Erich von Stroheim was director non grata in Hollywood after the debacle of Queen Kelly (1929), the overbudget, behind schedule, too-hot-even-for-pre-Code Gloria Swanson bomb that ruined his career. Quietly trying to recover face in Hollywood, the notorious micro-manager accepted "cruel Hun" acting jobs like in this spy drama, where British nobleman Sir Winston Chamberlain (William Holden) is unaware that his manservant Valdar (von Stroheim) is ferrying information to Germany. But is Frances Hawtree (Constance Bennett) on England's side? On Germany's side? Or just another nobody tossed about by war? Even though his castmates hated him -- Bennett demanded mouthwash after kissing scenes, and when von Stroheim worried aloud that he might have swallowed some broken glass, Del Ruth replied "Well, we'll shoot your stuff first in case you die" -- The New York Times praised von Stroheim for "splendid work" and declared the talkie version superior to the 1926 silent original. But for spy movie fans, the more striking comparison is between this peacetime rendition versus the wartime remake British Intelligence (1940).

By Violet LeVoit