''Confessions of a Nazi Spy'' is a 1939 American
spy
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...
political thriller film
A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle, high stakes and suspense is the core of the story. The genre often forces the audiences to consider and understand the importance of politics. The ...
directed by
Anatole Litvak
Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak (russian: Анатолий Михайлович Литвак; 21 May 1902 – 15 December 1974), better known as Anatole Litvak, was a Ukrainian-born American filmmaker who wrote, directed, and produced films in vari ...
for
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
It was the first explicitly anti-
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
film to be produced by a major
Hollywood studio, being released in May 1939, several months before the beginning of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and over three years before American entry into the war.
The film stars
Edward G. Robinson,
Francis Lederer
Francis Lederer (November 6, 1899 Prague – May 25, 2000) was an Austro-Hungarian Empire-born American film and stage actor with a successful career, first in Europe, then in the United States. His original name was Franz (Czech František) Le ...
,
George Sanders
George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...
,
Paul Lukas
Paul Lukas (born Pál Lukács; 26 May 1894 – 15 August 1971) was a Hungarian actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama for his performance in the film ''Watc ...
, and a large cast of German actors, including some who had emigrated from their country after the rise of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
. Many of the German actors who appeared in the film changed their names for fear of reprisals against relatives still living in Germany.
The film's story is based on a series of articles by
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
officer
Leon G. Turrou, recounting his investigation of Nazi spy rings in the United States. Parts of the film are drawn from th
Rumrich Nazi Spy Case the first major international espionage case in American history.
Plot
In
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
in 1937, the postman asks Mrs. MacLaughlin to save him stamps from the letters she receives from all over the world. MacLaughlin forwards the contents of one envelope to Dr. Karl Kassel in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. There is a cut to Kassel who is at the Café Nuremberg and haranguing an audience of
German-Americans. Most of the men are wearing the uniform of the
German American Bund
The German American Bund, or the German American Federation (german: Amerikadeutscher Bund; Amerikadeutscher Volksbund, AV), was a German-American Nazi organization which was established in 1936 as a successor to the Friends of New Germany (FoN ...
. He informs them that the
Führer
( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the Umlaut (diacritic), umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or "guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi Germany, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
Nazi Germany ...
has declared war on the evils of
democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
and that as
Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
, they should carry out his wishes and claim power. The crowd salutes, "Sieg Heil!"
Kurt Schneider, an unemployed malcontent, is inspired to become a spy and writes to Hitler's personal newspaper.
German Naval Intelligence knows that he is not a
double agent
In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...
since the Americans have no formal counterespionage system. A naval officer, Franz Schlager, who is sailing to New York on the steamship ''Bismarck'' is ordered to contact Schneider.
On board the ''Bismarck'', the power of the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
is shown. The beauty operator Hilda Kleinhauer informs on her clients and carries material for Schlager.
An unnamed
American Legion
The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...
aire challenges Kassel at a meeting. He and others speaking out for democracy are attacked.
Schneider boasts to his friend Werner, now a private in the
Air Corps, that he receives instructions from Hitler. Werner gets the Z code, and Schneider obtains medical records that will reveal troop strength in New York. Schneider proudly gives Schlager the information and receives $50 a month, Mrs. MacLaughlin's address, and a list of new objectives.
Kassel is called back to Germany and takes his mistress, Erika Wolff, and leaves his wife behind. The narrator provides a dramatic description of the
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
system of life. Kassel is put in charge of all Nazi activities in the United States. Under the slogan, "America for Americans," the country is swamped by propaganda while spies target military operations.
Thanks to the postman's curiosity, Mrs. MacLaughlin's role as a post office for a worldwide network of spies is uncovered by
British Military Intelligence
The Intelligence Corps (Int Corps) is a corps of the British Army. It is responsible for gathering, analysing and disseminating military intelligence and also for counter-intelligence and security. The Director of the Intelligence Corps is a br ...
, and she is arrested. (In a moment that is chilling in hindsight, one letter is from Japan.) American military intelligence in New York consists of Major Williams and one assistant. Williams turns to the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
for help although it has never played that role before. FBI Agent Ed Renard takes the case.
A horrifying scene shows Camp Horst Wessel in which German-American children are trained in Nazi ideals and military skills.
Schneider uses an alias, Mitchell, to obtain passports. He arouses suspicion, and the FBI follows the package and arrests him. Once it knows his true identity, they realize that it has the letter that he sent to MacLaughlin. Renard flatters his ego for hours and extracts a full, detailed confession. Through Schneider, Renard finds Wenz, Kleinhauer and Kassel. Kassel proudly shows Renard his files on important Americans that document racial impurity. He tries to burn the code key, but Renard stops him. Renard confronts him with Kleinhauer, who confirms his link with Schlager.
When Renard reveals that he knows about Erika, Kassel tells Renard everything that he knows about the German spy organization and reveals the intricacy and scope of the network. He is released, and the Gestapo is waiting. He swears that he revealed nothing, but its members are arrested outside his apartment building.
A federal dragnet captures many agents and their accomplices. On March 13, 1938,
Hitler annexed Austria. Renard warns Kassell's wife that the Gestapo men have made bail. Karl returns home from meeting Erika and lies to his wife. He packs and refused to take her with him. She does not warn him, and when he goes out, the Gestapo captures him and takes him to the ''Bismarck''. In Germany, he is told to claim that he was tortured. In New York, Hilda is given the same instructions.
Eighteen people are indicted. Four are in custody: Schneider, Wenz, Kleinhauer and Helldorf. Meanwhile, Hitler's march continues as "the democracies are given still another demonstration of the supremacy of organized propaganda backed by force." US Attorney Kellogg describes the role of
fifth column
A fifth column is any group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. According to Harris Mylonas and Scott Radnitz, "fifth columns" are “domestic actors who work to un ...
ists in the Nazi conquest of Europe and calls for the United States to take a lesson. After a long trial, the spies are convicted. Over coffee, Kellogg and Renard talk about the "nightmare." Kellogg observes that "when our basic liberties are threatened, we wake up."
The closing credits roll to ''
America the Beautiful
"America the Beautiful" is a patriotic American song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey. The two neve ...
''.
Cast
Casting notes
Several actors in the film were German and other European expatriates living in the United States, some of whom had moved to flee Nazi oppression. To prevent retaliation against their relatives still living in Germany, many appeared in the film uncredited or under aliases. These actors were
Hedwiga Reicher
Hedwiga Reicher (Born Hedwig Reicher; 12 June 1884 – 2 September 1971) was a German actress. Her performances on Broadway were credited with the original spelling of her first name.
Reicher was christened Hedwig, but she altered the spelling ...
('Celia Sibelius'),
Wolfgang Zilzer
Wolfgang Zilzer (January 20, 1901 – June 26, 1991) was a German-American stage and film actor, often under the stage name Paul Andor.
Biography
Zilzer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to German-Jewish emigrant Max Zilzer, who was employed at the ...
('John Voigt'),
Rudolph Anders
Rudolph Anders (December 17, 1895 – March 27, 1987) was a German character actor who came to the United States after the rise of Hitler, and appeared in numerous American films in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
Biography
He was born Rudo ...
('Robert Davis'),
Wilhelm von Brincken
Wilhelm von Brincken (May 27, 1881 – January 18, 1946), also known as Wilhelm L. von Brincken, William Vaughn, William von Brinken, and William Vaughan, was a German diplomat and spy during World War I, who went on to become an American charac ...
('William Vaughn'), and
Martin Kosleck
Martin Kosleck (born Nicolaie Yoshkin, March 24, 1904 – January 15, 1994) was a German film actor. Like many other German actors, he fled when the Nazis came to power. Inspired by his deep hatred of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, Kosleck made ...
(uncredited).
Production
Screenwriter
John Wexley based his script on real events and the articles of former
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
agent
Leon G. Turrou, who had been active in investigating Nazi spy rings in the United States prior to the war, and lost his position at the Bureau when he published the articles without permission. Authors
Paul Buhle
Paul Merlyn Buhle (born September 27, 1944) is a (retired) Senior Lecturer at Brown University, author or editor of 35 volumes including histories of radicalism in the United States and the Caribbean, studies of popular culture, and a series of ...
and David Wagner of
Radical Hollywood wrote that it "treated a real-life case" and that
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
had been warned by the
Dies Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...
"against slurring a 'friendly country'".
[Radical Hollywood: The Untold Story Behind America's Favorite Movies Hardcover – May 1, 2002 by Paul Buhle (Author), David Wagner (Author) (publisher) The New Press PPS 212-213]
Parts of the movie were a fictionalized account of a real-life espionage case, th
Rumrich Nazi Spy Case and the eventual trial in 1938 involving individuals convicted of spying for German government.
[#7 Guenther Rumrich’s Passport Ploy]
/ref> The FBI says Rumrich Nazi Spy Case was their "first major international spy case" and that Leon Turrou "was placed in charge" and eventually fired
Guenther Gustave Maria Rumrich
was arrested on February 14, 1938, and charged with spying for Germany. He came to the FBI's attention when he attempted to obtain 50 passport application forms from the Passport Office in New York City. In the film, Francis Lederer
Francis Lederer (November 6, 1899 Prague – May 25, 2000) was an Austro-Hungarian Empire-born American film and stage actor with a successful career, first in Europe, then in the United States. His original name was Franz (Czech František) Le ...
, as Schneider, plays the role equivalent to the real Rumrich.
The scene where an unnamed American Legion
The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...
aire played by Ward Bond challenges Kassel at a meeting, is supported by others speaking out for democracy, provoking an attack by Bundists
Bundism was a secular Jewish socialist movement whose organizational manifestation was the General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland, and Russia ( yi, אַלגעמײַנער ײדישער אַרבעטער בּונד אין ליטע פויל ...
, is based on an actual event that occurred in late April 1938. when approximately 30 World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
American Legion
The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...
Veterans stood up to the Bund in New York City during a celebration of Hitler's birthday. The veterans were severely beaten and later Cecil Schubert, who suffered a fractured skull, was personally recognized for his bravery by Mayor La Guardia.
The film was the first anti-Nazi film from a major American studio. At the premier, there were almost as many policemen and special agents in the audience as customers.[The Warners Bros. Story, Clive Hirschhorn, , 1986 edition, Crown Publishers p. 198] Wexley's script made a point of following the facts and real-life events of the Rumrich Nazi Spy Case whose participants went to trial in 1938.[
]
Reception and ban
The film failed at the box office
A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...
. Nonetheless, it won the 1939 National Board of Review Award for Best Film The National Board of Review Award for Best Film is one of the annual awards given (since 1932) by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
Winners
* † = Winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture
* ‡ = Nominated for the Academy Awa ...
. The film was re-released in 1940 with scenes describing events that had taken place since the initial release, such as the invasions of Norway and the Netherlands. Scenes from ''Confessions of a Nazi Spy'' are shown in ''War Comes to America
''War Comes to America'' is the seventh and final film of Frank Capra's ''Why We Fight'' World War II propaganda film series.
Synopsis
The early part of the film is an idealized version of American history, which mentions of the first settlement ...
'', the last of the ''Why We Fight
''Why We Fight'' is a series of seven propaganda films produced by the US Department of War from 1942 to 1945, during World War II. It was originally written for American soldiers to help them understand why the United States was involved in the ...
'' propaganda film
A propaganda film is a film that involves some form of propaganda. Propaganda films spread and promote certain ideas that are usually religious, political, or cultural in nature. A propaganda film is made with the intent that the viewer will ad ...
series, as well as the 2004 documentary film '' Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust''.
''Confessions of a Nazi Spy'' was banned in Germany, Japan, and many Latin American and European countries.[ Norway also banned it in 1939. ]Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
in particular banned all Warner Bros. productions from being shown in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
as a result of the studio's work on the film.
See also
* 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden
On February 20, 1939, a Nazi rally took place at Madison Square Garden, organized by the German American Bund. More than 20,000 people attended, and Fritz Julius Kuhn was a featured speaker. The Bund billed the event, which took place two days b ...
* Duquesne Spy Ring
The Duquesne Spy Ring is the largest espionage case in the United States history that ended in convictions. A total of 33 members of a Nazi German espionage network headed by Frederick "Fritz" Joubert Duquesne were convicted after a lengthy inve ...
– 1941 case
* ''Confusions of a Nutzy Spy
''Confusions of a Nutzy Spy'' is a 1943 Warner Bros. '' Looney Tunes'' cartoon directed by Norman McCabe. The short was released on January 23, 1943, and stars Porky Pig.
The cartoon is a World War II propaganda film that deals with Porky and hi ...
''
* '' The Stranger'' (1946) – another film with an anti-Nazi theme also starring Edward G. Robinson
Notes
External links
*
*
*
*
*
''Confessions of a Nazi Spy'': Warner Bros., Anti-Fascism and the Politicization of Hollywood
a
The Norman Lear Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Confessions of A Nazi Spy
1939 films
1930s spy thriller films
American black-and-white films
American spy thriller films
American propaganda films
1930s English-language films
Anti-fascist propaganda films
Films about the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Films based on non-fiction books
Films directed by Anatole Litvak
Films produced by Hal B. Wallis
Films scored by Max Steiner
Spy films based on actual events
Warner Bros. films
World War II spy films
Films set in Scotland
Films set in New York City
Seafaring films
American World War II films
1930s American films
Film censorship in Norway
Film censorship in Japan