Fritz Bauer Institut · Cinematography of the Holocaust
ID |
FBW000302 Fiction |
Country / Year |
USA, 1939 |
Original Title |
Confessions of a Nazi Spy |
Other Title(s) |
Ich war ein Spion der Nazis (German) |
Directed by |
|
Produced by |
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., Burbank, CA / New York, NY |
Staff |
Executive producer: Jack L. Warner, Hal B. Wallis; Associate producer: Robert Lord; Location manager: Louis Baum; Dialoge direction: Ted Thomas; Assistent director: Chuck Hansen; Continuity: Jean McNaughton; Script: Milton Krims, John Wexley; Based on: Leon G. Turrou ("Storm over America" / Geschichte, Artikelserie); Camera: Sol Polito, Ernest Haller; Assistent cameraman: Frank Evans; Still photograpy: Mack Elliott; Best boy: William Conger; Editing: Owen Marks; Sound: Robert B. Lee; Art direction: Carl Jules Weyl; Technical consultant: Leon G. Turrou; Technical, var: Frank Flanagan (Elektrotechnik, Gaffer), Harold Noyes (Grip); Props: M. Goldman, H. Goldman (Assistenz); Costumes: Milo Anderson; Wardrobe: Dick Moder, Cora Lobb; Makeup: Joe Stinton, Bob Cowan; Haidressing: Ruby Felker; Musical direction: Leo F. Forbstein; Narration: John Deering; Press: Frank Heacock; 2nd unit, director: Claude Archer |
Cast |
Edward G. Robinson (Edward J. Renard); Francis Lederer (Kurt Schneider); George Sanders (Franz Schlager); Paul Lukas (Dr. Karl F. Kassel); Henry O'Neill (Attorney D.A. Kellogg); Dorothy Tree (Hilda Keinhauer); Lya Lys (Erika Wolff); Grace Stafford (Mrs. Helen Schneider); James Stephenson (British Military Intelligence Agent); Hedwiga Reicher (als: Celia Sibelius) (Mrs. Liza Kassel); Joe Sawyer (Werner Renz); Sig Rumann (Dr. Julius Gustav Krogman); Lionel Royce (Hintze); Henry Victor (Hans Wildebrand); Hans Heinrich von Twardowski (Max Helldorf); Wolfgang Zilzer (als: John Voigt) (Johann Westphal); Frederick Vogeding (Captain Richter); Willy Kaufman (Greutzwald/Gruetzwald); Rudolf Amendt-Anders (als: Robert O. Davis) (Captain Wilhelm Straubel); William von Brincken (als: William Vaughn) (Captain von Eichen); George Rosener (Klauber); Frederick Burton (US District Court Judge); Eily Malyon (als: Ely Malyon) (Mrs. Mary McLaughlin); Bodil Rosing (Anna Keller, Passenger on Boat); Lotte Palfi (als: Jean Brook) (Kassel's Nurse); Frederic Tozere (FBI Agent Phillips/Staunton); Frank Mayo (FBI Agent Phillips/Staunton); Jack Mower (FBI Agent "Mac" McDonald); Robert Emmet Keane (Passport Official Harrison); Lucien Prival (Kranz); Alec Craig (Postman McGregor); Ward Bond (American Legionaire); John Ridgely (Army Hospital Clerk); Charles Trowbridge (Major Williams, US Intelligence Official); Emmett Vogan (Hotel Clerk); Edward Keane (FBI Agent); William Gould (FBI Agent); John Hamilton (FBI Agent); Martin Kosleck (Joseph Goebbels); Selmer Jackson (Customs Official); Egon Brecher (German Agent Fritz Muller); Niccolai Yoshkin (The Man); Charles Sherlock (FBI Agent Fred Young); Tommy Bupp (Shoeshine Boy); Ferdinand Schumann-Heink |
Appearance |
|
Length |
2791 m / 102' oder 110' |
Format |
35mm/sw/1:1,37 |
Dates |
- 01 Feb 1939-18 Mar 1939: Shooting period |
Further Remarks |
- PCA Cert. No.: 5084 |
Abstract |
In Scotland a reclusive woman suddenly begins receiving mail from all points of the world. When a resident philatelist asks if she will give him the foreign stamps for his collection, the woman refuses explosively and slams her door in his face. He reports this strange behavior to Scotland Yard. British Intelligence agents soon discover that she is part of a Nazi spy ring. One of her letters from Kurt Schneider is intercepted, and it reveals the Nazi spy network in America and its plans to kidnap an American Air Corps general. British Intelligence contacts the US Government, and FBI man Edward J. Renard enters the investigation, probing into the Nazi underground. Systematically, Renard pinpoints key spies, concentrating on Schneider, the weak link to the Nazi network. He is finally taken into custody and slowly interrogated by Renard, admitting that he was recruited by the Nazis to obtain secret government information. He explains that he is a reluctant spy, nagged by a wife wanting the "good life," and ridiculed for not being "a big shot." He admits impersonating a medical official and calling hospitals for military personnel figures in order to figure out the strength of garrisons in the New York area. Franz Schlager is the superior who pays him miserably, about $50 per report. Schneider also names Dr. Karl F. Kassel, head of the Nazi Bund, who is recruiting American youth into Hitler Jugend legions and in league with Schlager. Kassel agrees to inform on the ruthless Schlager, but he is kidnapped by German agents and smuggled out of the country on a German ocean liner where Lys, posing as a hairdresser, orders him beaten senseless and held prisoner until he can be turned over to the Gestapo. Nonetheless, Renard has enough information and rounds up the key Nazis before they can do further harm. |
Subject Terms |
Anti-Nazi films (US); Germany (1933-1945); Exile films; FBI (USA); Fifth column; Secret State Police; Nazi propaganda; Espionage; US Army; USA |
Holdings |
- Kinemathek Hamburg, Hamburg; 16mm |
Materials |
- AMPAS (Margaret Herrick Library), Beverly Hills, CA: MPAA/PCA Collection; Production files |
Bibliography |
- , in: The Hollywood Reporter, 08.12.1938 |