by Allan Fish
(Germany 1928 143m) DVD1/2
Aka. Spies: The Spy
Appointment at Parkstrasse 24
p Erich Pommer d Fritz Lang w Thea Von Harbou ph Fritz Arno Wagner m Donald Sosin art Otto Hunte, Karl Vollbrecht
Rudolf Klein-Rogge (Haghi), Gerda Maurus (Sonja Barranikova), Lien Deyers (Kitty), Louis Ralph (Morrier), Craighall Sherry (Police Chief Jason), Willy Fritsch (No.326), Lupa Pick (Dr Akira Matsumoto), Fritz Rasp (Colonel Jellusic), Paul Hoerbiger (Franz), Hertha Von Walther (Lady Leslane),
Spione is a film which is slowly coming back into vogue. For years it was overshadowed in film histories by the Dr Mabuse crime films made either side of it, and for sure they had a massive impact. Yet to these eyes Lang’s best underworld drama – indeed, best contemporary German film, after M – is this 1928 spy effort. Coming on the back of his folie de grandeur, Metropolis, it was a return to commercial form for a director then considered a loose cannon. For here is one of the great spy dramas, one that may have little to do with the worlds of Fleming, Deighton, la Carré or Forsyth, but which still has an imperishable legacy. For where would those illustrious authors have been without the successes and popularity of Alfred Hitchcock’s spy dramas (from The 39 Steps to Sabotage, from The Lady Vanishes to Foreign Correspondent)? Not only would Hitchcock’s films follow the blueprints of the great Teutonic master, but producer Pommer would himself come to Britain in the thirties.
The convoluted plot follows the efforts of a secret police force to apprehend a group of mercenary spies, who steal important government documents the world over and use the power thus gained to gain control over important people and organisations. Chief target is the mysterious Haghi, who besides his role as spy-master general also doubles as both a bank director and a clown in a music hall. Among his group of spies is Sonja, whose loyalties are split when she falls for unnamed government agent No. 326. Also central to the intrigue is a Japanese spy, Dr Matsumoto, who Haghi tries to prevent from escaping with important documents by sending duplicitous young Kitty.
From the opening credits one feels a sense of urgency, moving at a heck of a lick for a film of its length, as befits Donald Sosin’s reissue score with its rhythm like a train slowly careering out of control. In a wonderfully edited opening sequence, we follow two crimes simultaneously, a safe robbery and a drive-by assassination attempt. Cue impassioned phone calls, desperate pleas for assistance from the authorities and a sense of panic in the public. Haghi himself is a figure who surely served as the model for Fleming’s Ernst Blofeld, surrounded by a group of assorted criminal types, from black leather coated guards who might well be future SS in training, to femmes et filles fatales trained to use sex to get what they want. No more perfect example is there than Lien Deyers’ Kitty. Here was a fille fatale if ever there was one. We first see her provocatively dangling her legs on Haghi’s desk studying her future reward, a priceless set of pearls. We next see her huddled and rain-soaked in a doorway, that of the unfortunate Matsomoto. When we next see her, she’s perfectly groomed, dry and wearing – barely, as she relishes in leaving the front open to give the Japanese sucker a nice view of scarcely hidden breasts – a kimono and pawing around him like the proverbial jailbait in search of a sugar daddy. Sex is offered, at first not taken, but we know eventually it will be, as Matsumoto is delayed from making his urgent trip by the evil little minx, who proceeds to desert him with his important documents, as soon as she sexually tires him to sleep. Yet if Deyers (who tragically slipped into such obscurity we know not how or when she died) is unforgettable – all the more so for being sixteen at the time of Lang’s discovering her – it’s that eternal Lang villain, Klein-Rogge, who dominates, right up to his final demise on stage. “Almighty God, what power is at play?” the police chief murmurs aloud in the opening moments. Why, that of a truly great director at the very peak of his powers.
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You know, at first I asked myself why, for the love of God, you would choose this movie and place it so far ahead of so many of Lang’s unquestionable classics. This trifle, such a naked clone of former greats, such a pale imitation of Norbert Jacque’s formula, only without the essential dose of social-commentary. A decent piece of entertainment, perhaps, but nowhere near the epic grandeur of “Die Nibelungen”, or the classic iconicism of “Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler”. Plenty of suspense and excitement, but not the same kind of ambition driving that maniacal imagination into something truly significant. I asked myself why you would pick this movie, such a recycled game of espionage.
And then I looked at the screenshot. The proverbial jailbait indeed, and it appears to have caught you, Fish. Hook, line and sinker.
No, Bob, not at all, and many share my opinion, but I’m kinda glad you don’t or else I’d feel I was doing something wrong.
I just had to share this uber cool poster for this classic:
that’s a pretty nice poster tony.
just as Allan’s screen caps often make me want to see the films I haven’t just as much as his writing, this blog (and screen cap of this film to close the essay) did the same. plus the article is pretty darn good, and highlights ‘The Ipcress File’, another film I enjoy. the ‘Spies’ image is pretty fantastic though.
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/?p=195
I’m sorry, but this is one I can’t let go, here. “Spione” is an fun film, there’s no doubt about that– Lang’s visual craftsmanship and collaboration with Fritz Arno Wagner was never stronger, and his hand with actors, especially Rudolf Klein-Rogge, was never more generous. Where it fails, however, is in the director’s work with screenwriter Thea von Harbou, where the pair slip and fall from mere pastiche to outright creative bankrupcy, reclycling all the old scenes and cliches that served them so well in their collaboration with Norbert Jacques, but all come off as second-hand here.
It’s an expert production, but nowhere near masterful– it lacks the essential spark of originality that makes a movie memorable outside of its striking similarities to works past. Now, all of this might’ve been excusable had Lang explicitly connected the story here with the narrative of his previous mastermind-caper, as he later would with “Testament of Dr. Mabuse”. Indeed, at times it seems as though “Spione” is more or less a demo-reel of cliffhanger set-pieces and spectacular showstoppers with only a cursory, hand-me-down story to hold it all together– it feels less that Lang wanted to make an actual film here, but instead just make use of scenes and ideas he’d originally thought up for the original “Mabuse” film, but never had the chance to film.
In fact, Lang would later go on to claim that various scenes from “Spione”– such as the opening montage of various crimes, culminating with the quoted “Who is responsible for all this?” “I am!”– had originally been written for “Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler”, only with documentary footage and staged recreations of real-life crimes and terrorist activity preceding the mastermind’s reveal. As such, this movie is less a real stand-alone enterprise of its own, but rather a work that can only really be appreciated when viewed in the larger context of Lang’s work. You get the feeling that this was the best movie he could come up with without considering repurposing the old in-earnest by creating a sequel (as with “Testament”) or a remake (as with the “Indian Epic”). The best parts of this film feel softened and cheapened by the flimsiness and obscenities around them– great moments like Haghi’s opening would be better served cut out from this film and inserted into Lang and Jacque’s initial film. At times, “Spione” feels like the next-best thing to a director’s-cut or special-edition of “Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler”, with all the extra bits and pieces the director planned reinserted back to where they once belonged. On their own, without a story of genuine substance to back them up, it brings to mind what Ian Fleming said about his own spy-creation– he’s no Sidney Reilly, no genuine ace-of-spies, nothing like the real McCoy.
At any rate, the really sad thing about this film is to see how Lang is forced to retreat back into the corner of his old recycled conventions after the sad commercial failure of “Metropolis”. Before then, he’d been a director of unstopped and seemingly unstoppable creative potential, with a diverse portfolio of material ranging from the supernatural & romantic (the sorely missed “Destiny”) to flights of outright fantasy (“Die Nibelungen”, still the best movie of its kind) and visionary science-fiction. From production to production he tackled hot-button social issues of the day, mixing political satire with high-flying suspense that know-nothing imitators like Hitchcock strenuously avoided in their cinema of the fight-or-flight-instinct. And while Lang would soon recover and deliver some of his very best and most potent films following, “Spione” sticks out among his greatest works, a safety-dance as rote and mechanical as later exercises in self-imitation like “Ministry of Fear” and “While the City Sleeps”. It was a worthwhile effort for the director to regain his strength, but can’t legitimately be mistaken as a strong work of its own.
As you once quoted, Fish, one ought not applaud the tenor for clearing his throat. Nor should we ask for an encore when the singer catches his breath.
I like Spione quite a bit but wouldn’t rank it ahead of the Nibelung films. I’m not going to kick, though, just because someone may just like a spy film better than a medieval epic. I don’t infer superiority from preference in cases like these. Anyway, it’s not like he’s saying Frau im Mond is better than the others or something.
Samuel, thanks for being such a trooper on Allan’s countdown, though I respect your expertise on this period, a time few bloggers have had all that much exposure with! Your comments are always insightful and a special treat. I happen to completely agree with you on NIEBELUNGEN rating ahead of SPIONE, but like you I grant Allan his disparity in taste here. Again, Samuel, what you’ve done for all these threads is incomparable and I can’t thank you enough.
There’s nothing wrong with putting a spy film ahead of a medieval epic– this is just the wrong spy film. Frankly, I’d prefer seeing “Woman in the Moon” ahead, if anything. At least that’s something different, and has a great ending.