''Dark Journey'' is a 1937 British

spy film The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many James Bond films) ...

directed by

Victor Saville Victor Saville (25 September 1895 – 8 May 1979) was an English film director, producer, and screenwriter. He directed 39 films between 1927 and 1954. He also produced 36 films between 1923 and 1962. Biography Saville produced his first f ...

and starring

Conrad Veidt Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (; 22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German film actor who attracted early attention for his roles in the films ''Different from the Others'' (1919), '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920), and '' The Man Who Laug ...

and Vivien Leigh. Written by

Lajos Bíró Lajos Bíró (; born Lajos Blau; 22 August 1880 – 9 September 1948) was a Hungarian novelist, playwright, and screenwriter who wrote many films from the early 1920s through the late 1940s. Life He was born in Nagyvárad, Kingdom of Hunga ...

and

Arthur Wimperis Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more ...

, the film is about two

secret agents 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 ...

on opposite sides during

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 ...

who meet and fall in love in neutral

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. It was shot at

Denham Studios Denham Film Studios was a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952, founded by Alexander Korda. Notable films made at Denham include ''Brief Encounter'' and David Lean's ''Great Expectations''. From the 1950s to the 1970s th ...

, with sets designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Andrej Andrejew assisted by Ferdinand Bellan. The film's costumes were by René Hubert.

Plot

In the spring of 1918, a German

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

stops a Dutch freighter on its way to Stockholm, Sweden during the final year of

. The Germans board the ship, identify one man as a Belgian spy, and take him prisoner. One of the passengers questioned is an attractive Swiss dress shop owner named Madeleine Goddard ( Vivien Leigh) who is returning to Stockholm from a business trip to Paris, where she purchased dresses for her boutique. After returning to Stockholm, Madeleine, who is a German spy, meets with her contacts and provides information on Allied troop movements she acquired in Paris. The information is cleverly concealed in the gowns she purchased. While the Germans believe that she is one of their top spies, Madeleine is in fact a French

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 ...

working to uncover the identity of the new German secret service leader in Stockholm. Soon after, a German war veteran named Baron Karl Von Marwitz (

) enters Sweden. He claims to have left the

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified ''Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Mari ...

because of war injuries, but some of his former colleagues believe he is a

deserter Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...

. One night, Madeleine goes to a nightclub accompanied by her friend, English

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

agent Bob Carter (

Anthony Bushell Anthony Arnatt Bushell (19 May 1904 – 2 April 1997) was an English film actor and director who appeared in more than 50 films between 1929 and 1961. He played Colonel Breen in the BBC serial ''Quatermass and the Pit'' (1958–59), and al ...

). She notices Von Marwitz playing a bar room game predicting what girls will say after he kisses them. After she exposes the trick, Von Marwitz becomes intrigued by Madeleine's beauty and cool demeanor. The next day he visits her shop with Lupita ( Joan Gardner), the Brazilian socialite he tricked the previous evening. After the temperamental Lupita leaves, Von Marwitz begins asking Madeleine to go out with him. In the coming days, she continues to refuse his requests, even after he offers to purchase all the stock in her shop. When he finally gives up, she gives in and agrees to date him. Madeleine and Von Marwitz begin seeing each other socially, and despite their differences, they fall deeply in love. Von Marwitz even proposes marriage. Their whirlwind romance is interrupted one night when Madeleine's German co-conspirator, Anatole Bergen, is murdered. Madeleine meets with her German contacts who inform her that the recent information she provided proved disastrous for the German Army. She is ordered to return to Paris immediately and investigate her French contacts. When Madeleine reaches Paris, she is met by a high-ranking French official who presents her with the ''

Médaille militaire The ''Médaille militaire'' ( en, Military Medal) is a military decoration of the French Republic for other ranks for meritorious service and acts of bravery in action against an enemy force. It is the third highest award of the French Republic, ...

'' for her brave service to her country. Despite her reluctance to continue her work in Stockholm, she is ordered to return. Back in Stockholm, Madeleine and Von Marwitz are reunited and she reveals that she knows he is the German secret service leader. In response, he reveals that he knows that she is in fact a French spy. Although relieved that they can finally speak honestly with each other, they acknowledge that their dream of a life together can never happen. Soon after, Madeleine turns to her friend Bob for protection, now that her true identity is known to the Germans. While Bob plans her escape from Stockholm and the Germans, Von Marwitz plans her capture and return to Germany. The next day, Bob arranges for Madeleine to be arrested by the Stockholm police, ruining Von Marwitz's plan to capture her quietly. After Madeleine is deported, her ship is stopped by a German U-boat in neutral waters. Von Marwitz boards the ship and arrests Madeleine for being a French spy. As they are being rowed from the ship to the U-boat, a British

Q-ship Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, decoy vessels, special service ships, or mystery ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open f ...

(a heavily armed merchant ship with concealed weaponry) approaches and engages the U-boat in battle, sinking the enemy vessel. Madeleine is taken aboard the Q-ship while von Marwitz is moved to a British destroyer. Her feelings of love unabated, Madeleine is assured that von Marwitz will not be shot, but instead will be detained until the end of the war. As von Marwitz is rowed away, Madeleine waves and calls out to him, "I'll be waiting."

Cast

as Von Marwitz * Vivien Leigh as Madeleine * Joan Gardner as Lupita *

as Bob Carter *

Ursula Jeans Ursula Jean McMinn (5 May 1906 – 21 April 1973), better known as Ursula Jeans, was an English film, stage, and television actress. Biography Jeans was born in Simla, British India, to English parents, and brought up and educated in London. S ...

as Gertrude * Margery Pickard as Colette *

Eliot Makeham Harold Elliott Makeham (22 December 1882 – 8 February 1956) was an English film and television actor. Career Makeham was born in London, England. Between 1931 and 1956, Makeham appeared, primarily in character roles, in 115 films and in 1 ...

as Anatole *

Austin Trevor Claude Austin Trevor Schilsky (7 October 1897 – 22 January 1978) was an Irish actor who had a long career in film and television. He played the parson in John Galsworthy's ''Escape'' at the world premiere in London's West End in 1926 an ...

as Dr. Muller *

Sam Livesey Samuel Livesey (14 October 1873 – 7 November 1936) was a Welsh stage and film actor. Life Livesey's father, Thomas, had been a railway engineer before leaving the industry to establish a travelling theatre with his wife Mary. The two had six ...

as Schaffer *

Edmund Willard Edmund Willard (19 December 1884 – 6 October 1956) was a British actor of the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Brighton, Sussex in 1884, the nephew of Victorian era actor Edward Smith Willard, in 1920 Willard appeared in the plays of William Shak ...

as Chief of German Intelligence * Charles Carson as Head of Fifth Bureau * Phil Ray as Faber *

Henry Oscar Henry Wale (14 July 1891 – 28 December 1969), known professionally as Henry Oscar, was an English stage and film actor. He changed his name and began acting in 1911, having studied under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Dram ...

as Swedish Magistrate *

Lawrence Hanray Laurence Hanray ( Lawrence Henry Jacobs; 16 May 1874 – 28 November 1947), sometimes credited as Lawrence Hanray, was a British film and theatre actor born in London, England. He is also credited as the author of several plays and music hall s ...

as Cottin * Cecil Parker as Captain of Q-Boat *

Reginald Tate Reginald Tate (13 December 1896 – 23 August 1955) was an English actor, veteran of many roles on stage, in films and on television. He is remembered best as the first actor to play the television science-fiction character Professor Ber ...

as Mate of Q-Boat *

Percy Walsh Percy Walsh (24 April 1888 in Luton, Bedfordshire – 19 January 1952 in London) was a British stage and film actor. His stage work included appearing in the London premieres of R.C.Sherriff's ''Journey's End'' (1928) and Agatha Christie's ''And ...

as Captain of Swedish Packet *

Robert Newton Robert Guy Newton (1 June 1905 – 25 March 1956) was an English actor. Along with Errol Flynn, Newton was one of the more popular actors among the male juvenile audience of the 1940s and early 1950s, especially with British boys. Known for h ...

as Officer of U-boat * William Dewhurst as The Killer *

Laidman Browne Laidman Browne (13 September 1896 - 11 September 1961) was an English radio and television actor. In 1949 he was the narrator of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Speckled Band "The Adventure of the Speckled Ba ...

as Rugge * M. Martin Harvey as Bohlau * Anthony Holles as Dutchman

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

Richard Addinsell Richard Stewart Addinsell (13 January 190414 November 1977) was an English composer, best known for film music, primarily his '' Warsaw Concerto'', composed for the 1941 film '' Dangerous Moonlight'' (also known under the later title ''Suicide S ...

and orchestrated by

Roy Douglas Richard Roy Douglas (12 December 1907 – 23 March 2015) was an English composer, pianist and arranger. He worked as musical assistant to Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton, and Richard Addinsell, made well-known orchestrations of works su ...

and

Lionel Salter Lionel Salter (8 September 1914 – 1 March 2000) was an English pianist, conductor, writer and administrator who had a long association with the British Broadcasting Corporation.Sadie, Stanley, rev. Jon Stroop. 'Salter, Lionel (Paul)' in ''Gr ...

. The musical director was

Muir Mathieson James Muir Mathieson, OBE (24 January 19112 August 1975) was a Scottish conductor and composer. Mathieson was almost always described as a "Musical Director" on many British films. Career Mathieson was born in Stirling, Scotland, in 1911. A ...

Reception

Writing for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' in 1937,

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 ...

gave the film a poor review, parodying

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

's warning with a warning for viewers to " Abandon life all ye who enter here" and asking readers what the film is about because it "certainly

oes Oes or owes were metallic "O" shaped rings or eyelets sewn on to clothes and furnishing textiles for decorative effect in England and at the Elizabethan and Jacobean court. They were smaller than modern sequins. Making and metals Robert Sharp obta ...

not eflectlife". Greene noted that director Saville is capable of good films, but claimed that this time he had been "defeated by the incredible naïvety of hescript". (reprinted in: )

References

External links

* * * {{Alexander Korda 1937 films 1930s romance films 1930s spy films 1930s war films British black-and-white films British romance films British spy films British war films Films directed by Victor Saville Films produced by Alexander Korda Films produced by Victor Saville Films scored by Richard Addinsell Films set in 1918 Films set in Paris Films set in Stockholm Films set in the Baltic Sea Films shot at Denham Film Studios London Films films Seafaring films War romance films World War I spy films 1930s English-language films 1930s British films