''Three Faces East'' is a 1930 American

Pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

film directed by

Roy Del Ruth Roy Del Ruth (October 18, 1893, Delaware – April 27, 1961) was an American filmmaker. Early career Beginning his Hollywood career as a writer for Mack Sennett in 1915, Del Ruth later directed his first short film ''Hungry Lions'' (1919) ...

and starring

Constance Bennett Constance Campbell Bennett (October 22, 1904 – July 24, 1965) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid ...

and

Erich von Stroheim Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim; September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian-American director, actor and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of the silent era. H ...

. Produced by

Daryl Zanuck Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of ...

and released by

Warner Brothers 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 is based on a 1918 Broadway play about World War I spies, ''Three Faces East'', by Anthony Paul Kelly. It was filmed as a silent in 1926. A later remake in 1940 starred

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established ...

and Margaret Lindsay was titled ''

British Intelligence The Government of the United Kingdom maintains intelligence agencies within three government departments, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence. These agencies are responsible for collecting and analysing foreign and d ...

''.

Plot

During World War I, a soldier named Valdar (Erich von Stroheim) receives a medal for bravery from the King of Belgium. Elsewhere, behind German lines, a captured British nurse (Constance Bennett) is revealed to be a German spy. She is given an assignment to infiltrate the household of Sir Winston Chamberlain, the British First Lord of the Admiralty (William Holden—no relation to the younger American film star), and steal secrets for her superior, a German spy named Blecher. Under the name Frances Hawtree, the agent, using the code term "three faces east," discovers that Valdar, who has used his award to place himself as Chamberlain's head butler, is actually her contact, a German spy named Schiller. Both Hawtree and Valdar come under suspicion from Chamberlain's associates, and both Valdar and Chamberlain's son fall in love with her. Eventually, it is revealed that Hawtree is actually a British double-agent working to find and expose the master spy Blecher, the true identity of Schiller/Valdar. When Blecher attempts to send secret information to his superiors, Hawtree shoots him. As the film ends, she is sent to Sweden on a new intelligence mission.

Cast

as Frances Hawtree/Z-1 *

as Valdar/Schiller Blecher *

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 ...

as Captain Arthur Chamberlain *

William Holden William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...

as Sir Winston Chamberlain *

William Courtenay William Courtenay ( 134231 July 1396) was Archbishop of Canterbury (1381–1396), having previously been Bishop of Hereford and Bishop of London. Early life and education Courtenay was a younger son of Hugh de Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon ( ...

as Mr. Yates *

Crauford Kent Crauford Kent (12 October 1881 – 14 May 1953) was an English character actor based in the United States. He has also been credited as Craufurd Kent

as General Hewlett *

Charlotte Walker __NOTOC__ Charlotte Ganahl Walker (December 20, 1876March 23, 1958) was a Broadway theater actress. Early life Charlotte Ganahl Walker was born on December 20, 1876, in Galveston, Texas to Edwin A. Walker (1849–1889) and Charlisa (De ...

as Catherine, Lady Chamberlain * Ullrich Haupt as Colonel *

Paul Panzer Paul Wolfgang Panzerbeiter (November 3, 1872 – August 16, 1958), known professionally as Paul Panzer, was a German-American silent film actor. He appeared in more than 330 films between 1905 and 1952. Biography Panzer was born in Würzburg. ...

as "Kirsch" the Decoy *

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 ...

as Captain Kugler

Preservation

The film survived complete. It was transferred into a 16mm film by

Associated Artists Productions Associated Artists Productions, Inc. (a.a.p.) later known as United Artists Associated was an American distributor of theatrical feature films and subjects for television. Associated Artists Productions was the copyright owner of the ''Popey ...

in 1956-1958 and shown on television. A 16mm copy is housed at the Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research. Another print exists at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

.''Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress'', by The American film Institute, c. 1978

References

External links

* * * * 1930 films 1930s spy drama films American spy drama films American black-and-white films American films based on plays Films directed by Roy Del Ruth Films produced by Darryl F. Zanuck Films set in England World War I spy films 1930 drama films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{1930s-US-film-stub