Considering the era and the subject matter, this one is actually quite good. The misdirection with the characters is done in such a way as to keep you constantly guessing, and the revelation of Margaret Lindsay's character actually came across as a surprise to me, even though in retrospect it might have been telegraphed earlier on. In true Warner Brothers fashion, the film capitalizes on patriotism and World War II propaganda to tell the story of spies and counter spies during World War I, a clever enterprise which worked for this viewer. It helped that Boris Karloff was on hand as an undercover German spy operating in a British official's home as a butler. It turns out that Karloff's character Valdar was in fact the German master spy Von Strendler that was constantly alluded to but never introduced, another excellent example of misdirection. The only single element that felt contrived was the insertion of the British flier Frank Bennett (Bruce Lester), who falls in love with Helene Von Lorbeer/Frances Hautry (Margaret Lindsay). The coincidence involved with Bennett being the son of the British official who takes in Miss Hautry defies most laws of probability, but stuff like that is done in movies all the time, so taken as a given, I guess it's not so far fetched.
Given the right material, Karloff can be genuinely good as an actor, and this is probably one of his finer efforts. His character Valdar/Von Strendler is genuinely pro German all the way in his portrayal. At least I didn't get the impression that he would turn into a double agent the way Lindsay did in her characterization.
This is one of the better 'B' programmers you're likely to come across, and works well as an espionage thriller. With slight alterations, it could have been a World War II story if not for it's year of release, and on that score, winds up being unusually prophetic after history had dealt it's cards.
Given the right material, Karloff can be genuinely good as an actor, and this is probably one of his finer efforts. His character Valdar/Von Strendler is genuinely pro German all the way in his portrayal. At least I didn't get the impression that he would turn into a double agent the way Lindsay did in her characterization.
This is one of the better 'B' programmers you're likely to come across, and works well as an espionage thriller. With slight alterations, it could have been a World War II story if not for it's year of release, and on that score, winds up being unusually prophetic after history had dealt it's cards.