Secret Agent Review
Deception is the order of the day in this solid espionage thriller from director Alfred Hitchcock. Based on Somerset Maugham's adventure stories and a play by Campbell Nixon, Secret Agent is deceptive in every way: characters hide their true intentions, beautiful locations mask the sinister deeds that happen in them, even the film's title is tricky since the story is about several agents rather than just one. All of this duplicity helps develop the suspense normally associated with Hitchcock's films, but Secret Agent falls a bit short of becoming one of the director's classics. The picture's primary shortcomings lie with the plot: John Gielgud is a spy whose assignment is to find and kill an enemy spy in Switzerland. The fact that the hero of the film is told to kill rather than save someone or steal something is a dark, edgy move, but it weakens the viewer's connection to Gielgud's character. In one of the most chilling sequences, Gielgud and Peter Lorre carry out the assassination only to discover that they've killed an innocent man. To a lesser degree, the cast is also a weakness. While the performances are decent, Gielgud, Madeleine Carroll, and Robert Young seem out of place in a Hitchcock film. Lorre is the bright, shining star, in the role of a Mexican general whose twisted black humor matches his murderous tactics. Lorre's character is neither a Mexican nor a general, but he steals the show. The most exciting sequence is the climax, in which the real spy is revealed amidst gunplay and a terrific train crash. Hitchcock had two slightly different endings prepared for the film, but neither was used. The director appears as a mourner during the fake funeral that opens the film. Patrick Legare, Rovi
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