Exciting espionage picture from Warner Bros. that holds the distinction of being the first explicitly anti-Nazi movie made in America. Star Edward G. Robinson doesn't appear until nearly midway through the film. The first half of the movie is about the various characters involved in a Nazi spy ring. Robinson plays an FBI agent who catches one German-American (Frances Lederer) acting as a spy and uses him to try and nab bigger Nazi fish.
Fascinating from a historical perspective but also gripping entertainment. It was based on a real case, which might explain why it has this realistic feel to it that you don't often see in pictures of the time. For example they don't even catch all the bad guys in the end. I'm surprised the Code allowed that as it usually called for all evil-doers to be punished. The newsreel-style narration is also a nice touch. The cast is good with (mostly) solid performances from everyone. Frances Lederer is hammy but he grows on you after awhile. Paul Lukas and George Sanders play Nazis. Sanders is good and Lukas is fantastic in the film's meatiest role. Robinson is also great in an understated performance. Given that this is WB we're dealing with, there's of course a wonderful supporting cast featuring the likes of Joe Sawyer, Dorothy Tree, and many German actors (some of whom used fake names to protect their families back in Germany).
"You guys are worse than gangsters" shouts one man when he's thrown out of a German American Bund meeting for expressing a dissenting opinion. There's some humor in that, I suppose, since WB was the pioneer of the gangster movie. But they would also make some of the best ant-Nazi war films during WW2. In many ways, this could be seen as their first step in that direction.
