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	Secret Agent John Gielgud, Madeleine Carroll Homevision, 2001 average customer review:based on 20 reviews view larger image
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As for the movie itself... For a 1936 suspense thriller, it holds up pretty well. Hitchcock fans won't want to miss it. There is a lot of humor in this film, most of it courtesy of Peter Lorre, who steals the film as the General.

This edition of the film runs about 86 minutes. I have seen video guides list the film as having a 93 minute running time. I do not know if this version is incomplete, or if there is in fact a longer version available somewhere. It wouldn't be the first time Laserlight has released a cut version (Hitchcock's "Jamaica Inn" was released with several minutes missing). Maybe a future reviewer can shed some light on this mystery.

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Not one of Hitch's best

A curious combination of actors and actresses make this pre-WW2 Hitchcock spy flick a B-level film.

The homely and genteel John Gielgud plays an English author whose death is faked during WW1 to set him up as a reluctant spy under an assumed name. His mission is to proceed to Switzerland to uncover and thwart a German agent. The beautiful and enthusiastic Madeleine Carroll is playing his wife. Gielgud meets her in a hotel where she is conversing with a very youthful looking Robert Young. Gielgud and Young eventually will vie for her affections. Gielgud is aided by a horribly miscast Peter Lorre. Lorre pays a phony Mexican general complete with curly black hair, a gold earring, prosthetic teeth and a terrible accent.

After killing the wrong man, Gielgud and Carroll show remorse and attempt to give up the spy game. The unsympathetic Lorre coaxes Gielgud to continue to pursue the real villain in a memorable scene in a chocolate factory.

In summation, Hitchcock has done a far better job with similar subject matter in 39 Steps, Saboteur and Foreign Correspondent.

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Intriguing cast, unexpectedly funny film.

Ostensibly a spy thriller set during World War I, this 1936 Hitchcock film is filled with some over-the-top scenes which (unfortunately) may bring smiles rather than chills to the modern audience. Edgar Brodie (John Gielgud), a novelist returning from the war, is declared dead by his own government, given a new identity (Richard Ashenden) and passport, and ultimately sent back to Europe to find an enemy spy. With the charming Madeleine Carroll as his "wife" Elsa, Peter Lorre as a foreign general (with a Latin accent), and Robert Young as Robert Marvin, an American who flirts with Elsa, he arrives in Switzerland to discover his contact, a Swiss organist, dead. As he, Elsa, and the General travel from the mountains to the casino, a chocolate factory, and eventually by train toward Constantinople, looking for the enemy agent, Hitchcock keeps the viewer entertained with snappy scenes and dialogue but little real suspense.

Gielgud is cold and elegant as Brodie/Ashenden but lacks the heart which makes spies intriguing to an audience. Madeleine Carroll is warm and funny, Robert Young is charming (and would have made a great leading man here), and Peter Lorre is hilarious (perhaps unintentionally), stealing scene after scene. Lorre plays his part with a Spanish accent, an earring, curly dark hair, and rolling eyes, and it's hard, if not impossible, to believe that he's an assassin. The outdoor scenes are obviously painted, especially in a mountain climbing scene, and the action is melodramatic. The best and most natural scenes are the scenes in which Young flirts with Carroll, while Gielgud stews or looks confused. These scenes provide contrast with those in which Lorre, in real life a German, looks like a chubby assassin trying to sound "Spanish."

Hitchcock balances his serious scenes with scenes which offer some dark comic relief--Brodie's "wake" contrasting with a scene in which the butler casually carts off his empty casket, Gielgud and Lorre discovering a church organist's body and then having the church bells ring while they are hiding beside them in the bell tower, and Madeleine Carroll visiting politely with the wife of a man being assassinated while the wife's psychic dog howls loudly at the door. In major scenes the major characters wear clothing with sharp black and white contrasts, while lesser characters wear grays, and a constant prop throughout the film is the cigarette--even inside a sauna. Not very suspenseful, the film nevertheless has a surprise ending, and modern viewers will enjoy seeing this cast at work in this early Hitchcock film. Mary Whipple

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A so-so movie from Hitchcock

I have to say, I didn't really enjoy this movie. I would recommend renting it before considering purchasing it.
I found there to be very little chemistry between Gielgud and Carrol, and Peter Lorre seems determined to steal every scene he is in. The story was a bit thin as well.


Hitchcock's Secret Not Victoria's

For some reason I just don't enjoy the British Hitchcock films as much as I enjoy the American ones. I find the British films a bit smug, I don't think the humor and suspense jells correctly. It wasn't until his American films that he started to get it right. Movies such as "The Lady Vanishes", "The 39 Steps" and this one are entertaining but lack something that Hitchcock's later films would offer.

John Gielgud plays Edgar Brodie a novelist who has been reported dead by the government so he can go undercover to track down a German spy during WW1 in Switzerland. He he arrives there he finds out that a partner has been sent to help him; a woman (Madeleine Carroll) who is posing as his wife.

All of this sounds quite good. There is a lot of promise in the plot. But I felt the movie never really knows what to do with it. The tone of the movie is at time boring. There is no real suspense.

While at the hotel Elsa Carrington (Carroll) meets a man, Robert Marvin (Robert Young, of TV's "Father Knows Best"). Marvin is attracted to Elsa even after he finds out that she is married.

As the two try to find the unknown spy they are lead on the wrong trail and kill an innocent man. After this Elsa doesn't want to continue their work and demand to go back home. She can not live with these actions on her conscious. At this point in the movie one wonders what is Hitchcock trying to tell us? Is he making a passivist war movie? Is he trying to say that even if you kill a person in a time of war, murder is still murder?

Some could argue this is the movie the recent "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" should have been. Both movies deal with a phony marriage, murder, and spies. But the different with this movie is these characters are smart.

Peter Lorre co-stars, in believe it or not, a comic relief role. He brought the movie down in my opinion. First of all I've never thought of Lorre as a great actor, secondly I never thought of him as a comic actor. When Lorre is on screen the movie struggles with the correct tone. When we see him we are getting comedy, but the movie seems too serious for that so it balances both. This hurts the movie. And what about that accent Lorre uses? It sounds awful.

Also the Robert Young character gives the movie a screwball comedy appeal along the lines of "The Awful Truth" or "My Favorite Wife". With Young we are getting a love triangle that is played for comedy.

"Secret Agent" is quite predictable but I suppose it doesn't matter, Hitchcock fans are going to watch this movie anyway. It is a harmless movie that shows how much he imroved when he came to America. Some of the performances are good, especially Gielgud, who always has a straight face on. Many may remember him in his Oscar winning role as the butler in "Arthur". And Madeleine Carroll appeared in Hitchcock's better film "The 39 Steps" and co-starred with Bob Hope (is there any woman he didn't act with?) in "My Favorite Blonde".

Bottom-line: Enjoyable if slight early Hitchcock film that touches on some big topics like war. Not very suspenseful but the acting is good and in Robert Young's case the movie can be funny. Has of the master will want to see it and will probably enjoy it.

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4

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