''Espionage'' is a 1937 American Proto- Noir, spy-film, adventure, drama, romance,

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by Kurt Neumann and written by

Leonard Lee Leonard G. Lee CM (July 17, 1938 – July 7, 2016) was a Canadian entrepreneur and founder of Lee Valley Tools and Canica Design. Lee was born in 1938 in Wadena, Sask., and grew up in a log cabin without electricity or running water. He rece ...

, Ainsworth Morgan and Manuel Seff, based on the 1935 West End play ''

Espionage 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 tangibl ...

'' by Walter C. Hackett. The film stars

Edmund Lowe Edmund Dantes Lowe (March 3, 1890 – April 21, 1971) was an American actor. His formative experience began in vaudeville and silent film. Biography Lowe was born in San Jose, California. His father was a local judge. His childhood home was a ...

Madge Evans Madge Evans (born Margherita Evans; July 1, 1909 – April 26, 1981) was an American stage and film actress.Obituary ''Variety'', April 29, 1981. She began her career as a child performer and model. Biography Child model and stage actress B ...

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 ...

Ketti Gallian Ketti Gallian (25 December 1912 – December 1972) was a French actress. Biography Gallian was born in Nice. She went to Paris at the age of 15 and secured work as a model. She later went back to Nice and appeared in a number of foreign ...

Richard "Skeets" Gallagher Richard "Skeets" Gallagher (July 28, 1891 – May 22, 1955) was an American actor. He had blue eyes and his naturally blond hair was tinged with grey from the age of sixteen. Biography He was born on July 28, 1891 in Terre Haute, Indiana ...

, and

Frank Reicher Frank Reicher (born Franz Reicher; December 2, 1875 – January 19, 1965) was a German-born American actor, director and producer. He is best known for playing Captain Englehorn in the 1933 film ''King Kong''. Early life Reicher was born in Mu ...

. The film was released February 26, 1937, by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

Plot

Lowe plays a smart-aleck mystery novelist who agrees to board the

Orient Express The ''Orient Express'' was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company ''Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits'' (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe and int ...

to get the goods on an arms dealer (Lukas) for a newspaper editor pal. But when his passport is lifted by a pickpocket (Gallagher), he finds himself forced to pose as the husband of passenger Evans, unaware that she's a reporter who's also on Lukas' trail.

Cast

as Kenneth Stevens *

as Patricia Booth *

as Anton Kronsky *

as Sonia Yaloniv *

as Jimmy Brown *

as Von Cram *

Billy Gilbert William Gilbert Barron (September 12, 1894 – September 23, 1971), known professionally as Billy Gilbert, was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his comic sneeze routines. He appeared in over 200 feature films, short subjects a ...

as Turk (billed as William Gilbert) *Robert Graves as Duval *

Leonid Kinskey Leonid Kinskey (1893/1894 – September 8, 1998) was a Russian-born American film and television actor, best known for his role as "Sascha" in the film ''Casablanca'' (1942). His last name was sometimes spelled Kinsky. Life and career Kinskey ...

as Maxie Burgos * Mitchell Lewis as Sondheim *

Charles Trowbridge Charles Silas Richard Trowbridge (January 10, 1882 – October 30, 1967) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 230 films between 1915 and 1958. Biography Trowbridge was born in Veracruz, Mexico, where his father served in the ...

as Doyle *

Barnett Parker Barnett Parker (September 11, 1886 – August 5, 1941) was a British actor. Biography He appeared in the films '' The Misleading Lady'', ''Roaming Lady'', ''The President's Mystery'', ''Adventure in Manhattan'', ''Born to Dance'', ''We Who Are A ...

as Bill Cordell *Nita Pike as Fleurette *

Juan Torena Juan de Garchitorena de Carvajal, known in cinema as Juan Torena (1898–1983), was a Spanish-Filipino footballer and actor. After emigrating to Argentina at a young age, he became a footballer who eventually played for the Spanish club FC Barcelo ...

as South American *George Sorel as Maitre d'Hotel *

Gaston Glass Gaston Glass (born Jacques Gaston Oscar Glass; December 31, 1899 – November 11, 1965) was a French-American actor and film producer. He was the father of the composer Paul Glass (born 1934). Selected filmography * ''The Corsican Broth ...

as La Forge *

Egon Brecher Egon Brecher (18 February 1880 – 12 August 1946) was an Austria-Hungary-born actor and director, who also served as the chief director of Vienna's Stadttheater, before entering the motion picture industry. Early years The son of a professor, ...

as Chief of Police *

Leo White Leo White (November 10, 1882 – September 20, 1948), Leo Weiss, was a German-born British-American film and stage actor who appeared as a character actor in many Charlie Chaplin films. Biography Born in Germany, White grew up in England where ...

as Barber (uncredited) *

Russell Hicks Edward Russell Hicks (June 4, 1895 – June 1, 1957) was an American film character actor. Hicks was born in 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland. During World War I, he served in the U.S. Army in France. He later became a lieutenant Colonel in the Cali ...

as Alfred Hartrix (uncredited) *

Gino Corrado Gino Corrado (born Gino Liserani; 9 February 1893 – 23 December 1982) was an Italian-born film actor."Obituaries." ''Variety'' (Archive: 1905-2000); Los Angeles. Vol. 309, Iss. 10, (Jan 5, 1983): 78-79. Via Proquest. He appeared in more ...

as Bandleader (uncredited) *

Ann Rutherford Therese Ann Rutherford (November 2, 1917 – June 11, 2012) was a Canadian-born American actress in film, radio, and television. She had a long career starring and co-starring in films, playing Polly Benedict during the 1930s and 1940s in the An ...

as Train Passenger (uncredited)

References

External links

* 1937 films American spy thriller films 1930s spy thriller films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films directed by Kurt Neumann Films set on the Orient Express American black-and-white films American films based on plays 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{1930s-drama-film-stub