Secret Agent (1936)
Alfred Hitchcock’s espionage thriller film, Secret Agent (1936), is based on the play by Campbell Dixon. During World War I on 10 May 1916, British Captain and novelist Edgar Brodie returns from leave to discover his own obituary in the newspaper. He is then approached by an unknown man, ‘R’, who offers him a secret mission: to eliminate a German agent heading to Arabia with plans to cause chaos in the Middle East. Brodie agrees and is given a new identity as Richard Ashenden, along with a fake death. He is also partnered with an assassin known as ‘the Hairless Mexican’ or ‘the General’, despite not being bald, Mexican or a general himself. Brodie’s predecessor believed that the enemy agent could be found at the Hotel Excelsior in neutral Switzerland.
Upon arriving there, ‘Ashenden’ is pleasantly surprised to find that ‘R’ has also arranged for him to have an attractive wife named Elsa Carrington. As he enters their suite, he comes face to face with her new admirer, Robert Marvin. Despite her husband’s arrival, Robert continues to flirt with Elsa. When they are left alone, Ashenden is disappointed to learn that Elsa accepted the assignment purely for the thrill. As they head out to meet a double agent, the church organist, they discover him dead. However, in his hand is a button that seems to have been torn off in a struggle with his killer. Later at the casino with Elsa, the button accidentally falls onto a gambling table and is mistaken for one of Ashenden’s buttons by an experienced mountaineer named Caypor.
Date of download: 2015-11-11T17:22:34+00:00
Cast:  Madeleine CarrollElsa Carrington  Peter LorreThe General  John GielgudRichard Ashenden / Edgar Brodie  Robert YoungRobert Marvin  Percy MarmontCaypor |
Alfred Hitchcock’s espionage thriller film, Secret Agent (1936), is based on the play by Campbell Dixon. During World War I on 10 May 1916, British Captain and novelist Edgar Brodie returns from leave to discover his own obituary in the newspaper. He is then approached by an unknown man, ‘R’, who offers him a secret mission: to eliminate a German agent heading to Arabia with plans to cause chaos in the Middle East. Brodie agrees and is given a new identity as Richard Ashenden, along with a fake death. He is also partnered with an assassin known as ‘the Hairless Mexican’ or ‘the General’, despite not being bald, Mexican or a general himself. Brodie’s predecessor believed that the enemy agent could be found at the Hotel Excelsior in neutral Switzerland.
Upon arriving there, ‘Ashenden’ is pleasantly surprised to find that ‘R’ has also arranged for him to have an attractive wife named Elsa Carrington. As he enters their suite, he comes face to face with her new admirer, Robert Marvin. Despite her husband’s arrival, Robert continues to flirt with Elsa. When they are left alone, Ashenden is disappointed to learn that Elsa accepted the assignment purely for the thrill. As they head out to meet a double agent, the church organist, they discover him dead. However, in his hand is a button that seems to have been torn off in a struggle with his killer. Later at the casino with Elsa, the button accidentally falls onto a gambling table and is mistaken for one of Ashenden’s buttons by an experienced mountaineer named Caypor.
