Themes: Crisis of Conscience, Traitorous Spies/Double Agents, Double Life
Main Cast: Madeleine Carroll, Peter Lorre, John Gielgud, Robert Young, Percy Marmont
Release Year: 1936
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 83 minutes
Plot
Based on the novels of W. Somerset Maugham, The Secret Agent is the second in a trilogy of Alfred Hitchcock spy movies (along with The 39 Steps and Sabotage). Set during WWI, John Gielgud plays British novelist Edgar Brodie who discovers that a government agency has faked his own death. He is then given orders to go to Switzerland to kill a German agent. He goes by the name of Richard Ashenden and travels with secret agent Elsa Carrington (Madeleine Carroll), who poses as his wife. Richard joins professional killer the General (Peter Lorre) to look for clues, which leads them to suspect the tourist Caypor (Percy Marmont). Elsa occupies Caypor's wife, Florence Kahn, while Richard and the General attempt to complete their mission during a climbing trip in the Alps. It turns out he was the wrong man, so the spies reluctantly start another search for clues that leads them to the American charmer Robert Marvin (Robert Young). Unfortunately, he has just boarded a train to Greece with Elsa, so they have to get onboard and warn her. The situation is complicated with an air attack, where several key players meet their fate. The Secret Agent marked a rare instance where Hitchcock was pressured into changing the ending from the more grim original. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Review
Deception is the order of the day in this solid espionage thriller from director Alfred Hitchcock. Based on Somerset Maugham's adventure stories and a play by Campbell Nixon, Secret Agent is deceptive in every way: characters hide their true intentions, beautiful locations mask the sinister deeds that happen in them, even the film's title is tricky since the story is about several agents rather than just one. All of this duplicity helps develop the suspense normally associated with Hitchcock's films, but Secret Agent falls a bit short of becoming one of the director's classics. The picture's primary shortcomings lie with the plot: John Gielgud is a spy whose assignment is to find and kill an enemy spy in Switzerland. The fact that the hero of the film is told to kill rather than save someone or steal something is a dark, edgy move, but it weakens the viewer's connection to Gielgud's character. In one of the most chilling sequences, Gielgud and Peter Lorre carry out the assassination only to discover that they've killed an innocent man. To a lesser degree, the cast is also a weakness. While the performances are decent, Gielgud, Madeleine Carroll, and Robert Young seem out of place in a Hitchcock film. Lorre is the bright, shining star, in the role of a Mexican general whose twisted black humor matches his murderous tactics. Lorre's character is neither a Mexican nor a general, but he steals the show. The most exciting sequence is the climax, in which the real spy is revealed amidst gunplay and a terrific train crash. Hitchcock had two slightly different endings prepared for the film, but neither was used. The director appears as a mourner during the fake funeral that opens the film. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide
Joe Strassner - Costume Designer, Alfred Hitchcock - Director, Charles Frend - Editor, Louis Levy - Composer (Music Score), Louis Levy - Musical Direction/Supervision, Bernard Knowles - Cinematographer, Michael Balcon - Producer, Ivor Montagu - Producer, Albert Jullion - Set Designer, Otto Werndorff - Set Designer, Ian Hay - Screenwriter, Alma Reville - Screenwriter, Jesse Lasky, Jr. - Screenwriter, Charles Bennett - Screenwriter, W. Somerset Maugham - Book Author, Campbell Dixon - Play Author
Gielgud plays a British officer, a once famous writer whose death is faked during World War I, and is sent by the mysterious "R", head of British intelligence, to Switzerland on a secret mission. Meanwhile, Carroll plays a female agent who poses as his wife. Together, they meet their contact in the country, Lorre.
Elisabeth Weis, 1982, The Silent Scream — Alfred Hitchcock's Sound Track (1982), "Expressionism at its Height: Secret Agent" — a discussion of Hitchcoock's use of sound in the film.
