Onscreen and Undercover: The Ultimate Book of Movie Espionage

233 Pages·2006·3.879 MB·English

by  Wesley Britton

Onscreen and Undercover:
The Ultimate Book of
Movie Espionage
Wesley Britton
PRAEGER
Onscreen and Undercover

The Ultimate Book of Movie Espionage
WESLEY BRITTON
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Britton, Wesley A. (Wesley Alan)
Onscreen and undercover : the ultimate book of movie espionage / Wesley Britton.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–275–99281–0 (alk. paper)
1. Spy fi lms—History and criticism. I. Title.
PN1995.9.S68B76 2006
791.43'6556—dc22 2006025764

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2006 by Wesley Britton
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2006025764
ISBN: 0–275–99281–0
First published in 2006
Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.praeger.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments vii
PART ONE: WHEN SPIES WERE SILENT
1 Leading Ladies and Victorian Melodramas (1898–1929) 3
2 Leading Men, Propaganda, and Classic Directors before 1929 15
PART TWO: SPIES AT WAR
3 Costumed Spies in Masks and Capes: Revolutionary Agents,
the Civil War, and the Old West 29
4 The Transitional Decades: Espionage Films in the 1930s and
the War Years 43
5 Fighting Hitler and His Heirs: Film Nazis from the 1930s to 2005 57
6 From the Red Menace to Rogue Elephants: Cold War Duels
from 1948 to 2005 83
7 Spies Like Us: Comedies in World War II, the Cold War,
and Beyond World War II 103
iv CONTENTS
PART THREE: THE BROTHERHOOD OF BOND
8 007 and Larger-Than-Life Spies (1960 to 1971) 123
9 Spying on a Budget in the 1960s 135
10 Heroes and Antiheroes from 1973 to the Present 153
PART FOUR: LOOKING IN THE MIRROR AND
LOOKING AHEAD
11 Moving Center Stage: The Middle East in Spy Films 173
12 Looking Back to See the Future: Trends for
the Twenty-fi rst Century 181
Bibliography 187
Index 191
Preface and Acknowledgments
As this is my third foray into the realms of fi ctional espionage, it seems useful to
explain here what distinguishes this project from my previous two books.
Spy Television (2003) is just that—a detailed overview of espionage on the small
screen from 1951 to 2002. My B eyond Bond: Spies in Fiction and Film (2005) was
more complex. Its purpose was to weave spy literature, movies, radio, comics, and
other popular media together with what the public knew about actual espionage,
to show the interrelationships between genres and approaches from 1820 to 2003.
Yes, there is considerable discussion of fi lm, fi lmmakers, and their infl uences and
impact in Beyond Bond. So why a new book on movie spies?
Simply stated, when covering so much ground, much simply couldn’t be included
in Beyond Bond. There was no way, or need, for me to critique or even mention every
spy-oriented novel or fi lm ever created. Some received more attention than others,
either because of their importance or because of their connections to fact or to other
media. And, I confess, some works weren’t included because I hadn’t unearthed
them in my research.
As a result, many chapters here contain material never touched on in Beyond Bond.
For example, I devoted perhaps two paragraphs to silent fi lms in BB; here, readers
will fi nd over two chapters. In Beyond Bond, I looked at The Scarlet Pimpernel and
a handful of projects set in the Old West. Chapter Three here explores “costumed
spies” I hadn’t considered before. Roy Rogers? Zorro? Well, secret agents have
worn many guises. And in Beyond Bond, one chapter explored a number of movies
related to the Bond phenomena in the 1960s. Here, I discuss many more of these,
and I add discussion of other Euro-exploitation fl icks of the period.
F or me, this new book is a history of spies on the large screen, with an emphasis
on the “story” aspect—an emphasis on stories shown in theaters from 1898 to 2005,
vi PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
stories about the shapers of these fi lms, and stories of what we thought of them.
This book describes trends, traces themes, and spotlights the major contributions of
directors, actors, and other Hollywood and international artists. Here, I make only
passing allusions to the contexts or other media-related spy fi lms. I make but brief
mentions of novels and nonfi ction books. Here, the focus is on movies, on and off
camera.
M y diffi culties with trying to avoid repetition came with discussing certain
i mportant fi lms and directors. In Beyond Bond, for example, I paid considerable
attention to the fi lms of Alfred Hitchcock. So here I provide simple summaries of
these projects, with a few new insights, and spend more time evaluating directors
less discussed in BB, including Fritz Lang and D. W. Griffi th. Likewise, other fi lms
discussed in depth in BB get less attention here, leaving room for more analysis
and background of other projects, many of which I consider “neglected nuggets” of
the genre. In addition, the organization of Beyond Bond was chronological, showing
how the world of spies was portrayed decade to decade. Many chapters here follow
that pattern, but some are explorations of genres and subgenres traced from early
fi lms to the present. For example, Chapter Five looks at movies dealing with Nazis
and neo-Nazis from World War II to the present. In the end, therefore, Onscreen and
Undercover presents a detailed and comprehensive account of the movies—and the
culture and context surrounding the movies—that deal with espionage and spying.
It not only fi lls the large gaps left in the movie discussions from Beyond Bond, but
also gathers all the material—new and old—together, in order to gain a coherent
sense of what we see when we picture a spy onscreen.
A ll this is not to say this book does not stand alone. In one sense, all three of my
spy books to date make for a trilogy of espionage studies, with Beyond Bond linking
the other two. But, for those specifi cally interested in movies with spy elements,
here is where to start. Certainly, I’m not proposing these two books are the best on
the subject nor do I believe I’ve superseded some other valuable contributions.
For example, I bow in deference to Paul Mavis, whose Espionage Filmography:
United States Releases, 1898–1999 (2001) should be on every library shelf, being
an a stonishing directory of spy fi lms more u seful than the Internet Movie Database
(IMDb). Likewise, Larry Langman and David Ebner’s E ncyclopedia of American Spy
Films (1990) not only lists many Hollywood projects, but includes short articles on
related fi lms such as those set in the Civil War. But such books are encyclopedias for
those seeking full cast and crew list along with other credits. This book is a history,
not an attempt to repeat information available in many alphabetical movie guides.
I’m grateful, I think, other published sources have left me so much room to work
with. For example, Andrew Sarris’s excellent “ You Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet”: The
American Talking Film History and Memory, 1927–194 9(1998) goes exactly 100
pages before Sarris even mentions three spy fi lms. Beyond Hitchcock and Bond,
general books on movie history devote little time to a genre that’s admittedly often
one rife with clichés, low-budget knock-offs, big-budget spectacle nonsense, and
repetitive stories that blur the lines between spoof, parody, or simple escapist
entertainment. But such fare is only part of the story.
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
In my view, this book’s content lies somewhere between the two major extremes
of published material on moviedom. On one side, theorists theorize and invent
terms useful for that specialized circle of academia. On the other hand, magazines
and televised reports are more gossip and studio publicity than credible research
tools. As Peter Bisking put it, “The disconnect between appearance, as it is pre-
sented in the media, and the reality of what actually occurred behind the scenes,
is as great in Hollywood as it is in Washington, if not greater.” The high glamour of
the movie industry, he notes, “lies on entertainment reporting like a blanket” (iii).
Examples of such “disconnects” include the fact that we’ve seen innocent and
professional secret agents, time after time, involved in risk and life-threatening
danger in the movies. But intelligence expert James Bamford claims espionage is
one of the safest occupations in government service, pointing to numbers saying
on average, the CIA loses just over one person a year in the line of duty, 79 since
the agency’s f ounding in 1947. By comparison, 41 New Jersey law e nforcement
o ffi cers died in 2001 alone (158). During the Cold War, if operatives were caught
or blown, the worst that could happen would be they’d become p ersona non grata
and get shipped out of the c ountry (158). Going back further in time, n umerous
World War II fi lms had spies wearing the uniforms of the Gestapo and Nazi
military insignia. However, the 1868 rules of the Geneva Convention explicitly
forbid the practice. Some forms of deception were permitted, others were not, such
as broadcasting false information about an armistice or surrender (Gerard 85). In
other words, this is a book of how movies entertained us, worried us, and either
refl ected public concerns or helped shape them. But rarely did they inform us. So
this is a history of illusions and illusion-makers, which I hope is a window into
contemporary mythology.
W riting is perhaps less a collaborative effort than what happens on a fi lm set,
but I always remain grateful to the behind-the-scenes folks who contribute to my
projects. In this case, thanks go to internet friends Jim Taylor, Debbie Lazar, Pete
Stampede, Lee Goldberg, Cheryl Morris, Anne Sharp, Nancy Simpandra, Pat
Dunn, and Bill Koenig. My webmaster, Kevin Bochynski, has posted a n umber of
my espionage articles at my home page, which has led to wonderful connections
with experts in the fi eld. My offi ce mate, Amy Withro, helped fi ll gaps in my
Internet research. For the third time, I thank Diane Weideman, mistress of
i nterlibrary loans at Harrisburg Area Community College. And, this time, I thank
fans and friends who contributed to the success of my fi rst two books including
Lee Pfeiffer, Vic Flick, Jordon Riche, Tom Pervanje, Matt S herman, and Peter
Earnest at the International Spy Museum.
F inally, as always, I thank my long-suffering wife, Betty, who grudgingly
has learned more than she wanted to regarding spies, research, old movies,
s econdhand book stores, all while surrounded by autographed photos and toys
fi lling my offi ce. She shouldn’t complain—she’s typing now on the computer
Beyond Bond bought her.
Wesley Britton

I
When Spies Were Silent