st-shot Made during the second half of his British period Alfred Hitchcock's Secret Agent is a spy thriller about a reluctant hero (John Gielgud) during the First World War who botches a hit. Following two of Hitch's more polished works ( The Man who Knew too Much, The 39 Steps) it fails to live up to their pedigree but does contain more than its fair share of gripping moments.Richard Brodie (Gielgud) Elsa Carrington ( Madeline Carrol) and The General (Peter Lorre) have been assigned by British intelligence to waste a threat in Switzerland. It turns out to be the wrong man however leaving Brodie and Elsa drained, the General far from it. Brodie, now romantically involved with Elsa wants out but accedes to accompany the General on one more assignment.In the lead Gielgud is somewhat detached and passionless most of the way while Carrol offers some sparks leaving it up to the dark humored, callous Lorre character and the dubious all American Young to keep things interesting while Hitchcock injects some of his suspenseful editorial mastery in a factory, on a train and in particular during an assassination in the mountains. Not a classic but a good one.

bbmtwist This was Hitchcock's third espionage thriller in a row (after THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH and THE 39 STEPS), clearly having found his niche in his UK sound film career. This shares a good deal with its predecessor. Both involve espionage and budding romance. In this the identity of the sought after spy is cleverly hidden until the end of the film, but as with THE 39 STEPS, the McGuffin has been in front of our noses since the beginning of the film.Madeleine Carroll appears a second time as the female lead, as she did in 39, and again proves herself a very good actress, both dramatically and romantically. Gielgud is a surprise, playing a contemporary role without a bit of his later assumed effeteness or accented theatrical voice. Robert Young is an anomaly – what is an American actor doing in a UK film??? As usual it is Peter Lorre who steals the film, as he did with THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, this time giving an entirely different supporting performance as an emotionally wild Hispanic hit man. The release year was the first for the Supporting Actor category at the Oscars and he was undeservedly overlooked – a nomination was certainly in order.The film is set in 1916, during WWI, though there is no attempt to use period clothing. There are many memorable moments: the drone of the organ throughout the scene where the first body is discovered slumped over the instrument; the false clue of the button's owner at the roulette table; the chase through the train at the end, mirroring a similar scene in 39. The great suspense center piece of the film involves cross-cutting between the assassination scene and a domestic tea party, with the anxiety of the event going on outside superbly registered in both Carroll's facial movements and the behavior of the intended victim's agitated pet.It ends rather abruptly and not too satisfactorily, as if Hitch had run out of ideas. There is one goof when Young refers to Carroll's Adam's Apple. Women don't possess this feature, which belong entirely to the male anatomy.All in all, this is stylish, elegant, a mix of humor and intense drama, that is wonderfully entertaining. My print ran 1:25:53. Highly recommended.

illbebackreviews "Secret Agent" tells the story of a two secret agents who pose as a couple as they attempt to capture and kill a German agent, "Secret Agent" was possibly an original Hitchcock story and one of the earlier spy films. However, an interesting premise, two great lead performances by Carrol and Gielgud is botched by poor storytelling, an overlong duration and the highly irritating character that Peter Lorre portrays. Lacking suspense and all the elements that make Hitchcock a master director and my all time favourite director, the only redeeming qualities found in this bloated Hitchcock picture are the attempted story its telling, an interesting romance story developing between the two leads and the two lead characters themselves. "Secret Agent" is the biggest step down from "The 39 Steps" that Hitchcock could seek. If his intentions were to make a film that is in every right, worse than its predecessor, he has succeeded otherwise its simply not something he'd want to remember.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews I have not read the novel, am I not even close to being old enough to have seen the play performed back then. Honestly, I didn't know anything about this going into it. The thing came in a box-set that was on sale, with The Lady Vanishes and Rich and Strange(that I didn't know before purchase, either). This is about as good as the former, and thus better than the latter. There is technically no scene selection on any of the three(at most, skipping ahead to the ending), so you're stuck with rewinding and fast-forwarding as if it were a VHS(ah, the good old days). The plot isn't bad, and this is genuinely exciting and tense(Alfred knew how to create suspense back then, too). It's interesting that such an early spy thriller would deal with the conscience of agents(and would do a pretty decent job at it, no less). Editing and cinematography show promise, and certainly are nice for the time. The mystery is fairly well-done. Chemistry is reasonable. The acting is satisfactory. Same goes for characters, although this has some stereotypes in that regard; Lorre is a walking parody of a foreigner, with his broken English(is NCIS' Ziva's habit of getting well-known sayings wrong inspired by that?). The traditional gender roles affect it a bit, as well. This can be over the top, but it is funny here and there; a lot of the material seems to be based on quirk. There is a little mild violence in this. I recommend this to big fans of Hitchcock and Gielgud. 7/10