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The Secret Agent |  | Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Studio: Synergy Ent
Category: DVD
Buy New: $9.99
as of 7/31/2010 12:15 MDT details
New (1) Used (1) from $7.50
Seller: Amazon.com
Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 36901
Format: NTSC
Language: English (Unknown)
Region: 0
Running Time: 86 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.5
UPC: 883629859040
EAN: 0883629859040
ASIN: B002MAPFU6
Release Date: August 20, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Amazon.com essential video
One of Alfred Hitchcock's finest pre-Hollywood films, the 1936 Secret Agent stars a young John Gielgud as a British spy whose death is faked by his intelligence superiors. Reinvented with another identity and outfitted with a wife (Madeleine Carroll), Gielgud's character is sent on assignment with a cold-blooded accomplice (Peter Lorre) to assassinate a German agent. En route, the counterfeit couple keeps company with an affable American (Robert Young), who turns out to be more than he seems after the wrong man is murdered by Gielgud and Lorre. Dense with interwoven ideas about false names and real identities, about appearances as lies and the brutality of the hidden, and about the complicity of those who watch the anarchy that others do, Secret Agent declared that Alfred Hitchcock was well along the road to mastery as a filmmaker and, more importantly, knew what it was he wanted to say for the rest of his career. The print of the film used in the DVD release is serviceable and probably comparable to an average 16mm classroom or museum presentation. The DVD also includes a Hitchcock filmography, trivia questions, a director biography, and scene access. --Tom Keogh
Description
This film is based on the novel Asheden; or, the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham, and has all the ingredients...mystery, romance, drama and intrigue during WWII and a plan to track down and kill a German agent.This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
 Entertaining WWI Spy Film November 2, 2008
Bobby Underwood (Manly NSW, Australia)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"But your wife, she'll wonder what happened to her poor little General." -- Peter Lorre to John Gielgud
This most enjoyable film made in Britain before Hitchcock came to Hollywood certainly deserves more accolades than it has gotten over the years. It really isn't that far behind 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, and Young and Innocent in either quality or entertainment. Set during the first world war, Somerset Maugham's novel of spies sent to ferret out and eliminate another spy has romance and humor and some real excitement in Hitchcock's hands.
John Gielgud comes home from the war and discovers he's been reported dead. He discovers it was intentional, his cover so he can become Ashenden, and eliminate a very dangerous German spy causing the good guys a lot of trouble. While it's deadly serious business, it gets a bit more pleasant when he discovers in Switzerland that the beautiful and elegant Elsa Carrington (Madeleine Carroll) is to pose as his wife and help him in his mission.
Hitchcock counters the more serious business with a likable Robert Young as Marvin, pursuing romance with Elsa despite her marital status. It is handled with great charm and a sense of fun. Ashenden's other partner is General, played in an over-the-top manner by Peter Lorre. He is more comical than sinister, spending most of his time trying to romance anything in a dress, and quite upset that Ashenden has the fake wife while he has nada.
Elsa falls for her pretend husband, of course, and when the amoral General mistakingly kills the wrong man, a crisis of conscience occurs for both she and Ashenden, who decide to break off this ugly business and go back. But when he and General discover who the real spy is, they must pursue him because Elsa is in danger. The train station scene and everything that follows is classic Hitchcock. While it doesn't have quite the tension of 39 Steps, or the charm of Young and Innocent, it has a blend between the two which is very enjoyable.
Perhaps because it is set during WW I it doesn't connect as much as it should for some viewers. It is quite fabulous in its own way, however, and fans of Hitchcock's early British films will certainly find it appealing. Fans of the lovely Madeleine Carroll will be pleased to discover she is much more in the center of things from the very beginning than in 39 Steps, in which she is also marvelous. The Westlake print is both decent and watchable if unspectacular. A real winner.
 Hitch's Mix....Suspense and Humor With Great Style December 19, 2006
L. Shirley (fountain valley, ca United States)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
From 1936..."The Secret Agent". You'll find Hitch's unique sense of humor well integrated with the suspense and his definitive style, in this terrific film about espionage at the onset of WWI. A reluctant spy is recruited to kill an enemy spy. He is given a false name and a fake wife to keep up appearances. He goes after the target, but does he have the right man? Could there be another who is the real culprit? And what a cast.. John Gielgud stars with Madeline Carroll,Robert Young and Peter Lorre(fabulous as always) as his very strange accomplice.Other notables to look for include Lilli Palmer and Michael Redgrave.
There are several studio editions to chose from. Sometimes the reviews for the different editions are lumped together. I am reviewing the edition put out by Platinum Disc(It has the ASIN B00005A0QH in the product info, or enter in search to find it). The transfer of this 70 year old film by Platinum is decent, but probably not as good as some of the more expensive editions. The picture is nice and clear but there are quite a few scratches.The sound in Dolby Dig is clear and distinguishable. I did find it to be very viewable and perfectly enjoyable.It includes a short trivia quiz of the film, a bio of Sir John Gielgud and a few chapter stops.It comes in a nice jewel case, with an insert that also includes the same extras that are on the disc. It is available from the outside sellers at a reasonable price at this time.
Where's Hitch.....alas, there seems to be no appearance by Sir Alfred here.
I would recommend this edition of "Secret Agent" to Hitch fans who want to build up their collection without spending too much.
enjoy...Laurie
Spies and spies December 26, 2005
Kristjan Jonasson (Iceland)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I quite enjoyed this old movie from 1936. It must have been one of the finest movies of the day. But what exactly would Marvin do in Constantinople. I guess we must look that up in Maugham's novel.
Often-overlooked Hitchcock is worth several viewings! March 31, 2001
Bragan Thomas
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
SECRET AGENT was Hitchcock's follow-up to the hugely successful THE 39 STEPS, and continues that film's explorations of moral ambiguity and instability of identity. A very young John Gielgud portrays Edgar Brodie, an English soldier whose identity is deliberately eliminated by the government so his talents may be put to use as a professional spy under the name of Richard Ashenden. His mission: travel to Switzerland and execute a German spy before he crosses the Swiss border. Ashenden's accomplices in this state-sanctioned murder are the bizarre and campy bisexual "General" (Peter Lorre), who claims to be Spanish but is obviously nothing of the sort, and Elsa (Madeleine Carroll) a rather bloodthirsty woman assigned to play Mrs. Ashenden, who seems to have become an agent just to get a few thrills. Elsa's gung-ho mindset changes rapidly when the little group deceives and assassinates the wrong man. Elsa distracts the man's wife by asking for German lessons while Ashenden and the General take him on a mountain trek from which he will not return. Although the General actually does the killing, Ashenden is complicit in the unwitting crime, and seems to accept it as a matter of course. This murder sequence is extremely suspenseful, cross-cutting the male plot with the gradual realization of the doomed man's wife that something has happened to her husband because of the increasing agitation of the man's faithful dog. At the moment of the killing, the dog breaks out into eerie, unforgettable howls. After this event, Elsa realizes that what she thought was a game was actually in deadly earnest, and she tries to stop Ashenden from going through with the actual muder of the real agent, whose identity is uncovered almost by accident. The final sequences, including a fire alarm in a chocolate factory and a stunning train wreck, result in the deaths of the German agent and the General, leaving Elsa and Ashenden free to marry and quit the spy business. As another reviewer has noted, there is a strange and disquieting undercurrent of homosexuality among all the major male characters, who seem to be more interested in each other than any of them is in Elsa. Indeed, Madeleine Carroll has almost nothing to do in the last half of the film, and the usual sexualized banter between Hollywood lovers is actually given to Ashenden and the General! Indeed, Ashenden seems oddly reluctant to touch Elsa throughout the film and their love scenes are awkward at best. I can't say whether any of this was deliberate on Hitchcock's part, or whether was simply the result of casting a trio of homosexual or bisexual actors as the male leads, but the function of this choice undercuts the usual romance angle that we find in this type of story and renders the conclusion quite unbelievable, which perhaps makese sense, considering that no one in the world of this film is what he or she seems to be on the surface. Still, this is a surprisingly accomplished film which, despite some jarring shifts in tone, is watchable throughout. By the way, the film is supposedly set in 1916 and the events it chronicles deal with WW I, but don't you believe it for a second! The costumes and decors are strictly mid-30's, as is the language! Hitchcock obviously wished to comment on the moral choices forced on people by the deteriorating international situation of the times, and it isn't much of a stretch to relate these people to choices present only in the 1930's!
Secret Agent Does The Job January 14, 2000
Benjamin Wink (Middleton, WI)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Hitchcock in this film examines what it is like to actually go through with the job of killing someone, as you are authorized and ordered to do. John Gielgud, from the Shakespearean stage, makes a worthy effort as does Madelline Carrol, who was in The 39 Steps as well. Peter Lorre, while a tad over-the-top and at some times irritating, is a joy to watch. The main villain is very smooth and a treat to watch as well. Comedic elements thrown in with tension and suspense makes Secret Agent a worthwhile Hitchcock film. From The Man Who Knew Too Much to The Lady Vanishes, Hitchcock could do no wrong. Secret Agent proves it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
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