Nazi Agent

A spy film made during the Second World War. Otto Becker runs a small stamp shop in America. He has a quiet life, has taken citizenship and troubles nobody. One day his twin brother comes into the shop. Hugo is a German consul running a spy network in the country; he wants to use his brother's shop as a letter drop, and says that if he refuses he will expose his past. An argument follows and the night ends unexpectedly. In the morning Otto takes his brother's place. From there the film is built on an impersonation: the man goes to the consulate, talks to his brother's people and tries to pass everything he learns to the outside. The people facing him are people who knew his brother. Conrad Veidt plays both brothers. Veidt was an actor who had fled Germany and played German officers constantly in Hollywood; he gave most of what he earned to the war effort. Jules Dassin directed and it is his first feature; in later years he would be counted a master of film noir. It was made while the war was going on, so the narrative also carries a job of propaganda. Who it is for: anyone who likes the studio spy pictures of the 1940s and stories where one actor carries two roles. Who it is not for: anyone looking for realism; events develop quickly and easily, and the film does not work very hard to convince you.