Wordiezett
So much average
Salubfoto
It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.
Isbel
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
mark.waltz
A gem of early war propaganda, this adventure/comedy is a light-hearted but serious look at Nazi espionage and smuggling. Cast against type, Conrad Veidt plays a heroic Danish ship's captain, a seemingly sinister fellow who is actually a humorous chap on the side of peace. He is seen early in the film harshly admonishing a passenger for not wearing a life preserver. Teaming up with beautiful Valarie Hobson, he finds himself involved in exposing nasty Nazi's, much like his own spy in the brilliant "All Through the Night" where his suave character tried to blow up an American Navy ship.The amazing Veidt is a German actor worthy of a movie biography because of his anti-Nazi sentiments while playing many of them, being married to a Jewish woman and escaping his homeland because of his love for her. With a sinister voice and demeanor hiding his true persona, Veidt here is as suave as Cary Grant and as courageous as Bogart. As the Captain, Veidt expresses a love for his homeland that he sadly realizes has been taken over by a monster. Outstanding photography and witty dialog add to the excitement of the film.
chrisart7
Hobson and Veidt co-starred in "Spy in Black" in 1938 (released in '39), a beautiful WWI drama about spies and counterspies made by Alexander Korda's London Films. This film was the first pairing of director Michael Powell and scripter Emeric Pressburger who would soon come to be known as The Archers.1940 saw the release of "Contraband", also featuring the same stars, as well as director and screenwriter. Technically, this film is superior to "Spy in Black", but if one is expecting a Hitchcockian romance-thriller laced with sparkling wit, a la "The 39 Steps" or "The Lady Vanishes," one is in for a big disappointment. Conrad Veidt, only three years away from death, looks much older than forty-seven in "Contraband". It is sad to see him cast as a 'romantic lead' having to occasionally spout some inane, undignified dialogue. Try to imagine Humphrey Bogart playing the lead in "Casablanca" in 1956 instead of 1942, and you have the idea. Even between "The Spy in Black" and "Contraband" Veidt had aged considerably.The acting, direction, and camera-work are superb---diminutive Hay Petrie steals every scene he is in, as he did in "The Spy in Black" and "Knight Without Armour" (1937). Had he worked in Hollywood, he would likely have been a successful character lead, as was Claude Rains. It is Emeric Pressburger's script which ultimately sinks "Contraband". There are many potentially dramatic moments which are undermined by campy dialogue and situations, so much so that one cannot take the film seriously at all. The same occurs to a lesser degree in the otherwise excellent "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" and "A Matter of Life and Death". Pressburger, a Hungarian emigrè, also ham-fistedly telegraphs an appeal for sympathy towards all non-Brits in the aforementioned UK films.I much prefer the Korda-produced films to the work of The Archers for the above reasons.
MARIO GAUCI
This is a follow-up to THE SPY IN BLACK (1939) - utilizing the same director, writer and stars - and even better! It's described as a Hitchcockian comedy-thriller - though still every bit an "Archers" product - which only goes to show that the Master Of Suspense lost something by going to the US (the English films being more deliberately stylized); the second of 5 collaborations by the Powell/Pressburger team designed as propaganda for the war effort - each more ambitious and uncharacteristic of the typical British effort than the one before!It's fast-paced and plot-packed, with several marvelous suspense scenes, but also excellent characterization all around - and a splendid cast: Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson are supported by a wonderful dual role from Hay Petrie, Esmond Knight, and even early villainous turns by Leo Genn and Peter Bull (dubbed "The Brothers Grimm" by Veidt's Captain Hans Andersen!) - with bits by Torin Thatcher and an especially nice one involving Bernard Miles; The Archers also take care to provide the chief villain (played by Raymond Lovell) with a speech impediment - though not as a means of ridiculing him.The London locations (shot by the great Freddie Young) are superbly deployed - given an extra Expressionist edge by being largely set during a blackout (actually, the film's title in the US). The Archers would come to be known for their occasional drop in taste, already evident here in an interracial cabaret number entitled "White Negro"! The terrific climax involves a chase intercut with a free-for-all.I had long wanted to purchase the R1 DVD but kept postponing it due to the utter lack of extras and the prohibitive price (only managing to get it through Deep Discount's recent sale on Kino products!); still, the transfer is disappointing (and yet the only way the film is available for the moment!): bright, soft and probably PAL sourced (given that the running time is only 87 minutes against the official 92 - the sleeve notes thus making the mistake of stating that it's 8 minutes, rather than 12, longer than the version originally shown in the US!).
barrymn1
I bought this movie because it was directed by Michael Powell, scripted by Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and starred Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson (a great important British director/producer/writer and two great stars). I knew this hailed from just before Powell & Pressburger hit their stride as THE ARCHERS. Boy, what a pleasant surprise; this is FIRST-RATE suspense/spy thriller which takes place in the early days of wartime Britian but before Pearl Harbor. It's about a Danish sea captain who's forced to follow two missing and suspicious passengers while his ship is being temporarily held by the British. What follows is a spy mystery through London during the days of Blackouts....and is ever bit as clever, amusing and suspenseful as any of Hitchcock's superb British sound films. I URGE you to check out this great and little seen British film classic.
