Another Golden Nugget in the cave that is Cinema.
Like any other type of Fantastical film I'd rather tell you to go watch it than to read anything I have to say (or anyone else has to say on it for that matter). If you like Espionage Thrillers with a slight dashing of romance, than this movie will be right up your alley.
Marlene Dietrich plays a woman of the street ( less flattering terms a prostitute).
Okay in truth it doesn't actually state that she's a prostitute. But the general body movements, along with how the camera 'shows' her off really heavily implies it.
She's a simple woman living in a low-income household somewhere within the Lesser suburbs. She's become privy to death.
Mainly in the form of average citizens killing themselves. For the stresses of War have leaned very hard on Vienna and for that matter the entirety of the Habsburg Empire.
She's approached by a strange elderly man asking for her company. She brings him into her humble aboard.
Where she's given the proposition becoming a low-grade spy on behalf of the Russian Empire. She claims to take the man up on he's offer and tells him that she wishes to celebrate by acquiring a bottle of wine.
While she heads out to get a bottle she'll informs the local authorities, who come to arrest the man.
Later on she discovers that the man who have been arrested was in fact the head of the Secret Service of the Imperial Court. He's somewhat impressed by her actions and wants to hire her as a spy for the Österreich.
And it's from here that she'll start a long journey going undercover learning of Nefarious plots and discovering just how many spies are lurking within the higher echelons of the Austrian Imperial Army.
Especially in relations to one man played by Victor McLaglen.
A Character who's so interesting and Whimsy that he might just be able to turn the tides of Allegiance with he's sheer force of charm.
The chemistry between our two leads is just outstanding. They have this fantastic game of cat-and-mouse with one another as they both try to crack the other one down and expose their operations. But at the same time there's this really fun caddy and manipulative flirtation going on as well. Can you start to realise that the two might be trying to get at each others skin on a more personal level.. It leads for some really interesting diatribes between the two. And leaves you with a really good sense of tension that you try to debate who's going to do what next.
I love just about every moment of it. The only part of the movie I didn't care for with the ending. And let me make this very clear. I personally did not like the ending. That does not mean that the film's ending is bad.
It was exactly what it needed to be for a strange film of this type.
One of the things that elevates this movie so much Beyond its contemporaries at the time is the set design. Every set is well made and beautiful from The Rundown small apartment houses farmsteads of war-torn Europe to the grandiose style palaces and external shots of enter Vienna as it's raining. Every set was looked over with a fine-tooth comb and each one can tell a story in its own right. This movie had so much effort put into it and it shows.
Now the acting is... Strange. Everybody talks with this sort of monotone expression to them. Part of that is down to the frank and straightforward nature of both the time and the profession. But another part might be down to the fact that ''Taki films'' at this point we're incredibly new. So some actors probably didn't know how to respond to them yet.
Still I like the way everybody sounds in this film it's purposely mundane. They all have this kind of sour note to how they speak and their actions are very direct and unfanciful.
Which is made all the more better with the juxtaposition of their language with the overly romantic and decorative architecture of the Imperial Empire.
It's just so much fun to watch a spy film form the eyes of the seductive woman. Too often Espionage films always show the Suave looking man who sometimes comes up against the manipulative woman.
And I've always wondered what their side of the story would look like.
Oftentimes I think it would be far more interesting than the guy.
After all what are most male spies in films are just a big jerks who go around causing more trouble than they're worth.
Also this movie has some honest-to-god consequences in it. If you screw up at your job, you'll have to take the fall.
I have yet to see James Bond or any other super spy deal with the outcome of their own incompetence.
Costume design in this film is Fantastical too.
Not only do you get the benefit of having old style Austrian Imperial uniforms but you get that uncanny look of modern military practicality of the standard Army.
So you have a bunch of guys walking around with Pickelhaube who act as the police. But we also the general infantry wearing something more akin to a Stahlhelm helmet which would go on to be the influential ware of the Germans of the second World War.
It truly is the best time for fashion (which is about the only thing you could say was good from the Great War)
Conclusion: I truly mesmerizing film. Good acting, great environments, fun story, solid pacing and suspenseful to boot.
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