The Spy in Black

"Today's U-boat terror makes this the year's timeliest picture!"

1939 1h 22m EN

😐

6.4

MID

★6.4TMDB · 67

WarThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A German submarine is sent to the Orkney Isles in 1917 to sink the British fleet.

“Today's U-boat terror makes this the year's timeliest picture!”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Conrad Veidt
Captain Ernst Hardt
Sebastian Shaw
Ashington
Valerie Hobson
The School Mistress
Marius Goring
Lieutenant Felix Schuster
June Duprez
Anne Burnett
Athole Stewart
The Rev. Hector Matthews
Agnes Lauchlan
Mrs. Matthews
Helen Haye
Mrs. Sedley

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Michael Powell
Writers: J. Storer Clouston, Emeric Pressburger, Roland Pertwee
Languages: German, Hungarian, English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

82 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.7M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

87 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: German, Hungarian, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Michael Powell, shot by Bernard Browne. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Miklós Rózsa. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Hugh Stewart shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Conrad Veidt and Sebastian Shaw and Valerie Hobson carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Michael Powell directs. Bernard Browne behind the camera. Miklós Rózsa scores. Hugh Stewart cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in German, Hungarian, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

182 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $4.7M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
387 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Dialogue crosses 3 languages: German, Hungarian, English.
5Directed by Michael Powell, shot by Bernard Browne. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Miklós Rózsa. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Hugh Stewart shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Conrad Veidt and Sebastian Shaw and Valerie Hobson carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Today's U-boat terror makes this the year's timeliest picture!".
10IMDB entry: tt0031968 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Only 67 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
12Classified under 12 themes, including "northern england", "submarine", "world war i", "sea battle".

The technical file

Cinematography: Bernard Browne
Original score: Miklós Rózsa
Editing: Hugh Stewart
Runtime: 82 min · 1h 22m
Status: Released
Budget: $4,700,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The Spy in Black (1939)

Awards

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Michael Powell

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Peter McGinn2021-04-27
★ 7/10
This is a classic black and white spy thriller, thought of highly enough to be part of a national project to restore old films. The movie is entertaining, with a couple of departures from normal thrillers, I think (though I am not a follower of the genre). The bulk of the story is told from the perspective of the Germans, the enemy, as it were. It would be like the movie The Alamo being told from the perspective of Santa Anna’s Mexican army. Also, the ending is unusual compared to a modern thriller, where then good guy and bad guy usually square off and settle things in a climactic final scene. But they do produce a plot twist, the norm for any spy movie, and it works. It is a short movie, well under 90 minutes, and it moves right along. The lack of color adds to the atmosphere of the film. The script is fine. Oddly, several lines are delivered in German with no translation, but obviously nothing critical is left out because of it. You can sort of get what they must be saying and they are brief bits of dialogue. I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch this movie a second time, but I don’t regret the time spent watching it.
CinemaSerf2022-03-28
★ 7/10
Valerie Hobson steals the show here in this dark, tense, wartime espionage drama about a German U-boat captain (Conrad Veidt) sent to the Orkney Islands in WWI to gather intelligence on the British Grand Fleet. Released at the start of the Second World War, this first outing for Powell/Pressberger delivers in a much more ominous tone than that of a mere piece of propaganda. There is a depth to the writing and a sinisterness to the story that is gripping for just shy of 90 minutes before culminating in the sort of "gallant" ending that I suspect would not have been considered appropriate five years later.