''Confidential Agent'' is a 1945 American spy film starring

Charles Boyer Charles Boyer (; 28 August 1899 – 26 August 1978) was a French-American actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in American fi ...

and

Lauren Bacall Lauren Bacall (; born Betty Joan Perske; September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014) was an American actress. She was named the 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute and received an Academy Honorary Aw ...

which was a

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

production. The movie was directed by

Herman Shumlin Herman Shumlin (December 6, 1898, Atwood, Colorado – June 4, 1979, New York City) was a prolific Broadway theatre, Broadway Theatre director, theatrical director and theatre producer, theatrical producer beginning in 1927 with the play ''Celebrit ...

and produced by Robert Buckner with

Jack L. Warner Jack Leonard Warner (born Jacob Warner; August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978) was a Canadian-American film executive, who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Warner's career spanned some ...

as executive producer. The

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

was by Robert Buckner, based on the 1939 novel ''

The Confidential Agent ''The Confidential Agent'' (1939) is a thriller novel by British author Graham Greene. Fuelled by Benzedrine, Greene wrote it in six weeks. To avoid distraction, he rented a room in Bloomsbury from a landlady who lived in a flat below him. He use ...

'' by

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

. The music score was by Franz Waxman and the cinematography by

James Wong Howe Wong Tung Jim, A.S.C. (; August 28, 1899 – July 12, 1976), known professionally as James Wong Howe (Houghto), was a Chinese-born American cinematographer who worked on over 130 films. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was one of the most soug ...

. The supporting cast includes George Coulouris and Peter Lorre.

Plot

In the midst of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

, Luis Denard (

), a former concert pianist and composer, travels to England as a confidential agent of the Republican government. His mission is to buy coal or to deny it to 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 ...

rebels. On the ship, he meets bored rich girl Rose Cullen (

), whose father, Lord Benditch (

Holmes Herbert Holmes Herbert (born Horace Edward Jenner; 30 July 1882 – 26 December 1956) was an English character actor who appeared in Hollywood films from 1915 to 1952, often as a British gentleman. Early life Born Horace Edward Jenner, (some sou ...

), heads the firm with which Denard will negotiate. On the road to London, he is beaten and robbed by Fascist agents, who do not find the documents he hid in his shoe. At his hotel he enlists the aid of the young maid, Else (

Wanda Hendrix Dixie Wanda Hendrix (November 3, 1928 – February 1, 1981) was an American film and television actress. Early life Hendrix's father was a logging foreman, and she was born in Jacksonville, Florida. She was performing in a school play in Ja ...

), who hides his documents in her stocking. When he meets his contacts, Contreras ( Peter Lorre) and Maria Melandez (

Katina Paxinou Katina Paxinou ( gr, Κατίνα Παξινού; 17 December 1900– 22 February 1973) was a Greek film and stage actress. She started her stage career in Greece in 1928 and was one of the founding members of the National Theatre of Greece in ...

), he finds they have sold out to the Fascists and want him discredited or killed. They kill the maid, for which Denard takes revenge. Contreras dies of a heart attack as Denard prepares to shoot him, after which Mrs. Melandez takes poison. Unable to buy any coal, Denard tries to persuade the miners to support their fellow workers in Spain, but they put work ahead of principle. His mission a failure, Rose gets an admirer to help him leave the country secretly. Reaching the coast at

Bexhill-on-Sea Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish situated in the county of East Sussex in South East England. An ancient town and part of the local government district of Rother, Bexhill is home to a number of arc ...

, he learns that Benditch's firm have repudiated their contract with the Fascists, so he has succeeded after all. On the ship, he finds Rose, to whose life he has given meaning.

Cast

as Luis Denard *

as Rose Cullen *

as Mrs. Melandez *

Victor Francen Victor Francen (born Victor Franssens, 5 August 1888 – 18 November 1977) was a Belgian-born actor with a long career in French cinema and in Hollywood. Biography Francen was born in 1888 in Tienen, the son of a chief of police. According ...

as Licata *

as Else * George Coulouris as Captain Currie * Peter Lorre as Contreras * John Warburton as Neil Forbes *

as Lord Benditch * Dan Seymour as Mr. Muckerji * Art Foster as Chauffeur * Miles Mander as Mr. Brigstock *

Lawrence Grant Percy Reginald Lawrence-Grant (30 October 1870 in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England – 19 February 1952 in Santa Barbara, California, USA) was an English actor known for supporting roles in films such as ''The Living Ghost'', '' I'll Tell ...

as Lord Fetting * Ian Wolfe as Dr. Bellows *

George Zucco George Zucco (11 January 1886 – 27 May 1960) was a British character actor who appeared in plays and 96 films, mostly American-made, during a career spanning over two decades, from the 1920s to 1951. In his films, he often played a suave ...

as Detective Geddes * Gordon Richards as Immigration Officer (uncredited) *

Marie De Becker Marie Kathleen De Becker (13 June 1880 – 23 March 1946) was an English-American stage and screen actress. Family She was born in Islington, London, the daughter of Benevenuto Nicola de Becker, a shipping clerk, and his wife Catherine (or Kate) ...

as Miner's Wife (uncredited) *

John Goldsworthy John Goldsworthy (1884–1958) was a British-born stage and film actor. After emigrating to the United States he was active on Broadway appearing in a variety of plays, as well as several musicals.Bordman p.460 During the silent era he appeared ...

as Beggar (uncredited)

Production

The screenplay was based on a

novel, of the same name. There is evidence of

jump cuts A jump cut is a cut in film editing in which a single continuous sequential shot of a subject is broken into two parts, with a piece of footage being removed in order to render the effect of jumping forward in time. Camera positions of the subjec ...

, which suggest that editing, to get the running time under two hours, did not help. Though regarded as overly long, the film remains true to Greene's original story.

Reception

Critical response

According to "The Big Sleep Comparisons 1945/46", a featurette on the 2000 DVD release of Bacall's film '' The Big Sleep'', her reviews for ''Confidential Agent'' were largely negative, with particular aspersions cast on Bacall's performance, as a "pretty amateur". According to film historian Robert Gitt, host of the featurette, Warner studio head

was lobbied to order certain scenes in ''The Big Sleep'' re-shot in order to rectify performance issues with Bacall identified in ''Confidential Agent'', which he did. In her own autobiography, Bacall said that she begged not to have to do the film, but couldn't break her contract that early, though her career never fully recovered from ''Confidential Agent''.

Graham Greene's response

Greene, generally critical of film adaptations of his works, disagreed with the critics. In 1979, when

Philip Purser Philip John Purser (28 August 1925 – 1 August 2022) was a British television critic and novelist. Life and career Purser was born in Letchworth, Hertfordshire on 28 August 1925. His mother had been the first female student of an art school ...

returned to the question of the casting of Bacall in ''

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...

'', Greene responded and commended the acting of both Bacall and Boyer. He also praised Shumlin as the only American director to make a good film from one of his stories. In a letter to the paper entitled "An Honourable Performance", Greene wrote: :Mr Philip Purser writes that Lauren Bacall was 'insanely miscast in her third picture ''The'' 'sic''''Confidential Agent'' and having given—as she admits—a lousy performance, she nevertheless bitterly resented the cool notices that came her way'. I also as the author of the book resent those cool notices. This remains the only good film ever made from one of my books by an American director and Miss Bacall gave an admirable performance and so did Charles Boyer.''

''; January 28, 1979.

References

External links

* * * *
''Confidential Agent''
film review by Dan Stumpf in Mystery*File * {{YouTube, pKt0i3XXFlI, ''Confidential Agent'' film trailer 1945 films 1940s spy drama films American spy drama films American black-and-white films Films scored by Franz Waxman Films based on British novels Films based on thriller novels Films based on works by Graham Greene Spanish Civil War films Warner Bros. films Films set in London Films set in Kent 1945 drama films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films