Spy Noirs, US, from Dan Hodges
Introduction
The table below has 109 US spy noirs that I have identified. These films were released during the classic period of spy noir.
The information in the table about each film’s director and cinematographer complements the page on crime noirs, 1940-1944, Noir Style: Natives – Not Émigrés.
The table provides additional evidence that film noir didn’t arise in the United States because of émigrés from France or Central Europe. With very few exceptions, the directors and cinematographers responsible for the development of US film noir were were born in America; or, if they were born elsewhere, their film careers were substantially if not entirely in the US.
Here are two examples that show how I cite information about the directors and cinematographers.
Karl Freund (Czech Republic; US career: 1929)
Karl Freund was born in the Czech Republic (using today’s name for his birth country), and his career in the US began in 1929.
John H. Auer (Hungary; US career)
John H. Auer was born in Hungary and his career was entirely in the US.
When the literary source of a spy noir is a novel or a play, I only provide the title when it is different from the film’s title.
The information in the table about each film’s writer(s) shows how rarely a spy noir was adapted from an espionage novel (e.g., by Eric Ambler or Graham Greene). Instead, stage plays or novels not associated with espionage literature are more often the basis for spy noirs. Most frequently, spy noirs come from original screenplays or screenplays adapted from original, unpublished stories.
Therefore, contrary to the suggestions of James Naremore (Nothing More Than Night: Film Noir and Its Contexts) and Jon Tuska (Dark Cinema: American Film Noir in Cultural Perspective), spy noirs aren’t derived from spy novels. The table shows the independence of spy noirs from spy novels. For my critique of Naremore and Tuska, see the sections “Full Recognition of America’s Forgotten Ally” and “Postscript,” respectively, in the page Spy Noirs & the Origins of Film Noir.
Presentation
|
Date |
Title |
Director |
Cinematographer |
Writer(s) |
|
1936 |
The General Died at Dawn | Lewis Milestone (Soviet Bessarabia [Moldova]; US career) | Victor Milner (US) | Clifford Odets (screenplay); Charles G. Booth (story) |
|
1938 |
Blockade | William Dieterle (Germany; US career: 1930) | Rudolph Maté (Poland; US career: 1935) | John Howard Lawson (screenplay) |
|
1938 |
Bulldog Drummond in Africa | Louis King (US) | William C. Mellor (US) | Garnett Weston (screenplay); H. C. “Sapper” McNeile (novel, Challenge) |
|
1938 |
International Settlement | Eugene Forde (US) | Lucien Andriot (France; US career) | Lou Breslow & John Patrick (writers); Frank Fenton & Lynn Root (story) |
|
1938 |
Mr. Wong, Detective | William Nigh (US) | Harry Neumann (US) | Houston Branch (screenplay); Hugh Wiley (originator of character) |
|
1939 |
Confessions of a Nazi Spy | Anatole Litvak (Ukraine; US career: 1937) | Sol Polito (Italy; US career) | Milton Krims & John Wexley (screenplay) |
|
1939 |
Conspiracy | Lew Landers (US) | Frank Redman (US) | Jerome Chodorov (screenplay); John P. McCarthy & Faith Thomas (story) |
|
1939 |
Espionage Agent | Lloyd Bacon (US) | Charles Rosher (UK; US career) | Warren Duff, Michael Fessier & Frank Donoghue (screenplay); Robert Butler (story) |
|
1939 |
Hotel Imperial | Robert Florey (France; US career) | William C. Mellor (US) | Gilbert Gabriel & Robert Thoeren (screenplay); Lajos Biró (story) |
|
1939 |
Mr. Moto’s Last Warning | Norman Foster (US) | Virgil Miller (US) | Philip MacDonald & Norman Foster (screenplay) |
|
1939 |
Navy Secrets | Howard Bretherton (US) | Harry Neumann (US) | Harvey Gates (screenplay); Steve Fisher (story) |
|
1939 |
North of Shanghai | D. Ross Lederman (US) | Franz Planer (Czech Republic; US career: 1938) | Harold Buchman (screenplay & story) |
|
1939 |
Nurse Edith Cavell | Herbert Wilcox (UK) | F.A. Young (UK) & Joseph H. August (US) | Edith Cavell (novel); Michael Hogan (screenplay); Reginald Berkeley (story) |
|
1939 |
Sabotage | Harold Young (US) | Reggie Lanning (US) | Lionel Houser & Alice Altschuler (screenplay & story) |
|
1940 |
British Intelligence | Terry O. Morse (US) | Sid Hickox (US) | Lee Katz (screenplay); Anthony Paul Kelly (play) |
|
1940 |
Charlie Chan in Panama | Norman Foster (US) | Virgil Miller (US) | John Larkin & Lester Ziffren (original screenplay) |
|
1940 |
Enemy Agent | Lew Landers (US) | Jerome Ash (US) | Edmund L. Hartmann & Sam Robbins (screenplay); Sam Robbins (story) |
|
1940 |
Escape | Mervyn LeRoy (US) | Robert Planck (US) | Arch Oboler & Marguerite Roberts (screenplay); Grace Zaring Stone (novel) |
|
1940 |
Foreign Correspondent | Alfred Hitchcock (UK; US career: 1940) | Rudolph Maté (Poland; US career: 1935) | Charles Bennett & Joan Harrison (screenplay) |
|
1940 |
Four Sons | Archie Mayo (US) | Leon Shamroy (US) | John Howard Lawson (screenplay) |
|
1940 |
Murder Over New York | Harry Lachman (US) | Virgil Miller (US) | Lester Ziffren (original screenplay) |
|
1940 |
The Phantom Submarine | Charles Barton (US) | Barney McGill (US) | Joseph Krumgold (screenplay); Augustus Muir (story) |
|
1941 |
The Devil Pays Off | John H. Auer (Hungary; US career) | John Alton (Hungary; US career) | Lawrence Kimble & Malcolm Stuart Boylan (screenplay); George Worthing Yates & Julian Zimet (story) |
|
1941 |
Ellery Queen’s Penthouse Mystery | James P.Hogan (US) | James S. Brown Jr. (US) | Eric Taylor (screenplay); Manfred Lee & Frederic Dannay (story, as Ellery Queen) |
|
1941 |
Forced Landing | Gordon Wiles (US) | John Alton (Austria-Hungary [Hungary]; US career) | Edward Churchill & Maxwell Shane (screenplay) |
|
1941 |
International Lady | Tim Whelan (US) | Hal Mohr (US) | Howard Eastabrook (screenplay); Jack DeWitt & E. Lloyd Sheldon (story) |
|
1941 |
Man at Large | Eugene Forde (US) | Virgil Miller (US) | John Larkin (screenplay) |
|
1941 |
Mr. Dynamite | John Rawlins (US) | John W. Boyle (US) | Stanley Rubin (screenplay & story) |
|
1941 |
Mystery Ship | Lew Landers (US) | L. William O’Connell (US) | Houston Branch & David Silverstein (screenplay); Alex Gottlieb (story) |
|
1941 |
Paris Calling | Edwin L. Marin (US) | Milton Krasner (US) | Charles Kaufman & Benjamin Glazer (screenplay); Hans Székely (story) |
|
1941 |
The Saint’s Vacation | Leslie Fenton (UK; US career) | Bernard Knowles (UK) | Leslie Charteris & Jeffrey Dell (screenplay); Leslie Charteris (novel, Getaway) |
|
1941 |
So Ends Our Night | John Cromwell (US) | William H. Daniels (US) | Talbot Jennings (screenplay); Erich Maria Remarque (novel, Flotsam) |
|
1941 |
South of Panama | Jean Yarbrough (US) | Mack Stengler (US) | Ben Roberts & Sidney Sheldon (screenplay & story) |
|
1941 |
Sundown | Henry Hathaway (US) | Charles Lang (US) | Barré Lyndon (screenplay & story) |
|
1941 |
Underground | Vincent Sherman (US) | Sid Hickox (US) | Charles Grayson (screenplay); Edwin Justus Mayer & Oliver H.P. Garrett (story) |
|
1942 |
Across the Pacific | John Huston (US) | Arthur Edeson (US) | Richard Macaulay (screenplay); Robert Carson (serial “Aloha Means Goodbye”) |
|
1942 |
Berlin Correspondent | Eugene Forde (US) | Virgil Miller (US) | Steve Fisher & Jack Andrews (screenplay) |
|
1942 |
Bombay Clipper | John Rawlins (US) | Stanley Cortez (US) | Roy Chanslor & Stanley Rubin (screenplay) |
|
1942 |
Bombs Over Burma | Joseph H. Lewis (US) | Robert E. Cline (US) | Joseph H. Lewis, Milton Raison & George Wellington Pardy (screenplay & story) |
|
1942 |
Careful Soft Shoulder | Oliver H.P. Garrett (US) | Charles G. Clarke (US) | Oliver H.P.Garrett (screenplay) |
|
1942 |
China Girl | Henry Hathaway (US) | Lee Garmes (US) | Ben Hecht (screenplay); Darryl F. Zanuck (story) |
|
1942 |
Dawn Express | Albert Herman (US) | Albert Herman (US) | Arthur St. Claire (original story & screenplay) |
|
1942 |
Desperate Journey | Raoul Walsh (US) | Bert Glennon (US) | Arthur T. Horman (screenplay) |
|
1942 |
Destination Unknown | Ray Taylor. (US) | John W. Boyle (US) | Lynn Riggs & John Meehan Jr. (screenplay); Lawrence Hazard & John H. Kafka (story) |
|
1942 |
Enemy Agents Meet Ellery Queen | James P. Hogan (US) | James S. Brown (US) | Eric Taylor (screenplay); Manfred Lee & Frederic Dannay (story, as Ellery Queen) |
|
1942 |
Escape from Hong Kong | William Nigh (US) | Woody Bredell (US) | Roy Chanslor (screenplay & story) |
|
1942 |
Eyes in the Night | Fred Zinnemann (Austria; US career) | Charles Lawton (US) & Robert Planck (US) | Guy Trosper & Howard Emmett Rogers (screenplay); Baynard Kendrick (novel, The Odor of Violets) |
|
1942 |
The Great Impersonation | John Rawlins (US) | George Robinson (US) | Scott Darling (screenplay); E. Phillips Oppenheim (novel) |
|
1942 |
Half Way to Shanghai | John Rawlins (US) | John W. Boyle (US) | Stuart Palmer (screenplay) |
|
1942 |
Invisible Agent | Edwin L. Marin (US) | Lester White (US) | Curt Siodmak (screenplay); H.G. Wells (novel, The Invisible Man) |
|
1942 |
Joan of Paris | Robert Stevenson (UK; US career: 1938) | Russell Metty (US) | Charles Bennett & Ellis St. Joseph (screenplay); Jacques Théry & George Kessel (story) |
|
1942 |
Joe Smith, American | Richard Thorpe (US) | Charles Lawton Jr. (US) | Allen Rivkin (screenplay); Paul Gallico (Cosmopolitan magazine story) |
|
1942 |
Lady from Chungking | William Nigh (US) | Marcel Le Picard (France; US career) | Sam Robins (screenplay); Milton Raison (story) |
|
1942 |
Little Tokyo, U.S.A. | Otto Brower (US) | Joseph MacDonald (US) | George Bricker (screenplay) |
|
1942 |
Lucky Jordan | Frank Tuttle (US) | John F. Seitz (US) | Darrell Ware & Karl Tunberg (screenplay); Charles Leonard (story) |
|
1942 |
Madame Spy | Roy William Neill (Ireland; US career) | George Robinson (US) | Clarence Upson Young & Lynn Riggs (screenplay); Clarence Upson Young (story) |
|
1942 |
Nightmare | Tim Whelan (US) | George Barnes (US) | Dwight Taylor (screenplay); Philip MacDonald (story) |
|
1942 |
Prisoner of Japan | Arthur Ripley (US) & Edgar G. Ulmer [uncredited] (Czech Republic; US career) | Jack Greenhalgh (US) & Robert E. Cline (US) | Robert Chapin (screenplay); Edgar G. Ulmer & Arthur Ripley (story) |
|
1942 |
Remember Pearl Harbor | Joseph Santley (US) | Ernest Miller (US) | Malcolm Stuart Boylan & Isabel Dawn (screenplay); Jack Natteford (story, uncredited) |
|
1942 |
Reunion in France | Jules Dassin (US) | Robert Planck (US) | Jan Lustig, Marvin Borowsky & Marc Connelly (screenplay); Leslie Bush-Fekete (story) |
|
1942 |
Secret Agent of Japan | Irving Pichel (US) | Lucien N. Andriot (France; US career) | John Larkin (screenplay) |
|
1942 |
Secrets of the Underground | William Morgan (UK; US career) | Ernest Miller (US) | Robert Taskar & Daniel Mainwaring [as Geoffrey Homes] (screenplay); Daniel Mainwaring (original story) |
|
1942 |
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon | Roy William Neill (Ireland; US career) | Lester White (US) | Edward T. Lowe, Jr, Scott Darling & Edmund L. Hartmann (screenplay) |
|
1942 |
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror | John Rawlins (US) | Woody Bredell (US) | Lynn Riggs & John Bright (screenplay); Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (story, “His Last Bow“) |
|
1942 |
Spy Ship | B. Reeves Eason (US) | Harry Neumann (US) | Robert E. Kent (screenplay); George Dyer (story) |
|
1942 |
They Raid by Night | Spencer Gordon Bennet (US) | Gilbert Warrenton (US) | Jack Natteford (screenplay) |
|
1942 |
Underground Agent | Michael Gordon (US) | L. William O’Connell (US) | J. Robert Bren & Gladys Atwater (screenplay & story) |
|
1942 |
Unseen Enemy | John Rawlins (US) | Thomas W. Boyle (US) | Roy Chanslor & Stanley Rubin (screenplay); George Wallace Sayre (story) |
|
1943 |
Above Suspicion | Richard Thorpe (US) | Robert Planck (US) | Keith Winter, Melville Baker & Patricia Coleman (screenplay); Helen MacInnes (novel) |
|
1943 |
Appointment in Berlin | Alfred E. Green (US) | Franz Planer (Czech Republic; US career: 1938) | Michael Hogan & Horace McCoy (screenplay); B.P. Fineman (story) |
|
1943 |
Assignment in Brittany | Jack Conway (US) | Charles Rosher (UK; US career) | Anthony Veiller, William H. Wright & Howard Emmett Rogers (screenplay); Helen MacInnes (novel) |
|
1943 |
Behind the Rising Sun | Edward Dmytryk (Canada; US career) | Russell Metty (US) | Emmet Lavery (screenplay); James Young (novel) |
|
1943 |
Bomber’s Moon | Edward Ludwig (Russia; US career) & Harold D. Shuster (US) [together as “Charles Fuhr”] | Lucien Ballard (US) | Kenneth Gamet & Aubrey Wisburg (screenplay); Leonard Lee (story) |
|
1943 |
China | John Farrow (Australia; US career) | Leo Tover (US) | Frank Butler (screenplay); Archibald Forbes (play, The Fourth Brother) |
|
1943 |
The Cross of Lorraine | Tay Garnett (US) | Sidney Wagner (US) | Michael Kanin, Ring Lardner, Jr., Alexander Esway, & Robert Hardy Andrews (screenplay); Lilo Dammert & Robert Eisner (story); Hans Habe (novel, A Thousand Shall Fall) |
|
1943 |
Edge of Darkness | Lewis Milestone (Soviet Bessarabia [Moldova]; US career) | Sid Hickox (US) | Robert Rossen (screenplay); William Woods (novel) |
|
1943 |
First Comes Courage | Dorothy Arzner (US) | Joseph Walker (US) | Melvin Levy & Lewis Meltzer (screenplay); Elliott Arnold (novel, The Commandos) |
|
1943 |
Five Graves to Cairo | Billy Wilder (Poland; US career: 1934) | John F. Seitz (US) | Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder (screenplay); Lajos Bíró (play) |
| 1943 | The Gorilla Man | D. Ross Lederman (US) | James Van Trees (US) | Anthony Coldeway (screenplay) |
|
1943 |
Hitler’s Madman | Douglas Sirk (Germany; US career: 1943) | Jack Greenhaigh (US) & Eugen Schüfftan (Poland; US career: 1940; uncredited) | Peretz Hirschbein, Melvin Levy, Doris Malloy & Edgar G. Ulmer [uncredited] (screenplay); Albrecht Joseph & Emil Ludwig (story) |
|
1943 |
Hostages | Frank Tuttle (US) | Victor Milner (US) | Frank Butler & Lester Cole (screenplay); Stefan Heym (novel) |
|
1943 |
I Escaped from the Gestapo [No Escape] | Harold Young (US) | Ira Morgan (US) | Henry Blankfort & Wallace Sullivan (screenplay); Henry Blankfort (story) |
|
1943 |
The Moon Is Down | Irving Pichel (US) | Arthur C.Miller (US) | Nunnally Johnson (screenplay); John Steinbeck (novel) |
|
1943 |
Night Plane from Chungking | Ralph Murphy (US) | Theodor Sparkuhl (Germany; US career: 1928) | Lestor Cole, Earl Fenton & Theodore Reeves (screenplay); Harry Hervey (story) |
|
1943 |
Paris After Dark | Léonide Moguy (Soviet Ukraine; US career 1940-1946; also France and Italy) | Lucien N. Andriot (France; US career) | Harold Buchman (screenplay); George Kessel (story) |
|
1943 |
Submarine Alert | Edward Ludwig [as Charles Fuhr] (Russia; US career) | Fred Jackman Jr. (US) | Maxwell Shane (screenplay) |
|
1943 |
This Land Is Mine | Jean Renoir (France) | Frank Redman (US) | Dudley Nichols (screenplay) |
|
1943 |
Tonight We Raid Calais | John Brahm (Germany; US career: 1937) | Lucien Ballard (US) | Waldo Salt (screenplay); L. Willinger & Rohama Lee (story) |
|
1943 |
Two Tickets to London | Edwin L. Marin (US) | Milton Krasner (US) | Tom Reed (screenplay); Roy William Neill (story) |
|
1943 |
Women in Bondage | Steve Sekely (Hungary; US career: 1939) | Mack Stengler (US) | Houston Branch (screenplay); Frank Wisbar (story) |
|
1944 |
The Hour Before the Dawn | Frank Tuttle (US) | John F. Seitz (US) | Michael Hogan (screenplay); W. Somerset Maugham (novel) |
|
1944 |
Ladies of Washington | Louis King (US) | Charles G. Clarke (US) | Wanda Tuchock (screenplay); Snag Warris (contributor to dialogue; uncredited) |
|
1944 |
Secret Command | Eddie Sutherland (UK; US career) | Franz Planer (Czech Republic; US career: 1937) | Roy Chanslor (screenplay); John Hawkins & Ward Hawkins (story, “The Saboteurs”) |
|
1944 |
Secrets of Scotland Yard | George Blair (UK; US career) | William Bradford (US) | Denison Clift (screenplay) |
|
1944 |
The Seventh Cross | Fred Zinnemann (Austria; US career) | Karl Freund (Czech Republic; US career: 1929) | Helen Deutsch (screenplay); Anna Seghers (novel) |
|
1944 |
Storm Over Lisbon | George Sherman (US) | John Alton (Hungary; US career) | Doris Gilbert (screenplay); Elizabeth Meehan (story) |
|
1944 |
Tampico | Lothar Mendes (Germany; US career: 1926) | Charles G. Clarke (US) | Kenneth Gamet, Richard Macaulay & Fred Niblo Jr. (screenplay); Ladislos Fodor (story) |
|
1944 |
Two-Man Submarine | Lew Landers (US) | James Van Trees (US) | Griffin Jay & Leslie T. White (screenplay); Robert Creighton Williams (story) |
|
1944 |
Uncertain Glory | Raoul Walsh (US) | Sidney Hickox (US) | László Vadnay & Max Brand (screenplay); Joe May & László Vadnay (story) |
|
1944 |
Waterfront | Steve Sekely (Hungary; US career: 1939) | Robert E. Cline (US) | Martin Mooney & Irwin Franklyn (screenplay) |
|
1945 |
Blood on the Sun | Frank Lloyd (UK; US career) | Theodor Sparkuhl (Germany; US career: 1928) | Lester Cole (screenplay); Garret Fort (story) |
|
1945 |
Dangerous Partners | Edward L. Cahn (US) | Karl Freund (Czech Republic; US career: 1929) | Marion Parsonnet (screenplay); Eleanor Perry (story, “Paper Chase”) |
|
1945 |
Escape in the Desert | Edward A. Blatt (Poland; US career) | Robert Burks (US) | Marvin Borowsky, Thomas Job (screenplay); Robert E. Sherwood (play, The Petrified Forest) |
|
1945 |
Hotel Berlin | Peter Godfrey (UK; US career) | Carl E. Guthrie (US) | Jo Pagano & Alvah Bessie (screenplay); Vicki Baum (novel) |
|
1945 |
The Man from Morocco | Mutz Greenbaum [as Max Green] (Germany; UK, US career: 1931) | Basil Emmott (UK) & Geoffrey Faithful (UK) | Edward Dryhurst (screenplay); Rudolph Cartier (story) |
|
1945 |
Paris Underground [Madame Pimpernel] | Gregory Ratoff (Russia; US career) | Lee Garmes (US) & Edward Cronjager [uncredited] (US) | Boris Ingster & Gertrude Purcell (screenplay); Etta Shiber (story) |
|
1945 |
Prison Ship | Arthur Dreifuss (Germany; US career) | Philip Tannura (US) | Josef Mischel & Ben Markson (screenplay); Josef Mischel (story) |
|
1945 |
The Shanghai Cobra | Phil Karlson (US) | Vincent J. Farrar (US) | George Callahan & George Wallace Sayre (screenwriters); George Callahan (story) |
|
1946 |
Deadline for Murder | James Tinling (US) | Benjamin H. Kline (US) | Irving Cummings Jr. (screenplay & story) |
|
1946 |
Step by Step | Phil Rosen (Poland; US career) | Frank Redman (US) | Stuart Palmer (screenplay); George Callahan (story) |
Addendum
I have also identified the following four WWII-related spy noirs that were released after my cutoff date of 1946.
|
1947 |
13 Rue Madeleine | James Tinling (US) | Benjamin H. Kline (US) | John Monks Jr. & Sy Bartlett (original screenplay) |
|
1948 |
Close-Up | Jack Donohue (US) | William Miller (US) | John Bright & Max Wilk (screenplay); Jack Donohue (additional dialogue); Martin Rackin (adaptation); James Poe (story) |
|
1948 |
The Iron Curtain | William A. Wellman (US) | Charles G. Clarke (US) | Milton Krims (screenplay); Igor Kouzenko (personal story) |
|
1948 |
Rogues’ Regiment | Robert Florey (France; US career) | Maury Gertsman (US) | Robert Buckner (screenplay); Robert Florey (story) |
