British Intelligence

These days "British intelligence" must be regarded abroad as an oxymoron, thanks to the antics of those we elected in order to safeguard our future. However, back before the exposure of Burgess and Maclean, the UK's intelligence services had a great deal of respect. It was enough to inspire a young Chicagoan journalist turned screenwriter, Anthony Paul Kelly, to write a play about a supposed counter-espionage coup by our people in the dark days of 1917. Two films were made of the play under the title Three Faces East, a silent in 1928 then a Vitaphone talkie in 1930. Ten years later, when Britain and the Empire were standing alone against Hitler, the story was revived by Warner Bros. as British Intelligence. The Great War setting remained the same, but a speech in the last reel looking forward to an end to the war clearly betrayed the intention of the makers to draw a parallel with the current conflict. Major figures in Hollywood, backed by a subtle British PR campaign, wanted the US to enter the war against the genocidal Nazi regime. It actually took the Japanese intervention in 1941 to bring that about, but in the mean time Churchill was able to negotiate military aid from the US.

The film itself (shown recently on Talking Pictures TV) was not bad, considering it was probably released as a second feature, judging by the fact that the star name was that of Boris Karloff*. The female lead was Margaret Lindsay whose IMDb profile describes her as not quite of star status. They certainly carried the film. Ms Lindsay's pitch-perfect English accent, rare for an American actress of that time, was backed by a supporting cast of largely British origin. I had no idea that there were so many jobbing British actors in the US at that time. Among them was the great-great-uncle of Kevin Spacey. There was also a smattering of Germans - presumably seeking refuge from the Nazis - in the cast. Anyway, the script (and the cast) kept me guessing as to who were the agents and who the double-agents until near the final showdown.

* One of my claims to a low degree of separation from old Hollywood is that I once played postal chess against a younger brother of Mr Pratt.