A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: The Secret Agent

Date of original theatrical release: 1936

Details:

John Gielgud

Madeleine Carroll

Robert Young

Peter Lorre

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Score: -1/2

The Review: Perhaps this is a genre being born, perhaps the early rough efforts of a future genius -- but rough it certainly is, less than satisfactory, and even a tad bit embarrassing. The talents of a young Gielgud are wasted on this film; even the efforts of Peter Lorre are an annoying caricature of the more substantial and spooky roles he's had, mostly since.

An atmospheric war mystery: May 1916, and the British intelligence community has faked the death of a senior officer (Gielgud) so that he might go undercover to Switzerland to investigate another undercover, but identity unknown, enemy agent. The team assembled is a very poorly conceived Thin Man (actually 2 years in its shadow), with Gielgud as Nick (William Powell) to Carroll's Nora Charles (Myrna Loy), with comic relief provided not by a cute little dog, Asta, but by Lorre over-playing a homicidal fop. The humor mostly flops.

B&W, plodding, erratic.

(25-Jul-06)

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