Nazi Agent

Directorial Debut for Jules Dassin and it Shows a Talent in the Rough as the Film has Flourishes that Enhance its Low Budget. It has Style. Conrad Veidt is Excellent in what Starts Out as a Dual Role.

The Film was Made Early in the Turmoil of the Beginning of WWII and as such was Able to Show a Sympathetic German. The Implausibility of the Story is a Suspension of Disbelief but Nevertheless it is Intriguing and Suspenseful with Good Performances All Around.

An MGM B-Movie with Class. Dassin would Dismiss All of His MGM Output in Later Years. Worth a Watch because of the Director and Veidt and for an Early Hollywood Effort to Rally the Citizenry.

Nazi Agent presents a rare opportunity to see the great Conrad Veidt play a lead role (as twin brothers with opposite personalities and values, no less) in a well-preserved sound film with a solid, serious theme and lasting value. Although this is obviously a "B"-level production made on a low budget, the brisk direction by Jules Dassin, the tight and literate script and some very good supporting players, make it as satisfying as many an "A" effort.

Otto is a gentle expatriate German bookseller whose quiet life in America is disrupted when his Nazi twin, Baron Hugo von Detner, threatens to reveal his illegal immigrant status to the US authorities unless he allows the Nazi spy network to use his bookstore as a message center. Otto desolately goes along for a while but when he finally resists, Hugo comes to shoot him. They struggle. Otto shoots Hugo instead, then assumes his identity and proceeds to sabotage the saboteurs, who include the memorable Martin Kosleck, whose presence in many films from this time screamed "Nazi." With his marionette-like features, lacquered hair and fey efficiency, he was a top scene stealer. Another excellent performance comes from the prolific Frank Reicher as Fritz, Hugo's aging valet who quickly realizes that his master isn't really his master. But it's really Veidt's movie, playing warm and cold, frightened and bold, kind and cruel – all with shading, subtlety and expertise. The movies suffered an irreparable loss in April 1943 when this man died on a California golf course at the age of 50.

This quietly powerful film is an adventure of ideas and ideals. The ending, though not as well shot as it might have been, is both stirring and heartbreaking.

As Nazi Agent came out of MGM you might get fooled as even their B pictures such as this look like A films. The lack of any stars would give it away, but this is a great example about how MGM could make any of its product look like quality.

Of course it helps here that Conrad Veidt gives a pair of performances, come to think of it three of them in this film. First as American professor and naturalized refugee from Nazi Germany, second as the new German Consul twin brother and fanatical Nazi and third as the American brother impersonating the Nazi.

It all starts when Nazi Veidt decides to force American Veidt to help with the cause making his place a drop for espionage messages. But the good Veidt kills the bad Veidt and then takes his place at the German consulate and does his own little job of sabotaging the operations.

Because of Conrad Veidt this World War II era propaganda flick holds up well still today. In essentially three roles the professor has to tread very carefully to find out who can be trusted.

Besides Veidt performances to watch are Marc Lawrence as an Italian gangster working for them and all around rat, Ann Ayars as a French dress designer and Vichy sympathizer who has a change of heart, Martin Kosleck who was always cast as Joseph Goebbels but here is Veidt's ferret faced aide at the consulate and Dorothy Tree as a Nazi agent planted with Professor Veidt. Tree had blacklist problems and never returned to Hollywood, in fact left acting altogether.

But this film is really a salute to Conrad Veidt's versatility. The plot is taken somewhat from the Ronald Colman classic The Masquerader, but the ending is straight out of that other Colman film A Tale Of Two Cities.

Catch this one when it's on and be prepared to see how well it holds up.

... and director Jules Dassin has Otto Becker (Conrad Veidt) as a kindly, meek German-American immigrant who runs a small bookstore and who spends his free time growing his stamp collection. His mundane life is shattered when his twin brother Baron Hugo von Detner (also Veidt) pays him a surprise visit. Baron Detner has been assigned as a diplomatic envoy in the area, and he's also heading up a secret espionage cabal who are already responsible for the destruction of supply ships headed to the European theater of the war. The Baron wants to use his brother's bookstore as an operations front, but after a series of incidents, Otto finds himself masquerading as his brother and trying to thwart the spy ring from the inside.

This "B" effort is well put together and features one of Conrad Veidt's best English-language performances. Known primarily for playing slick and sophisticated villains, his turn as the stamp-collecting brother Otto is believable and affecting. The movie is short, and it's not trying to be anything but an entertaining flag-waver, but sometimes even movies with meager ambitions can be worthwhile viewing.

In one of his last roles, Conrad Veidt plays both the GOOD twin and the EVIL twin, during WW II. The "bad" twin tries to talk the "good guy" into helping the dark side, but he doesn't want to. According to IMDb, this was released in March of 1942, so just a couple months after the U.S. was dragged into WW II, in December of 1941. Just like the Bette Davis films, or every other "twins" movies, one of them poses as the other. Veidt would die quite young at age 50.....heart attack. Mostly slow. Predictable. No big surprises here, but an entertaining WW II film. The suspense of watching him maneuver as he tries to avoid being found out as an imposter. This could have been a Hitchcock, but its not. This was Jules Dassin's second film as director, making him the young age of 31 when the film was made. Not bad.