Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

blanche-2 "They Made Her a Spy" is from that landmark year 1939 -- the year of so many great films. This isn't one of them. It's a B movie from RKO.Sally Eilers stars as a young woman whose brother is a victim of sabotage, which has been rampant. She volunteers to do undercover work to find out who is feeding plans and secrets to the enemy. Now, I saw "Carve My Name With Pride," a real-life story, and I know what the government puts you through in order for someone to become a spy. With this woman, she becomes a spy immediately without so much as a background check.Pretending to be involved with the other side, she is directed to one of the leaders, a Herr Krull, starts delivering results, and earns his trust. That takes up about ten minutes of screen time. But some people are still suspicious.Fritz Lieber plays Dr. Krull. I'm assuming this is the noted Shakespearian stage actor Fritz Lieber Sr., father of the science fiction writer Fritz Lieber Jr.There isn't much of a plot here; it seems like Irene no sooner becomes a spy that things come to a boil, the movie is that short. It's not very impressive. Some familiar faces among the supporting players -- Charles Halton, Addison Richards, a few others.Probably pounded out in five days.

mark.waltz Who'd believe that a film with this topic could be so sleep-inducing? An unexciting cast, weak story, snarky characters and lame direction mix together for one of the most disappointing "B" features from the usually interesting RKO. Sally Eilers, a second string B leading lady who worked throughout the 1930's is cast as a 24 (!) year old who takes her dead brothers' place in a spy ring where the mission is never really established other than bits and pieces given by possible double agents who are as cartoonish as Boris and Natasha and not as amusing or humorous. Allan Lane is the agent she pretends to be married to in a sequence obviously ripped off from the famous "Walls of Jericho" scene from "It Happened One Night". The screenplay moves in so many different directions taking Eilers and Lane through so many preposterous situations that it is pointless to try and keep up with the amateurish storytelling. This makes the film's 68 minutes seem like an eternity.

edwagreen You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that the Allan Hale part is one of being a counter spy, just like the lead role of Sally Eilers.The film is basically a routine one where Eilers, following the tragic death of her military brother due to espionage, decides to join and fight spying by herself.There she meets up with all kinds of characters, one which is led by the terrible Dr. Krull, a wonderful Fritz Leiber here. Leiber's very demeanor is the embodiment of evil.The scene where Eilers and Hale pass themselves off as married people to prudish people is absolutely hilarious. You know that the film will end in the way that it does when the 2 return, now married, to the very same boarding house and say they're here on their honeymoon. The expression on the prudish couple is worth the price of admission.Naturally, the film served as a reminder that spies were everywhere, even within the government itself.

boblipton A decent script by, among other people, Michael Kanin, gets turned into an RKO B movie. Although the cast is nominally pretty good -- including Sally Eilers and Alan 'Rocky' Lane as the leads, old pro Teddy von Eltz as the good spymaster and Fritz Leiber Sr. as the rather cadaverous and evil Dr. Krull -- a name borrowed, if I recall correctly, for a bunch of subterranean baddies in the Silver Age Fantastic Four -- the whole thing is rather poorly performed. Saly Eilers is pretty stiff and declamatory and Alan Lane is little better in his scenes with her. Leiber is just fine; the only question in my mind is why he wasn't picked up as soon as he showed his face and given the third degree.Director Jack Hively is probably at fault for what I see as the film's shortcomings. This was his last year as a director, all in RKO Bs, although he went on to be the AD on several excellent movies of the late 1940s.