Secret Agent (1936)

Screenplay by  Charles Bennett, based on the play by Campbell Dixon, after the stories by Somerset Maugham; dialogues by Ian Hay, Jesse Lasky, jr.; photography by Bernard Knowles; settings by O. Werndorff; music by Louis Levy, edited by Charles Frend.

John Gielgud (Edgar Brodie/Richard Ashenden), Madeleine Carroll (Elsa), Peter Lorre (the "General"), Robert Young (Marvin), Percy Marmont (Caypor), Florence Kahn (Mrs. Caypor), Lilli Palmer, Charles Carson, Michel Saint-Denis.

"A reluctantly recruited spy is ordered to kill a man." (Halliwell´s Film-Guide)

Strange, but this is a less successful Hitchcock among the gems he made in the 1930s. All the ingredients are there, such as a talented cast (Carroll and Lorre had already proven that they make great Hitchcock-stars), the same talented people behind the camera, and even a train (one of his favourite settings).

Maybe the hero was too reluctant. Gielgud, who was already a legendary Shakespeare-performer in those days, commuted between studio and stage, where he performed at nights. His "Brodie/Ashenden" never quite could make up his mind if it was a good thing or not to travel across Europe and kill a foreign spy. He is teamed as "wife and husband" with Carroll, who is more convincing in showing her inner struggle (you wonder, anyway, how she was recruited as a spy, as she´s even less cold-blooded than her "husband"). When they meet for the first time, she already flirts with Robert Young. How did they meet? This is left to ones own imagination. The sidekick of the spy-couple is Peter Lorre as a fake Mexican General, who chases girls and kills without hesitating. He is good as always, but, as a review complained in those days, maybe they should have given him more to do and concentrate less on the romance.

Hitchcock once more used a setting in Switzerland, as he had done in The Man Who Knew Too Much already. The setting reminded him of his own honeymoon. He later admitted that he had already made a "mental note" that he should return and use the Swiss mountains in his movies.

Whatever the reasons for the less pleasing outcome, the film is still full of memorable moments, such as the climbing in the mountains (and the howling dog), the strangled organ player (and the howling organ), the chocolate-factory and the climax which has the usual nice train-models that almost make you wish they had a bigger budget or computer-generated special-effects. It´s still better than the average spy-adventure, but I wouldn´t vote for it as my all-time favourite. The mixture of mystery, adventure, romance and comedy simply works better in other Hitchcock´s like The 39 Steps or The Lady Vanishes.

Above left: A bunch of spies, without knowing the other one´s secret (Peter Lorre, John Gielgud, Madeleine Carroll and Robert Young).

Above right: A harmless tourist and his dog at the wrong time at the wrong place (Gielgud, Young and Percy Marmont).

Signatures of John Gielgud, Madeleine Carroll (see also The 39 Steps), Peter Lorre (see also The Man Who Knew Too Much), Robert Young, Percy Marmont (see also Rich and Strange and Young and Innocent), author Charles Bennett and editor Charles Frend. Please click on a photo to have a closer look.

Sir John Gielgud (1904-2000, right) was one of the most distinguished British actors and directors of the 20th century. On stage from the early 1920s on, he also began to appear in silent movies soon after, but theatre was his main interest, where he soon built a reputation in Shakespeare-plays. Among his movies were The Prime Minister (1941, as Disraeli), Julius Caesar (1953), Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Elephant Man (1979), Arthur (1981, Oscar), Gandhi (1982), Prospero´s Books (1991), First Knight (1995) and Elizabeth (1998).

Madeleine Carroll (1906-87, left) studied in Birmingham and began her professional career as a schoolteacher. In 1927, she she made her acting debut on stage and in movies, and became a popular English leading lady. Among her successes were Young Woodley (1929), I Was a Spy (1933), The General Died At Dawn (1936), The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), One Night in Lisbon (1941), My Favourite Blonde (1942) and The Fan (1949).

Peter Lorre (1904-64, right), the Hungarian actor with the sad eyes, is still one of the best-known actors of the "Golden Age" of movies. He started on stage and in movies in Germany, but left when the Nazi´s came to power. His first English movie made him acquainted with Hitchcock, who shared a similar twisted humour. Lorre went on to play many roles in thrillers and horror-movies in Hollywood, as weak persons with an even weaker heart. He tried to work in Germany again in 1950, but the only movie which he also directed ("Der Verlorene" - "The Lost One") flopped and he lost confidence. Among his many memorable movies are M (1930), F.P.1 (1932), Mad Love (1935), Crime and Punishment (1935), Think Fast Mr. Moto (1937, title role as an oriental detective in a series of movies), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1942), The Mask of Dimitrios (1944), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), The Beast with Five Fingers (1946), 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (1954), Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), Tales of Terror (1962) and The Raven (1963).

Robert Young (1907-98, left) had a long and fulfilled acting life before he became an icon on TV in Father Knows Best (1954-60, and revivals) and Marcus Welby, MD (1969-75, and revivals). He made his acting debut on stage and in silent movies in the late 1920, but, as he stated himself, he was an "introvert in an extrovert profession" - his doubts and inner conflicts led to alcoholism and depression, which he had to fight almost all his life. Among his screen-successes were The Kid from Spain (1932), Western Union (1941), H. M. Pulham Esq. (1941), The Canterville Ghost (1944), Crossfire (1947), Sitting Pretty (1948) and The Forsyte Woman (1948).

Percy Marmont (1883-1977, left below) made his debut on British stage in 1900, and played in his first silent movie in 1913 while on tour in South Africa. From 1917 on, he was in many silents in Hollywood, usually in romantic leads. In 1928, he returned to England and remained very busy on stage and in movies. Beside his three Hitchcock-films, he was also in Rose of the World (1918), Lord Jim (1925), Conquest of the Air (1936) and Lisbon (1956), among others.

Charles Bennett (1899-1995, right) claimed that he was the "oldest working screenwriter", when he worked on a remake of one of his early screenplays, Blackmail (1929), for a possible remake in the early 1990s. Quite possible, but he had his great days decades earlier, beginning with his work for Alfred Hitchcock, and in Hollywood later. Among his successes are The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934, remade in 1956), The 39 Steps (1935), Secret Agent (1936), Sabotage (1937), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Reap the Wild Wind (1942), Ivy (1947), The Lost World (1960) and Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962). Very busy also with scripts to TV-shows.

Charles Frend (1909-71, right) was a director for Michael Balcon´s Ealing Productions in the 1940s and 50s. Among his successes as director were Scott of the Antarctic (1948), and The Cruel Sea (1952). He began as an editor in the 1930s. Beside his work on three of Hitchcock´s thirties classics, Secret Agent (1936), Sabotage (1936) and Young and Innocent (1937), he also edited A Yank at Oxford (1937), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) and Major Barbara (1941), among others. His last work was as second unit director for David Lean´s Ryan´s Daughter (1970).