Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939)

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.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

That's the analogy which FBI agent Edward G. Robinson of the espionage division makes as he reflects on the Nazi spy ring he's fought so cleverly to bring down. This ring goes everywhere, from a Scottish village where one of the townsfolk (Eily Malyon) acts as a Nazi postal agent for mail coming in and going out, to the manicurist on an Atlantic cruise ship. The Nazis range from blatant (George Sanders) to soft-spoken (Paul Lukas) to a variety of small fries doing the little errands that have a greater consequence in mind.It's all done with the purpose of destroying democracy and evidence of its effectiveness can be seen in society today. This semi-documentary style drama was the first serious expose on Nazi evils to warn Americans of impending dangers. Totally passive/aggressive in its attempts to win innocent German Americans over to its side, the Nazi agenda here is more dangerous than any mob which Robinson ever ran (or fought to expose and destroy). You may find the film overly melodramatic in its method, but you won't be unaffected by it, especially if you value the democratic principals this country was founded upon and is desperately fighting to hold onto only slightly more than 70 years later.If this film opens you up to reflect on how this applies to society today, you have learned a thing or two, and like another Warner Brothers' anti-Nazi film ("All Through the Night"), revealed in its script, you'll be telling others, "We've got to wake up!". This reminds us freedom is never free, and we must work hard to retain it.

Based on a series of articles, then a book, "Nazi Spies in America," by ex-F.B.I agent Leo Turrou, who lost his job for writing, this is an interesting period piece. The dialogue has its clunky moments, especially when characters pause to speechify. But that was probably necessary as part of the propaganda of the time, when it was important to wake up America to the dangers of Nazism before Pearl Harbor. It was a time when too many voices were saying Hitler's was a European war and that America should keep out of it, and pro-Nazis like Charles Lindberg and the radio priest, Father Charles Coughlin, drew large audiences. Although there certainly were Nazi spies in the U.S., resulting in numerous convictions, at the same time it's worth noting that the direct threat to America was exaggerated in the film. In 1939-1940 Hitler was focused on continental Europe first, then Britain, and had spent little time thinking about America. But the existence of Nazi spies certainly justified setting off alarm bells across the country and an effort to determine just how serious the threat was. Again, the film's value is largely as a period piece.I do fault the script for portraying the spies as confessing and switching sides much too easily. Those moments struck me as highly unrealistic.The website of the FBI describes the spy cases on which the articles, book and film were based. The case of Guenther Rumrich, who attempted to obtain 50 blank passports by posing as the Secretary of State is described at http://1.usa.gov/SbtCWj, although the FBI describe him as "crafty" while in the film he appears as a fool. The FBI also admits its failure in the case, reporting that "four times as many spies had escaped, including the biggest fishes." Leon Turrou, the ex-agent who wrote the book on which "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" was based, fares very badly in the FBI account. Another case related to the movies was the Duquesne Spy Ring, involving 33 spies, described by the FBI at http://1.usa.gov/TcR74V.

Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939) *** (out of 4) Better than expected propaganda film from Warner is probably more historically interesting than entertaining but there's still enough good stuff here to make it stand up well in today's times. The film centers on an FBI agent (Edward G. Robinson) who is trying to track down and break a Nazi ring working inside the United States. Watching this film today the subject matter is rather heavily handled and preachy. I'd go even further to say that the director and screenwriter are constantly beating their subjected over the head of the viewer but one has to remember that the Nazi movements in America were pretty much kept quiet back in the day and this film bravely threw them under the bus a few times. One has to applaud the film for trying what it did in 1939 and I'm sure the movie opened the eyes of many people (even though I've heard it wasn't a hit for the studio). The story told here is a pretty good one that will certainly grab your attention and keep you going throughout the film. The documentary-style telling doesn't work overly well but that doesn't matter too much. Robinson turns in a good, quiet performance as the main FBI guy. He doesn't shout or get too worked up, which is something I haven't seen from him in his earlier films. I really enjoyed how Robinson played the character and it really paid off in the end. Francis Lederer, George Sanders, Paul Lukas, Henry O'Neill and Joe Sawyer add nice supporting performances.

Before viewing this film on DVD or TCM, I recommend clicking on this You Tube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw4_xmUgo3w&feature=relatedIt'll give you a lot of perspective on German Nazi ambitions before 12/7/41 here in the states. Hitler's theory was "why not America?" Afterall, he had used his pre-war excuse of bringing together all Germans under Third Reich rule as a pretext for marching into the Rhineland, the Austrian Anschluss, the Sudetenland, all of Czechoslovakia, the Polish Corridor and the Polish city of Gdansk renamed Danzig by the Germans."Confessions of a Nazi Spy" conveys a clear cut message which was to destroy the United States from within. I found the film to be quite compelling and well acted.I refrain from discussing plots when writing a review because plots can easily be read on IMDb however I will say that Edward G.Robinson comes across perfectly as the G-man investigator of the subversives. Also plaudits go to the convincing acting of three Nazi agents, Francis Lederer, George Sanders and especially Paul Lukas.