The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branches of the United States Armed Forces. Other OSS functions included the use of propaganda, subversion, and post-war planning.
Spy fiction, a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device, emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligence agencies. It was given new impetus by the development of fascism and communism in the lead-up to World War II, continued to develop during the Cold War, and received a fresh impetus from the emergence of rogue states, international criminal organizations, global terrorist networks, maritime piracy and technological sabotage and espionage as potent threats to Western societies. As a genre, spy fiction is thematically related to the novel of adventure, the thriller and the politico-military thriller.
Tommy and Tuppence are two fictional detectives, recurring characters in the work of Agatha Christie. Their full names are Thomas Beresford and his wife Prudence . Tommy and Tuppence first appeared in Christie's The Secret Adversary (1922). They started out their career in search of adventure and money, and the detecting life soon proved profitable and very exciting.
Walter Goehr was a German composer and conductor.
James Neil Hamilton was an American stage, film and television actor, best remembered for his role as Commissioner Gordon on the Batman TV series of the 1960s. During his motion picture career, which spanned more than a half century, Hamilton performed in over 260 productions in the silent and sound eras.
Joachim Gottschalk was a German stage and film actor during the late 1930s, a romantic lead in the style of Leslie Howard.
Brigitte Horney was a German theatre and film actress. Best remembered was her role as Empress Katherine the Great in the 1943 version of the UFA film version of Baron Münchhausen, directed by Josef von Báky, with Hans Albers in the title role.
The Proprietor is a 1996 film. It is a U.S.-French co-production Merchant Ivory film, directed by Ismail Merchant for Jeanne Moreau's request.
Raymond Lovell was a Canadian-born actor who performed in British films. He mainly played supporting roles, often somewhat pompous characters.
The Young Mr. Pitt is a 1942 British biographical film of the life of William Pitt the Younger and in particular his struggle against revolutionary France and Napoleon. It was directed by Carol Reed and stars Robert Donat, Robert Morley, Phyllis Calvert and John Mills. Made in black-and-white, it was produced by Edward Black and Maurice Ostrer for the British subsidiary of 20th Century Fox.
The Little American is a 1917 American silent romantic war drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The film stars Mary Pickford as an American woman who is in love with both a German soldier and a French soldier during World War I. A print of the film is housed at the UCLA Film and Television Archive and has been released on DVD.
Candlelight in Algeria is a 1944 British war film directed by George King and starring James Mason, Carla Lehmann and Raymond Lovell. The story is loosely based on an October 1942 secret conference in Cherchell, Algeria between American general Mark W. Clark and a group of high-ranking Vichy French commanders. At the conference, the Vichy French commanders agreed to not resist the Operation Torch landings in Vichy France-controlled French North Africa that occurred one month later.
"Jane" Ebba Charlotta Horney, was a Swedish woman, believed to have spied in Denmark for the benefit of Nazi Germany, and to have been killed by the Danish resistance movement on a fishing boat at Øresund, but it has never been confirmed for which nation she actually worked. The Gestapo in Denmark believed that she was an agent for the British or Soviet Union, and after World War II it was denied that she had been a Gestapo agent. Abwehr officers likewise denied, when asked by Säpo, that she had been their agent.
The House of the Spaniard is a 1936 British comedy thriller film directed by Reginald Denham and starring Peter Haddon, Brigitte Horney and Allan Jeayes. It is set in Lancashire and Spain, during the ongoing Spanish Civil War. It was shot at Ealing Studios in west London, England, and on location in Lancashire and Spain. Art direction was by Holmes Paul. It was based on a novel of the same title by Arthur Behrend, which was published in 1935.
Fair Exchange is a 1936 British comedy film directed by Ralph Ince and starring Patric Knowles, Raymond Lovell and Cecil Humphreys. It was made at Teddington Studios as a quota quickie by the British subsidiary of Warner Brothers.
Under Secret Orders, also known as Mademoiselle Doctor, is a 1937 British spy film directed by Edmond T. Gréville and starring Erich von Stroheim, John Loder, Dita Parlo and Claire Luce. It is an English-language version of the French film Mademoiselle Docteur, also known as Salonique, nid d'espions, and released in the United States as Street of Shadows, which was filmed at the same time under the direction of G. W. Pabst. Both films have exactly the same plot, but there were differences in the cast between the two: in particular, von Stroheim was not in the French version.
Uproar in Damascus is a 1939 German thriller film directed by Gustav Ucicky and starring Brigitte Horney, Joachim Gottschalk and Hans Nielsen. It is set during the First World War with German troops battling the Arab Revolt led by Lawrence of Arabia and the British. The film was officially honored as "artistically valuable" and having "special political value".
Faded Melody is a 1938 German drama film directed by Viktor Tourjansky and starring Brigitte Horney, Willy Birgel and Carl Raddatz. Horney and Birgel play characters engaged in a troubled transatlantic romance, with she based in New York City and he in Berlin. The film was made by Germany's largest studio of the era UFA.
A Woman Like You is a 1939 German romance film directed by Viktor Tourjansky and starring Brigitte Horney, Joachim Gottschalk and Hans Brausewetter. A young woman lives an unfulfilled life until she falls in love during a holiday abroad.
I Am Looking for a Man is a 1966 West German romantic comedy film directed by Alfred Weidenmann and starring Ghita Nørby, Walter Giller and Brigitte Horney.
