Themes: Traitorous Spies/Double Agents, Double Life
Main Cast: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Gerda Maurus, Lien Deyers, Craighall Sherry, Willy Fritsch, Louis Ralph, Lupu Pick
Release Year: 1928
Country: DE
Run Time: 88 minutes
Plot
Spies (Spione) was the first independent production of German "thriller" director Fritz Lang. The years-ahead-of-its-time plotline involves Russian espionage activity in London. The mastermind is Haghi (Rudolph Klein-Rogge), a supposedly respectable carnival sideshow entertainer. Heading the good guys is Agent 326 (Willy Fritsch), with the help of defecting Russian spy Sonya (Gerda Maurus). The film moves swiftly to several potential climaxes, each one more exciting than its predecessor. Haghi's ultimate demise is a superbly staged Pirandellian vignette. Anticipating Citizen Kane by a dozen years, director Lang dispenses with all transitional dissolves and fade-outs, flat-cutting territory from one scene to another. The film was co-scripted by Lang and his then-wife Thea Von Harbou. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
In the tradition of his popular Dr. Mabuse films (Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse), Fritz Lang's Spies revolves around the baroque schemes of a criminal mastermind -- in this case, Haghi (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), a master spy who operates from a secret office inside a bank. The plot is a virtual template for all espionage movies to come. It's full of double agents, secret documents, assassinations, and even a love story between two agents on opposite sides of the vast game Haghi is playing. In contrast to Lang's silent masterpieces Metropolis and Die Nibelungen: Siegfried, with their gargantuan sets and stately, myth-like plots and pacing, Spies is made with swifter strokes. It begins with a quick-moving montage of murders, heists, and other crimes that sets the mood for the fast-paces, densely plotted action to follow. This, and a brilliantly designed and edited later passage which finds the hero, Agent 326 (Willy Fritsch), trapped in a train car about to be obliterated by an oncoming locomotive, are two of the film's great action sequences. Its ending, in which master-of-disguise Haghi's surprising secret identity is revealed, provides one of the most shockingly surreal moments in Lang's ouevre. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide
Fritz Rasp - Col. Jellusic (Ivan Stepanov, English version); Grete Berger; Julius Falkenstein - Hotel Manager; Paul Hoerbiger - Franz (326's Valet/Chauffeur); Georg John - Train Conductor; Paul Rehkopf - Strolch; Rose Valetti; Hermann Vallentin; Hans Heinrich Von Twardowski - Chief Jason's Secretary (Spy); Hertha Von Walther - Lady Leslane
