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| BRITISH AGENT
(director: Michael Curtiz; screenwriter: from the novel
by R.H. Bruce Lockhart/Laird Doyle;
cinematographer: Ernest Haller; editor: Thomas
Richards; music: ; cast: Leslie Howard
(Stephen 'Steve' Locke), Kay Francis (Elena Moura),
William Gargan (Bob Medill), Phillip Reed (Gaston
LeFarge), Irving Pichel (Sergei Pavlov), Ivan Simpson
('Poohbah' Evans), Halliwell Hobbes (Sir Walter
Carrister), J. Carroll Naish (Commissioner of War
Trotsky), Walter Byron (Under Secretary Stanley), Cesar
Romero (Tito Del Val), Zozia Tanina (Dora
Kaplan, Woman Who Shot Lenin), Gregory Gave (Kolinoff,
head of the provisional government); Runtime: 80;
MPAA Rating: NR; producer: ; Warner Bros.; 1934) "Sluggish political drama." Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz Michael
Curtiz ("Casablanca"/"Black Fury"/"The Mad Genius")
directs this sluggish political drama that blends
together a fictionalized historical political story,
filled with intrigue, and a ham-fisted star-crossed
romance story. It's based on the novel by R.H.
Bruce Lockhart and is written by Laird
Doyle. The
young low-level British diplomat Stephen Locke
(Leslie Howard) in 1917, on the eve of the
Russian Revolution, warns his elder diplomats
in London that Russia will leave the war with
Germany and sign a separate peace if there's no
British support since the country is unstable under
its provisional government and the people are
starving. Locke's then made consul-general and sent to
Russia, and on his first night, while attending a
British embassy ball, the provisional government falls
to Lenin's Soviet Communists. When Elena Moura
(Kay Francis), Lenin's secretary, hides
from a Cossack on the grounds of the British embassy
in Moscow, Locke gives her shelter and the two fall in
love at first sight despite sharing different
ideologies. With Lenin in power, the Allies close down
their embassies, leaving only a few non-essential
staff behind. One such staffer is Locke, who hangs out
with other western diplomats who are in the same boat:
LeFarge (Phillip Reed), the French
representative, Tito Del Val (Cesar Romero),
the Italian, and Bob Medill (William Gargan),
the American. The bored men sit around playing poker
waiting for further orders. Meanwhile Locke courts the
patriotic Elena, who betrays his trust by telling her
superiors on the Central Committee that Locke is on
his own and is not officially represented by his
government when he goes to the Soviets to offer them
money and weapons to not sign a separate peace treaty
with Germany. Locke is also frustrated that his
country fails to take his advise and offer support to
Lenin. When the Czar is assassinated, the
royalists and White army try to overthrow the Soviets,
and Locke, LaFarge, Medill and Del Val come to their
aid without official sanction from their governments.
This becomes a big problem for them after Lenin is
shot and secret police chief Pavlov (Irving
Pichel), a thinly disguised Stalin, wants to
get proof they aided his enemies so he can execute
them and he uses Elena to get the goods on her western
boyfriend. This
oddball political film portrays Russia in a better
light than Great Britain, showing how they care more
about peace than war. REVIEWED ON 8/13/2012 GRADE: C+ Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ |