I once tried to compile the top 100 films of 1939 as well as other years. I had no issue with 1939 because it was a year filled with classics from around the world, and many of them most people have never even heard of. This British thriller, made during the beginning of the conflict with Germany, is a World War I spy drama, and quite appropriate to be made to deal with the issues of espionage. The way it presents the Germans involved in this is quite wise because they are not one dimensional villains but rather cultured and thus even more dangerous because they have the ability to manipulate with charm and class.
In the American espionage drama "All Through the Night" involving fifth columnists in New York right before Pearl Harbor, Conrad Veidt played a very cultured proprietor of an antique auction shop, and when he is revealed to be a Nazi spy, it isn't surprising but his elegance makes him all the more deadly. He had a voice that gave the facade of villainy and even though he was anti-Nazi (and devoted to his Jewish wife), he knew he could make a difference by playing these type of characters that expose the Nazis for the fascists they were.
In this British film, the first of the Powell and Pressburgers, he's first seen looking for an elegant meal, and when he is with fellow spy Valarie Hobson, his joy over sniffing real butter it is like a child discovering a huge cake when he comes home from school. Hobson is first seen as the chauffer of a car taking school teacher June Duprez to her new post with Duprez's aunt Helen Haye, handing her a scarf that knocks Duprez out with chloroform. When Hobson tells Veidt about what happened to Duprez, it is without absolutely any emotion, simply comparing it to Little Red Riding Hood with a not so happy ending.
So we end up in Scotland where Veidt and Hobson join forces with a disillusioned Scottish soldier Sebastian Shaw whom they are easily able to manipulate in assisting them. Romance grows between Hobson and Shaw, but the arrival of Duprez's fiancee is a fly in the ointment that threatens to take down the German plot to sink a British submarine.
This is brilliantly complex, tight with detail and flowing brilliantly with outstanding photography to match. Veidt is certainly one of the best actors in these types of War propaganda films, always adding dimensions to where it was easy to see how people could be deceived by him. It has a Hitchcock like quality to its structure, and never lets you down as far as the tension is concerned. Therefore, while I would be hard pressed to put this in a top 10 list based on the other number of classics made in 1939, I would definitely have to do some shifting to make sure it is in the top 25.
In the American espionage drama "All Through the Night" involving fifth columnists in New York right before Pearl Harbor, Conrad Veidt played a very cultured proprietor of an antique auction shop, and when he is revealed to be a Nazi spy, it isn't surprising but his elegance makes him all the more deadly. He had a voice that gave the facade of villainy and even though he was anti-Nazi (and devoted to his Jewish wife), he knew he could make a difference by playing these type of characters that expose the Nazis for the fascists they were.
In this British film, the first of the Powell and Pressburgers, he's first seen looking for an elegant meal, and when he is with fellow spy Valarie Hobson, his joy over sniffing real butter it is like a child discovering a huge cake when he comes home from school. Hobson is first seen as the chauffer of a car taking school teacher June Duprez to her new post with Duprez's aunt Helen Haye, handing her a scarf that knocks Duprez out with chloroform. When Hobson tells Veidt about what happened to Duprez, it is without absolutely any emotion, simply comparing it to Little Red Riding Hood with a not so happy ending.
So we end up in Scotland where Veidt and Hobson join forces with a disillusioned Scottish soldier Sebastian Shaw whom they are easily able to manipulate in assisting them. Romance grows between Hobson and Shaw, but the arrival of Duprez's fiancee is a fly in the ointment that threatens to take down the German plot to sink a British submarine.
This is brilliantly complex, tight with detail and flowing brilliantly with outstanding photography to match. Veidt is certainly one of the best actors in these types of War propaganda films, always adding dimensions to where it was easy to see how people could be deceived by him. It has a Hitchcock like quality to its structure, and never lets you down as far as the tension is concerned. Therefore, while I would be hard pressed to put this in a top 10 list based on the other number of classics made in 1939, I would definitely have to do some shifting to make sure it is in the top 25.