Cheap British Intelligence (DVD) (Boris Karloff, Margaret Lindsay) (Terry O. Morse) Price

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Customer Reviews of British Intelligence

Good movie, Good price!!
Made in 1940 but set in WWI, Boris Karloff plays a master spy working as a butler for a British war official. Enter double agent Helen Von Lorder and the fun begins with twists, turns, and double-crosses. This is a good movie! Even though it is a 60 minute "B" movie, it's got class. It was made by Warner Brothers and is very well done. The special FX are great (for the time and budget) though you might recognize one or two stock explosions from gangster pics. BUT THIS IS WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW: The Alpha DVD has quite good quality picture and sound. A couple of minor hiccups along the way but all in all, one of their better transfers. Still looks like a VHS but it's a cheapie and you get what you pay for... probably a litle more in this instance. Definitely watchable and highly recommended if you're into this kind of thing.

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British, German, and Double Agents
Set during the last part of World War I, this spy thriller begins with the frustrations of the British military over the way the Germans seem to know their next move before they even do. It's obvious there is a spy or leak somewhere that needs to be stopped if they are to have any success in the War. Boris Karloff and Margaret Lindsay enter into the picture. Individually or together, they could be British agents, German agents, or double agents, and the true identity of each is revealed at the climax. The two spies test each other throughout the film as a plot to kill the British cabinet begins to unfold. The film moves along briskly, with a running time of around an hour. I have to admit that I was occasionally confused by the plot, although by the film's final moments I had figured it all out. Karloff, limping and with a scar, is good as the more sinister (naturally) of the two agents, while Lindsay does a competent job as his female counterpart. The last few minutes are devoted to rallying the public at the outset of World War Two when this was produced, with a poorly concealed speech about Hitler. It's definitely heavy handed, yet it is fun to watch as a sign of the time. Judging by the running time, the cast involved, and the production, this film was obviously intended as a 'B' picture, and as a modest little programmer, it succeeds fairly well. Those expecting a bigger scale production will be disappointed.

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Margaret Lindsay tries to trap German spy Boris Karloff
"British Intelligence" is set during World War I, when Helene von Lorbeer (Margaret Lindsay), a nurse in a French hospital, assumes the role of a German spy and is sent to England to obtain information about a secret British offensive. Helene is set up as a guest in the household of Arthur Bennett (Holmes Herbert), a key British war official, where the butler Valdar (Boris Karloff), is also a German spy. Helene's real mission is to learn the identity of Schiller, the mastermind fo the German spy system in England. This 1940 film, directed by Terry Morse, is based on Anthony Paul Kelly's play "Three Faces East," which had been filmed in 1926 with Clive Brook and Jetta Goudal and then again in 1930 with Eric von Stroheim and Constance Bennett. Of course Karloff has to wear a unnecessary wound on his face, supposedly from a bayonet, and walks with a limp. But actually this is a decent spy thriller, even if the true identity of "Schiller" is obvious from the opening credits. Although explicitly about the First World War, there are several veiled but obvious references to Hitler and what is happening in Europe in 1940.