, whilst Margaret Lindsay is the British agent who sets out to expose him.