Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Am I Missing Something?

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Directed by Herman Shumlin, Robert Buckner adapted the screenplay from the Graham Greene novel of the same name. Unfortunately, this war time drama fails to connect. In fact, it leaves one feeling that it could have been better, given the cast ... perhaps Greene's story is to blame. There's evidence of some serious editing, however, to get the film in under two hours. For instance, there's a credited actor, Lawrence Grant as Lord Fetting, who, though introduced, appears only in the corner during a conference, seemingly having just been drugged or interrogated harshly.Luis Denard (Charles Boyer) is a Spanish nationalist whose country is in the midst of a civil war. He has traveled to England to secure coal, and thus supplies, needed to combat the fascists who are winning the war. Through circumstances at immigration, he meets and then catches a ride with a young socialite Rose Cullen (Lauren Bacall) whose father, Lord Benditch (Holmes Herbert), coincidentally, happens to be one of the men Denard needs to see. On his journey, he bumps into one of the fascists, Licata (Victor Francen) who, unfortunately for Denard, continues to turn up in the same places at the same times as he. For instance, when Rose's rented car gets a flat tire and they have to stop at a roadside inn, Licata happens to be there too. After a brief introduction to one of Rose's acquaintances, Captain Currie (George Coulouris) or "Toddy", Denard's coat is searched by Licata's chauffeur (Art Foster). Rose doesn't really believe the story she thinks Denard is handing her, and cautions him against being melodramatic. Rose then drinks to the point of wanting to stay before going on to London, so Denard, who has urgent business, excuses himself and leaves with the repaired car. However, Toddy with the others in tow, tracks him down and forces him to stop at which time Licata's chauffeur lays him out and leaves him without anything but the important credentials he'd thought earlier to stuff in his shoe. Denard must then walk to London.When Denard gets to London, he checks into a hotel run by fellow Spanish nationalist Mrs. Melandez (Katina Paxinou, who seems to be trying to channel Judith Anderson's Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca (1940) and not doing a very good job of it either). He meets the 14 year old maid Else (Wanda Hendrix) who, for no apparent reason he trusts with his key and, later, even with his valuable papers. Denard also goes to rendezvous, for no apparent reason, with another Spanish nation Contreras (Peter Lorre), who's working in a universal language training facility run by the eccentric Dr. Bellows (annoyingly played by Ian Wolfe). Finally, he goes to see Lord Benditch but, by then, has lost his papers. There, he meets Rose's boyfriend Neil Forbes (John Warburton), who is also in conference with Lord Benditch. This is the scene which includes the sleepy (?) Lord Fetting as well as Mr. Brigstock (Miles Mander). Of course, after Denard discovers that he no longer has his papers, Licata turns up; he seems to have a penchant for controlling the hired help, as it was Lord Benditch's butler who lifted Denard's documents.The convoluted plot continues with Rose getting involved to assist Denard, apparently she fell for him when he proved to her that he'd been shot at, and another opportunity for actress Paxinou to overact when her character takes out her frustration on Else. By then, the police, including Detective Geddes (George Zucco) are involved and there's another opportunity for the meddling Toddy to stick his nose into things as well. I'm not really sure why Peter Lorre's character is even in the film except to give him an opportunity to play an over stressed, whiny little man under pressure (which he does so well). Just for good measure, Melandez's hotel has a resident eccentric, Mr. Muckerji (a native of India played by Dan Seymour?), whose character is a strange and rather nosy, though uninvolved, observer until circumstances necessitate otherwise. I should also mention that the film's hokiest moment is near the end (saving the best for last?) and involves a crowd scene with Denard and Benditch, with the ever present Licata, at cross purposes.

Often, in the good old days of classic Hollywood, folks were oddly cast and occasionally accents simply made no sense at all. A couple examples that come to mind are Barbara Stanwyck in "The Plough and the Stars" where she didn't even try to do the appropriate Irish accent and Katharine Hepburn with her pathetic attempt to be Chinese in "Dragon Seed"! Here in "Confidential Agent", A French actor (Charles Boyer) is supposed to be a Spaniard visiting Britain, where very, very few of the folks sound British! The silliest was Lauren Bacall...who sounds about at British as fondue. Overall, it's like accent goulash and certainly is a strike against the movie at the onset.This film is set just before WWII begins. Luis (Boyer) is in Britain to try to raise money for the cause of the Spanish Republic (the folks who were fighting against Franco and the Nazis). However, throughout his mission, he's attacked, beaten up and shot at....so all in all, he's NOT a happy man! Along the way, he meets up with Rose (Bacall) and together they have less chemistry than most folks have with their proctologists! As a result, it's an amazingly dull film...one that sure could have been a lot better and had more energy. The only thing I DID like was Peter Lorre playing a wonderfully pusilanimous character who is about to be shot near the end...that was pretty good. Of course, Lorre is another actor wasn't the least bit British but was Slovakian!By the way, the same studio (Warner) also made "Fallen Sparrow" with a similar sort of plot. It was far better and more effective....though that isn't saying much considering I only score "Confidential Agent" a 3...which is sad, as I love Boyer films normally.

I watch a lot of films, good, bad and indifferent; there is usually something of interest to fixate upon, even if it is only set design, or the reliable labor of a good character actor, or the fortuitous laughter that emerges from watching ineptitude captured forever.However, I was quite pleasantly surprised by this film, one I had never seen before. Graham Greene has been translated into film many times of course, in such masterpieces as "Thin Man" and in lesser vehicles. "Confidential Agent" is one of those lesser vehicles, yet it manages to get me somewhere anyway, despite lackluster direction, the incongruity of Bacall and Boyer's depictions as (respectively) British and Spanish, and the almost complete non-existence of any chemistry between the two leads. In some ways, this last "problem" actually begins to work in the film's favor, for how can love really blossom in the killing atmosphere of fascism and capitalism meeting about one person's tragedy? The most compelling aspect of the film arises directly from Greene's complex and guilt-ridden psychology, which pervades the film. I know some see the deliberate pacing here as dull, and I can understand that. Yet I found that plodding accentuated rather than detracted from what is a claustrophobic world. I was compelled to watch, not by any great acting (although Boyer is marvelous as usual, managing to convey a rich mixture of world-weariness, tragedy, hope, and fervor with his magnificent voice and yearning eyes), but by the down-spiraling rush of one man's slim hopes against a world of oppression and money. What is a thief? What good is love in the face of death? Where does mere profit-taking end and exploitation begin? The film does not rise to the level of art, and thus cannot hope to answer such questions, but it is much more than mere entertainment, and its murders and guilts are very grimly drawn. The lack of glitz, of "bubble," of narrative "bounce" help to make this movie very worthwhile.And there is no happy ending, for history wrote the ending.

but it's worth watching for Boyer, Lorre and Paxinou. Greene's entertainments that were filmed during the war either required transplanting to American shores, as in This Gun for Hire, or the use of American actors in roles where they did not fit. Bacall fits that part here. I kept waiting for her to whistle and bring Bogie to life; her tone of voice is simply all wrong for an upper class Englishwoman. But listen to the dialogue! No, people don't talk that way except in books, but Greene was sending a message about an England that needed to wake up to the dangers of the world. One other positive note: Greene's range of characters were kept whole. While Mr. Mukerjee resembled more a Brahamin, at least his nationality was kept, and his final conversation with Paxinou is priceless.