I Was a Spy

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I Was a Spy
I Was a Spy 1933 Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Victor Saville
Screenplay by
Based onI Was a Spy
by Marthe Cnockaert
Produced by Michael Balcon
Starring
Cinematography Charles Van Enger
Edited by Frederick Y. Smith
Music byLouis Levy (music director)
Production
company
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 4 September 1933 (1933-09-04)(UK)
  • 15 December 1933 (1933-12-15)(USA)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$200,000-$300,000 [1]

I Was a Spy is a 1933 British thriller film directed by Victor Saville and produced by Michael Balcon. It stars Madeleine Carroll as Marthe Cnockaert, Herbert Marshall, and Conrad Veidt. Based on the 1932 memoir I Was a Spy by Marthe Cnockaert, the film is about her experiences as a Belgian woman who nursed German soldiers during World War I while passing intelligence to the British. [2] The film was produced by Gaumont British Picture Corporation with Woolf & Freedman Film Service and Fox Film Corporation distributing in the United Kingdom and the United States respectively.

Contents

Plot

In German-occupied Belgium in 1914, a local woman nurses injured German soldiers while passing information to the British. [3]

Cast

Production

Filming took place in Shepherds Bush. Producer Michael Balcon was concerned about potential legal troubles with the film after the case involving Felix Yusupov, MGM and the film Rasputin and the Empress . Balcon sent Herbert Mason (who was initially production manager before becoming an assistant director) to take the script to Belgium and give it to Marthe Cnockaert to look at and sign off on every page. [4] [3] [5] Balcon called the movie "the most ambitious we had so far attempted." [6]

The script was co-written by Edmund Gwenn who also portrayed the burgomaster. [7]

Release

1935: Flyer for I Was a Spy playing in a local cinema in Prilep, Macedonia (Kingdom of Yugoslavia) I Was a Spy.jpg
1935: Flyer for I Was a Spy playing in a local cinema in Prilep, Macedonia (Kingdom of Yugoslavia)

I Was a Spy was screened at the Lyric. [8]

I Was a Spy was also the first film dubbed in Poland (while there were earlier examples of films dubbed in Polish, they were recorded in Paramount studio in Joinville, France), released in 1935 as Siostra Marta jest szpiegiem, starring Lidia Wysocka as Martha Cnockhaert's voice. [9]

Reception

Box office

The film was very successful at the box office. [3] In January 1934 when discussing the box office success of British movies over the previous year, Variety stated "probability is the English gross record will be split between Henry VIII and I Was a Spy." [10]

Critical Reception

The Daily Mail (21 November 1933) described it as "the most splendid film produced in this country." [11] The Daily Despatch (21 November 1933) described it as a film "equal to Hollywood's best." [11] Variety and motion picture critic Mordaunt Hall (for The New York Times ) praised Carroll's acting. [11] Variety also wrote "The producers of this picture set out to turn out a super film. Money was lavishly and intelligently spent. Subject has great merit and would have a chance in the States." [12]

The Evening News (Rockhampton), praised the acting and described it as "[spectacular] in its sweep, human in its emotions, dramatic in its intensity and profoundly gripping in its appeal." [13]

The film was panned by critic William Troy in The Nation for glossing over the realities of war and the hundreds of deaths caused by this spy. In his review, he compared it to general war propaganda saying, "It is the kind of picture calculated to make us believe that there is something beautiful and touching about war, after all." [14] Film historian and critic Paul Rotha for Cinema Quarterly also disliked the film highlighting how the causes of the war are completely ignored and said, "I raise my hat to Gaumont for attempting a film of serious stature, but replace it when I see the spirit in which the deed is done." [15] [16]

Saville's also had doubts about the film. He watched the completed I Was a Spy with one of the Assistant Directors, Herbert Mason, and was devastated: however, Mason reassured him that it was his "best to date." [17]

Halliwell's Film & Video Guide described the film as "[good] standard war espionage melodrama." [18]

Adrian Turner for Radio Times said that, "Fans of vintage British cinema will enjoy this sprightly espionage yarn, set during the First World War and bearing a close resemblance to the Mata Hari legend." [19]

In 2021, film critic and author Derek Winnert praised the cast and their performances. [3]

Accolades

In a poll conducted by the magazine Film Weekly , the film was voted the best British movie of 1933, [5] [20] [21] and Madeleine Carroll's performance was voted the best in a British movie. [22] [11]

Home media

I Was a Spy was released on DVD on 19 May 2014. [3] [11]

References

Citations

  1. ↑ "Isidore Ostrer tells about British films in the foreign market". Variety. 13 February 1934. p. 12.
  2. ↑ BFI Database
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Derek Winnert (25 January 2021). "I Was a Spy". derekwinnert.com. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  4. ↑ Balcon, 1969, p. 74
  5. 1 2 John Pascoe (17 April 2020). Madeleine Carroll (Paperback ed.). McFarland. p. 51. ISBN   9781476675466.
  6. ↑ Balcon, Michael (1969). Michael Balcon presents ... a lifetime of films. p. 74.
  7. ↑ John Pascoe (17 April 2020). Madeleine Carroll (Paperback ed.). McFarland. p. 50. ISBN   9781476675466.
  8. ↑ "I Was a Spy". trove.nla.gov.au. The Sun (Sydney). 13 May 1934. p. 46. Retrieved 6 August 2022. "I Was a Spy," that phenomenal British success, is now being screened at the Lyric
  9. ↑ Dolny, Zbigniew (24 March 2019). ""Siostra Marta jest szpiegiem" – przedwojenna recenzja dubbingu". Polski-dubbing.pl. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  10. ↑ "33 Saw British Pictures Drop Old Formulas and Start Going Places". Variety. 16 January 1934. p. 12.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 John Pascoe (17 April 2020). Madeleine Carroll (Paperback ed.). McFarland. p. 52. ISBN   9781476675466.
  12. ↑ "I Was a Spy". Variety. 19 September 1933. p. 13.
  13. ↑ "I Was a Spy". trove.nla.gov.au. Rockhampton, Australia: The Evening News. 30 May 1934. p. 13. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  14. ↑ Troy, William (7 February 1934). "Films - Towards The Next War" (Book Collection of Periodical). The Nation. Vol. 138, no. 3579. pp. 166–167.
  15. ↑ "I Was a Spy - Movie Reviews". rottentomatoes.com. Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  16. ↑ Rotha, Paul (1933). I Was A Spy. scanned by G.D. Robinson at The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York. Edinburgh: Cinema Quarterly (1933 - 1934). p. 40.
  17. ↑ Moseley, 2000, p. 69
  18. ↑ John Walker (1998). Halliwell's Film & Video Guide (13 ed.). HarperCollins Publishers. p. 381.
  19. ↑ Adrian Turner. "I Was a Spy (1934)". radiotimes.com. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  20. ↑ "Film Weekly". 4 May 1934. p. 9.
  21. ↑ Brian McFarlane (2005). The Encyclopedia of British Film (2nd ed.). Methuen. p. 622. ...the true war story I Was a Spy, voted Best British film of 1933
  22. ↑ "BEST FILM PERFORMANCE LAST YEAR". The Examiner (LATE NEWS EDITION and DAILY ed.). Launceston, Tasmania. 9 July 1937. p. 8. Retrieved 4 March 2013– via National Library of Australia.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Secondary sources

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