British Intelligence (1939)
Overview
During WWI pretty German master spy Helene von Lorbeer is sent undercover to London to live with the family of a high-placed British official where she is to rendezvous with the butler Valdar, also a spy, and help him transmit secret war plans back to Germany.
Cast
Boris Karloff
Valdar
Margaret Lindsay
Helene von Lorbeer
Bruce Lester
Frank Bennett
Leonard Mudie
James Yeats
Holmes Herbert
Arthur Bennett
William Bailey
British Intelligence Agent
Louise Brien
Miss Risdon - Bennett's Secretary
Glen Cavender
Under Officer Pfalz
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CinemaSerf
On the face of it, this is just another wartime espionage story where the ending is never really in any doubt. Actually, though, the plot is a bit more interesting. Set during WWI, Margaret Lindsay ("Helene von Lorbeer") is sent to London, to the home of Cabinet Minister "Arthur Bennett" (Holmes Herbert), where she is to rendezvous with his already treacherous butler "Valdar" (Boris Karloff). Once there, we embark on the usual round of who to trust/not to trust storylines as they try to get hold of secret war plans. What stands it out a bit is that is has a certain propheticism about it: it isn't so much telling us the tale set in 1917, but one of the likely pitfalls of megalomania and unbridled ambition in the future; clearly a reference to events looming in 1940 when this was released. It's watchable enough, the small cast is tightly knitted and perform well; the writing does it's job fine and Terry Morse kept me interested for an hour.
