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Secret Agent

"Dead Women Tell No Tales Was The Motto of This Charming Lady Killer!"

During World War I, a novelist declared dead is recruited by British intelligence and sent to Switzerland under a new identity to assassinate a German spy. Teamed with a fellow agent posing as his wife and an eccentric assassin known as “the General,” the trio close in on their target — until two of them grow ambivalent when their duty to the mission clashes with their consciences.

Top Cast

  • Madeleine Carroll

    Madeleine Carroll

    Elsa Carrington

  • John Gielgud

    John Gielgud

    Richard Ashenden / Edgar Brodie

  • Peter Lorre

    Peter Lorre

    The General

  • Robert Young

    Robert Young

    Robert Marvin

  • Percy Marmont

    Percy Marmont

    Caypor

  • Florence Kahn

    Florence Kahn

    Mrs. Caypor

  • Charles Carson

    Charles Carson

    "R"

  • Lilli Palmer

    Lilli Palmer

    Lilli

  • Denys Blakelock

    Denys Blakelock

    Man (uncredited)

Overview

During World War I, a novelist declared dead is recruited by British intelligence and sent to Switzerland under a new identity to assassinate a German spy. Teamed with a fellow agent posing as his wife and an eccentric assassin known as “the General,” the trio close in on their target — until two of them grow ambivalent when their duty to the mission clashes with their consciences.

Rating

6.1 / 10
169 Reviews
1 Popular

1 Reviews

  • CinemaSerf
    CinemaSerf
    6 Jun 19, 2022

    John Gielgud charmingly portrays the novelist-cum-officer dragooned by the British spy service into travelling to Switzerland on the trail of a Nazi spy. He is assigned two assistants - a rather naive, but keen, Madeleine Carroll "Elsa" and a suitable sleazy, but lethal, Peter Lorre "as The General". Their first attempt to fulfil their mission goes awry somewhat, as they dispatch the wrong person. It is at this point their consciences start to kick in and they question the morals of their mission - particularly when they actually do discover the identity of the enemy secret agent. Hitchcock and Charles Bennett adapt the Somerset Maugham story with plenty of attention to the detail and the characterisation; the direction is taut and the suspense on the train towards the end keep this enthralling.

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