The Spy in Black
Encyclopedia
The Spy in Black is a 1939 British film, and the first collaboration between the British filmmakers
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
. They were brought together by Alexander Korda
to make the World War I
spy thriller by Joseph Storer Clouston
into a film. Powell and Pressburger went on to make over 20 more films together.
The Spy in Black, which was released in the US
as U-Boat 29, stars Conrad Veidt
, Valerie Hobson
, Sebastian Shaw
and features Marius Goring
.
), a World War I
German submarine commander, is ordered to lead a mission to attack the British Fleet
at Scapa Flow
. He puts ashore on the Orkney Islands
to meet his contact but finds more than he bargained for in the local schoolmistress (Valerie Hobson
).
Cast notes:
, the producer of The Spy in Black, was the head of British production for Columbia Pictures
, and the film was made as a "quota quickie
", films made by the British units of American studios in order to fulfill a requirement of the British government that British cinemas show a certain amount of British product. Early in his career, director Michael Powell
made quite a few of these films.
The Spy in Black was filmed at Denham Studios
, with location shooting at Northchurch Common in Berkhamsted
, Hertfordshire
and in Orkney, Scotland
. The film wrapped production on 24 December 1938 and was released in the U.K. on 12 August 1939. Its American premiere was held in New York City
on 5 October of that year, and it went into general release two days later.
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Powell and Pressburger
The British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers, made a series of influential films in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1981 they were recognized for their contributions to British cinema with the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the most prestigious...
. They were brought together by Alexander Korda
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian-born British producer and film director. He was a leading figure in the British film industry, the founder of London Films and the owner of British Lion Films, a film distributing company.-Life and career:The elder brother of filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent...
to make the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
spy thriller by Joseph Storer Clouston
Storer Clouston
Joseph Storer Clouston was an Orcadian author and historian.-Life and work:J S Clouston OBE, the son of psychiatrist Sir Thomas Clouston, was from an "old Orkney family", according to his obituary in The Scotsman...
into a film. Powell and Pressburger went on to make over 20 more films together.
The Spy in Black, which was released in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as U-Boat 29, stars Conrad Veidt
Conrad Veidt
Conrad Veidt was a German actor best remembered for his roles in films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari , The Man Who Laughs , The Thief of Bagdad and Casablanca...
, Valerie Hobson
Valerie Hobson
Valerie Hobson was a British actress who appeared in a number of British films during the 1940s and 1950s...
, Sebastian Shaw
Sebastian Shaw (actor)
Sebastian Lewis Shaw was an English actor, director, novelist, playwright and poet. During his 65-year career, Shaw appeared in dozens of stage performances and more than 40 film and television productions....
and features Marius Goring
Marius Goring
Marius Goring CBE was an English stage and cinema actor. He is most often remembered for the four films he did with Powell & Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in A Matter of Life and Death and as Julian Craster in The Red Shoes...
.
Plot
Captain Hardt (Conrad VeidtConrad Veidt
Conrad Veidt was a German actor best remembered for his roles in films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari , The Man Who Laughs , The Thief of Bagdad and Casablanca...
), a World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
German submarine commander, is ordered to lead a mission to attack the British Fleet
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
at Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
. He puts ashore on the Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands
Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...
to meet his contact but finds more than he bargained for in the local schoolmistress (Valerie Hobson
Valerie Hobson
Valerie Hobson was a British actress who appeared in a number of British films during the 1940s and 1950s...
).
Cast
- Conrad VeidtConrad VeidtConrad Veidt was a German actor best remembered for his roles in films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari , The Man Who Laughs , The Thief of Bagdad and Casablanca...
as Capt. Hardt - Sebastian ShawSebastian Shaw (actor)Sebastian Lewis Shaw was an English actor, director, novelist, playwright and poet. During his 65-year career, Shaw appeared in dozens of stage performances and more than 40 film and television productions....
as Lt. Ashington/Cmdr. David Blacklock - Valerie HobsonValerie HobsonValerie Hobson was a British actress who appeared in a number of British films during the 1940s and 1950s...
as Frau Tiel (schoolmistress)/Jill Blacklock - Marius GoringMarius GoringMarius Goring CBE was an English stage and cinema actor. He is most often remembered for the four films he did with Powell & Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in A Matter of Life and Death and as Julian Craster in The Red Shoes...
as Lt. Schuster - June DuprezJune DuprezJune Duprez was an English film actress.The daughter of American vaudeville performer Fred Duprez, she was born in Teddington, Middlesex, England, during an air raid in the final months of World War I....
as Anne Burnett - Athole StewartAthole Stewart-Selected filmography:Athole appeared in the following films:* Canaries Sometimes Sing * The Speckled Band * The Faithful Heart * The Constant Nymph *Loyalties * The Four Masked Men...
as Rev. Hector Matthews - Agnes LauchlanAgnes LauchlanAgnes Lauchlan was a British film and television actress.Agnes Mary Lauchlan, was born on the 10th of February 1905 in Putney, London. the daughter of Henry D. Lauchlan, a surgeon and his Scottish-born wife Minnie. She married William Connelly in Surrey in 1948...
as Mrs. Matthews - Helen HayeHelen HayeHelen Haye was a British stage and film actress.She began acting on the stage in 1898 and debuted in London in 1911 as Gertrude in Hamlet. Her film career began in 1917. She often worked with director Alexander Korda...
as Mrs. Sedley - Cyril RaymondCyril RaymondCyril William North Raymond MBE was a British character actor....
as Rev. John Harris - George Summers as Capt. Walter Ratter (ferry captain)
- Hay PetrieHay PetrieHay Petrie , born David Hay Petrie, was a Scottish actor noted for playing eccentric characters, among them Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop , the McLaggen in The Ghost Goes West and Uncle Pumblechook in Great Expectations .Hay Petrie went to St Andrew’s Academy, Dundee, and St...
as James, the Ferry Engineer - Grant Sutherland as Bob Bratt
- Robert Rendel as Admiral
- Mary MorrisMary MorrisMary Morris was a British actress.-Life and career:She was the daughter of Herbert Stanley Morris, the botanist, and his wife Sylvia Ena de Creft-Harford. She was educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.She made her stage debut in Lysistrata at the Gate Theatre, London, in 1935...
as Edwards, the Chauffeuse - Margaret Moffatt as Kate
- Kenneth Warrington as Cmdr. Denis
- Torin ThatcherTorin ThatcherTorin Thatcher was an English actor born in Bombay, British India, India), to English parents. He was an imposing, powerfully built figure noted for his flashy portrayals of screen villains....
as Submarine officer
Cast notes:
- Bernard MilesBernard MilesBernard James Miles, Baron Miles, CBE was an English character actor, writer and director. He opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959, the first new theatre opened in the City of London since the 17th century....
has a small uncredited part as Hans, the hotel receptionist. - Graham StarkGraham StarkGraham Stark is an English comedian, actor, writer and director.Stark was born in Wallasey on the Wirral in Cheshire, England. He first came to prominence on BBC Radio, making his debut in Happy Go Lucky and going on to Ray's A Laugh, Educating Archie and substitute on The Goon Show...
has an uncredited part as a bellboy. - Skelton Knaggs has a small uncredited part as the German sailor looking for Capt. Hardt.
Production
Irving AsherIrving Asher
Irving Asher was an Producer. He worked as a managing director for Warner Brothers in England in the 1930s, working on Alexander Korda's classic epic, The Four Feathers...
, the producer of The Spy in Black, was the head of British production for Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, and the film was made as a "quota quickie
Cinematograph Films Act 1927
The Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 was an act of the United Kingdom Parliament designed to stimulate the declining British film industry.-Description:...
", films made by the British units of American studios in order to fulfill a requirement of the British government that British cinemas show a certain amount of British product. Early in his career, director Michael Powell
Michael Powell (director)
Michael Latham Powell was a renowned English film director, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger...
made quite a few of these films.
The Spy in Black was filmed at Denham Studios
Denham Film Studios
Denham Film Studios were a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952.The studios were founded by Alexander Korda, on a 165 acre site near the village of Denham, Buckinghamshire. At the time it was the largest facility of its kind in the UK, but it was merged with Rank's Pinewood...
, with location shooting at Northchurch Common in Berkhamsted
Berkhamsted
-Climate:Berkhamsted experiences an oceanic climate similar to almost all of the United Kingdom.-Castle:...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
and in Orkney, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The film wrapped production on 24 December 1938 and was released in the U.K. on 12 August 1939. Its American premiere was held in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on 5 October of that year, and it went into general release two days later.
Awards and honors
This film was named by the National Board of Review as one of the ten best films of 1939.External links
- The Spy in Black reviews and articles at the Powell & Pressburger Pages. Full synopsis and film stills (and clips viewable from UK libraries).