Confessions of a Nazi Spy Reviews

Landmark anti-Nazi proganda film from Warner Bros. The film begins in rural Scotland where a reclusive woman suddenly begins receiving mail from all points of the globe. When a resident philatelist requests the foreign stamps for his collection, the woman refuses explosively and slams her door in his face. He reports this odd behavior to Scotland Yard. British Intelligence agents soon discover that she is part of a Nazi spy ring. Intercepted information reveals a Nazi spy network in America with plans to kidnap an American Air Corps general. The Brits contact the US Government and FBI man Robinson enters the investigation, probing into the Nazi underground. Robinson systematically pinpoints key spies, concentrating on Lederer, the weak link in the Nazi network. Sanders is the sinister and cheap superior who pays Lederer miserably for his treachery, about $50 per report. Lederer also names Lukas, head of the Nazi Bund, who is recruiting American youth into Hitlerjugend legions and also in league with Sanders. CONFESSIONS OF A NAZI SPY frightened audiences with the threat of Nazi tyranny, fulfilling the ideological and commercial aims of Warner Bros. Robinson subdues his normally expansive gestures and speaks quietly as he cannily underplays a dynamic part in keeping with Litvak's semi-documentary style. The spy ring activities are shown in newsreel fashion and some actual clips are included from the 1937 spy trials of four Nazis convicted of espionage (the case on which the film is based). Nazi brutality is exposed throughout the film and Hitler, Goebbels, and company are openly vilified. Litvak's direction is unabashedly biased: his hatred for the Nazis seethes throughout the film, although the Nazis' anti-Semitism is elided.