Nazi Agent was made right before the US entered World War II. It's not your ordinary propaganda film due to a plot that while far-fetched was also quite clever.
The film has two things going for it right off the bat. It was directed by the notable noir director Jules Dassin and stars Conrad Veidt (most famous for his role as Major Strasser in Casablanca).
Veidt plays the kindly German expatriate stamp dealer Otto Becker who owns a little shop in New York City. When the newly appointed German consul, twin brother Baron Hugo von Detner (also played by Veidt) shows up and demands to use his shop as a cover for espionage activities, Otto wants no part of it.
But the Baron threatens to reveal to US authorities that Otto entered the country illegally which will get him deported. Otto reluctantly agrees to allow his Nazi brother to use the shop for nefarious purposes.
The suspense ratchets up when Otto, watched constantly by the Baron's henchmen including Miss Harper (Dorothy Tree)-his assistant now revealed to be a German agent-attempts to surreptitiously send a letter to the police by having his good friend Professor Jim Sterling (Ivan F. Simpson) deliver it but without looking at it until he leaves the shop.
As it turns out the Nazis figure out that Otto is attempting to alert the police and get a hold of the letter. The Baron pays his brother a visit and prefaces the startling news about the fate of Otto's friend with a sinister tale of a family back in the old country. It's a tale of how a son turned in his father to the Nazis as the father was discovered to be a dissident by the son.
The Baron makes it clear that the Professor had to be killed due to Otto's "traitorous" decision. In a very suspenseful scene, Otto, enraged by the news of his friend's murder, attacks his brother. The Baron pulls out a gun, but Otto grabs it and kills him.
This is where the entire neat but far-fetched premise kicks in. Otto decides to assume his brother's identity. He shaves off his beard and now looks exactly like the Baron. Harper walks up the stairs when she hears the shot but Otto orders her to go back down and wait.
Somehow there is a coffin-sized container there used for book deliveries presumably which Otto uses to place his brother's body in. You'll have to suspend your disbelief that Harper doesn't get the idea to examine the body, but I guess she's following the orders of the Baron who she believes shot his brother (and not the other way around).
Various posters here couldn't buy the idea that Otto gets away pretending to be his brother. And of course, in real life to pull something like that off would be almost impossible. But the way the film scenarists depict how Otto tricks all those who believe he's really the Baron almost seems plausible.
As it turns out, Otto is helped by the family manservant Fritz (Frank Reicher) who reveals that his allegiance was always to Otto and not to the cruel, sadistic brother (Fritz realizes it's not the Baron when he sees Otto has a scar on his back after getting out of the shower).
The rest of the plot revolves around Otto in his position as the Baron attempting to prevent the German spies and American collaborators from carrying out espionage activities. He phones the police on several occasions and eventually ends up sending them a list of Nazi spies as well as preventing a bomb exploding on a ship scheduled to pass through the Panama Canal.
There is also an excellent sub-plot involving the disillusioned spy Kaaren De Relle (Ann Ayars) who has been forced to work for the Nazis as she fears they will retaliate against her family in occupied France. Otto never reveals to Kaaren who he is but repairs the relationship that had devolved between her and the Baron.
Ironically after Otto is blackmailed by his aide at the embassy Kurt Richten (Martin Kosleck-a dead ringer for Josef Goebbals), he strikes a bargain with Richten in which he agrees to return to Germany (where he'll be executed) so that he won't turn Kaaren into the FBI.
One kind of hopes for a happy ending at this point where Otto grows his beard back and resumes his life at the shop but given the circumstances the patriotic Otto realizes he has no choice if he wants to save Kaaren.
Veidt is great in both roles and the rest of the cast playing Nazi and American spies are quite believable. Nazi Agent might be far-fetched but has quite a bit of suspense.
The film has two things going for it right off the bat. It was directed by the notable noir director Jules Dassin and stars Conrad Veidt (most famous for his role as Major Strasser in Casablanca).
Veidt plays the kindly German expatriate stamp dealer Otto Becker who owns a little shop in New York City. When the newly appointed German consul, twin brother Baron Hugo von Detner (also played by Veidt) shows up and demands to use his shop as a cover for espionage activities, Otto wants no part of it.
But the Baron threatens to reveal to US authorities that Otto entered the country illegally which will get him deported. Otto reluctantly agrees to allow his Nazi brother to use the shop for nefarious purposes.
The suspense ratchets up when Otto, watched constantly by the Baron's henchmen including Miss Harper (Dorothy Tree)-his assistant now revealed to be a German agent-attempts to surreptitiously send a letter to the police by having his good friend Professor Jim Sterling (Ivan F. Simpson) deliver it but without looking at it until he leaves the shop.
As it turns out the Nazis figure out that Otto is attempting to alert the police and get a hold of the letter. The Baron pays his brother a visit and prefaces the startling news about the fate of Otto's friend with a sinister tale of a family back in the old country. It's a tale of how a son turned in his father to the Nazis as the father was discovered to be a dissident by the son.
The Baron makes it clear that the Professor had to be killed due to Otto's "traitorous" decision. In a very suspenseful scene, Otto, enraged by the news of his friend's murder, attacks his brother. The Baron pulls out a gun, but Otto grabs it and kills him.
This is where the entire neat but far-fetched premise kicks in. Otto decides to assume his brother's identity. He shaves off his beard and now looks exactly like the Baron. Harper walks up the stairs when she hears the shot but Otto orders her to go back down and wait.
Somehow there is a coffin-sized container there used for book deliveries presumably which Otto uses to place his brother's body in. You'll have to suspend your disbelief that Harper doesn't get the idea to examine the body, but I guess she's following the orders of the Baron who she believes shot his brother (and not the other way around).
Various posters here couldn't buy the idea that Otto gets away pretending to be his brother. And of course, in real life to pull something like that off would be almost impossible. But the way the film scenarists depict how Otto tricks all those who believe he's really the Baron almost seems plausible.
As it turns out, Otto is helped by the family manservant Fritz (Frank Reicher) who reveals that his allegiance was always to Otto and not to the cruel, sadistic brother (Fritz realizes it's not the Baron when he sees Otto has a scar on his back after getting out of the shower).
The rest of the plot revolves around Otto in his position as the Baron attempting to prevent the German spies and American collaborators from carrying out espionage activities. He phones the police on several occasions and eventually ends up sending them a list of Nazi spies as well as preventing a bomb exploding on a ship scheduled to pass through the Panama Canal.
There is also an excellent sub-plot involving the disillusioned spy Kaaren De Relle (Ann Ayars) who has been forced to work for the Nazis as she fears they will retaliate against her family in occupied France. Otto never reveals to Kaaren who he is but repairs the relationship that had devolved between her and the Baron.
Ironically after Otto is blackmailed by his aide at the embassy Kurt Richten (Martin Kosleck-a dead ringer for Josef Goebbals), he strikes a bargain with Richten in which he agrees to return to Germany (where he'll be executed) so that he won't turn Kaaren into the FBI.
One kind of hopes for a happy ending at this point where Otto grows his beard back and resumes his life at the shop but given the circumstances the patriotic Otto realizes he has no choice if he wants to save Kaaren.
Veidt is great in both roles and the rest of the cast playing Nazi and American spies are quite believable. Nazi Agent might be far-fetched but has quite a bit of suspense.