GManfred Hollywood produced this one as the war in Europe had barely begun and the US was a couple of years away from Pearl Harbor. They had correctly identified the threat from Nazi Germany, though, and made a pretty accurate assessment of the consequences involved. "Confessions Of A Nazi Spy" is better than it sounds, and is not a story extracted from a cheap novel.Nutshell; Some German-Americans felt an attachment to their Fatherland at the outbreak of the war, and some bought into the narrative and became Nazi sympathizers. Schneider (Francis Lederer) is one of those. He is inspired by the speeches of Dr. Kassell (Paul Lukas) and becomes a spy - more of a messenger - for a local subversive Nazi group. He is discovered by the FBI (Edw. G. Robinson), loses his nerve and informs on the group. Any more of the plot will spoil the story.The picture is related in semi-documentary style which gives it a patina of authenticity and is directed by Hollywood veteran Anatole Litvak, who adds the required tension and who made several noteworthy noir and crime dramas in his career. Lederer and Lukas supply the villains and Robinson the hero in this surprisingly good rendition of a story of troublesome times to come for America.

classicsoncall I'd never heard of this film but when I saw it in the cable lineup for Turner Classics this morning I had to be there, especially with Edgar G. Robinson heading the cast. Interestingly, Robinson doesn't even appear until about half way into the picture as an FBI agent hot on the trail of a German-American turned Nazi spy. I have to admit, there were times the story got pretty chilling for me the way it portrayed Nazi infiltration into American daily life look so easy to do. The blind obedience to Adolph Hitler professed by Dr. Karl Kassel (Paul Lukas) in his speeches to local bund gatherings is somewhat hard to imagine today, but then again, I've seen era footage of a Hitler rally in Madison Square Garden, so I have to believe this wouldn't have been impossible.What I thought was pretty cool was the way Agent Renard (Robinson) got Kurt Schneider (Francis Lederer) to crack, playing to his vanity and sense of self importance. No doubt the job was made easier by Schneider's inability to make his spy activities pay off in a big way with his German contact Schlager (George Sanders). It's also noteworthy to mention how Germans in the film reacted in horror to the mere mention of the word 'Gestapo'; every time it was uttered it brought on a near panic attack.I'm really curious how this film was received back when first released. Gallup polls taken in 1936 showed that only one in twenty Americans were in favor of America getting involved in another war, but it took only two more years of Hitler's aggression to convince Americans that strengthening our Armed Forces for a conflict would be in our best interest. In perhaps the best line of dialog that would preview America's eventual entry into World War II, Attorney Kellogg (Henry O'Neill) states his considered view to Agent Renard that "When our basic liberties are threatened, we wake up."

Rumjal Those who would comment upon the film "Confessions of a Nazi Spy"--and many other Warner Brothers films--would do well to see director Richard Schickel's five-hour film "You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story" and the book that accompanies the film, both of which were created as the centerpiece of a celebration of the studio's 85th anniversary (more information on this series is available on the PBS website under the series American Masters).While "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" is seen as mild in its view of the Third Reich today, it was the first anti-Nazi film produced by any studio and was so controversial in its day that the studio was to be prosecuted for making the film and would have been prosecuted had the Empire of Japan not attacked Pearl Harbor two weeks before the prosecution was to begin.

Neil Doyle This is definitely a better than average espionage yarn produced by Warner Bros. a couple of years before our entry into WWII. FRANCIS LEDERER has a key role as a homegrown Nazi spy without much experience but learning the ropes from the more experienced GEORGE SANDERS and PAUL LUKAS.Anatole Litvak's direction is swift and the story told in a semi-documentary style that would flourish more often in the '40s over at Fox where films like THE HOUSE ON 92nd STREET and 13 RUE MADELINE would exploit the subject of espionage.EDWARD G. ROBINSON has the role of a good guy for a change, an FBI man who has to track down the Nazi spies before valuable information is leaked.Maintains interest throughout, despite the late appearance in the film of Robinson's character.One of FRANCIS LEDERER's best roles during the '30s, it's a film well worth watching despite the overtones of propaganda.