{ "id": "eprdht6fwy", "slug": "the-spy-in-black", "title": "The Spy in Black", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery", "label": "Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.1920s-1940s-films", "label": "1920s–1940s films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.1920s-1940s-films" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Western Europe · 1800 to 1945: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800", "label": "Western Europe · 1800 to 1945", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Spy in Black (US title U-Boat 29) is a 1939 British WWI spy thriller directed by Michael Powell, starring Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson, and the first Powell–Pressburger collaboration, set in the Orkney Islands.", "snippet": "The Spy in Black (US title U-Boat 29) is a 1939 British WWI spy thriller directed by Michael Powell, starring Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson, and the first Powell–Pressburger collaboration, set in the Orkney Islands.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.1920s-1940s-films", "markdown": "# The Spy in Black\n\n**The Spy in Black** is a 1939 British war thriller directed by [Michael Powell](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-powell), in which a German U-boat captain lands in the Orkney Islands during World War I to help sink the British fleet at [Scapa Flow](https://www.edgepedia.org/scapa-flow). It is best remembered as the first collaboration between Powell and the Hungarian-born screenwriter Emeric Pressburger, a partnership that became one of the most successful in British cinema.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/6049) • [2](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/cinema%20unbound%3Cbr%3Ethe%20creative%20worlds%20of%20powell%20%2B%20pressburger/2023/10/21/spy-in-black/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / writers | Directed by Michael Powell; screenplay by Emeric Pressburger, from the 1917 novel by J. Storer Clouston, with a scenario by Roland Pertwee[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/354732/the-spy-in-black) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/6049) |\n| Release | UK release in August 1939; US release in October 1939 under the title *U-Boat 29*[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/354732/the-spy-in-black) |\n| Principal cast | Conrad Veidt (Captain Hardt), Valerie Hobson (the schoolmistress), Sebastian Shaw (Lieutenant Ashington), Marius Goring (Schuster), June Duprez (Anne Burnett)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/6049) |\n| Production | Produced by Irving Asher for Harefield Productions and London Film Productions; distributed by Columbia Pictures Corp.; cinematography by Bernard Browne; music by Miklós Rózsa[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/6049) • [4](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/42009.html) |\n| Setting | Orkney Islands, 1917, centered on the German attempt to attack the British fleet at Scapa Flow[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/354732/the-spy-in-black) |\n| Reception | A hit in Britain and the US; appeared on the National Board of Review's \"ten best\" list of 1939[2](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/cinema%20unbound%3Cbr%3Ethe%20creative%20worlds%20of%20powell%20%2B%20pressburger/2023/10/21/spy-in-black/) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/6049) |\n| Legacy | First Powell–Pressburger film; the two re-teamed with Veidt and Hobson in *Contraband* (1939) and formed The Archers in 1943[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/6049) • [5](https://www.tcm.com/articles/021941/powell-and-pressburger) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot and setting\n\nThe story is set in 1917, during World War I. Captain Ernst Hardt ([Conrad Veidt](https://www.edgepedia.org/conrad-veidt)), a German U-boat commander, arrives in the Orkney town of Longhope on the island of Hoy after a mission, and attempts to gather intelligence that would let Germany sink the British naval fleet stationed at Scapa Flow, the vast natural harbor that served as Britain's main naval base.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/354732/the-spy-in-black) • [6](https://www.classicfilmnoir.com/2025/03/the-spy-in-black-1939.html) He makes contact with a female agent ([Valerie Hobson](https://www.edgepedia.org/valerie-hobson)) posing as the local schoolteacher, and with Commander Ashington ([Sebastian Shaw](https://www.edgepedia.org/sebastian-shaw-actor)), a disaffected British naval officer willing to betray the fleet.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/354732/the-spy-in-black) • [7](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/91168) The film follows a game of chase on land and sea as the deception unravels.[8](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-the-spy-in-black-1939-online)\n\n## Production and the Powell–Pressburger partnership\n\nFor his first project under a contract with [Alexander Korda](https://www.edgepedia.org/alexander-korda)'s London Films, Powell was introduced to the young Hungarian screenwriter Emeric Pressburger, who had worked his way up in the script department of Germany's UFA studio before leaving for Paris after Hitler came to power and arriving in London in 1935.[2](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/cinema%20unbound%3Cbr%3Ethe%20creative%20worlds%20of%20powell%20%2B%20pressburger/2023/10/21/spy-in-black/) • [9](https://powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/HomeVision/P_Pbio.html) Working from Roland Pertwee's adaptation of J. Storer Clouston's 1917 novel, the two reshaped what Powell called \"a creaky old story\" of World War I intrigue as a vehicle for the stars Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson.[9](https://powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/HomeVision/P_Pbio.html)\n\nThe film was completed in 1938 but held back from release by Korda until August 1939, just before war broke out between Britain and Germany.[9](https://powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/HomeVision/P_Pbio.html) It was produced by Irving Asher, head of Columbia's British production, as one of Columbia's \"quota acquisitions,\" and it marked the first collaboration of Powell and Pressburger.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/6049) Filming took place in the Orkneys, Powell's second visit to the Scottish islands after his breakthrough feature *The Edge of the World* (1937).[2](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/cinema%20unbound%3Cbr%3Ethe%20creative%20worlds%20of%20powell%20%2B%20pressburger/2023/10/21/spy-in-black/)\n\nThe pairing proved propitious. *The Spy in Black* was a hit in Britain and in the United States, and the partnership it began led the two men to form their own production company, The Archers Film Productions, in 1943, with joint titles as writer, producer, and director.[2](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/cinema%20unbound%3Cbr%3Ethe%20creative%20worlds%20of%20powell%20%2B%20pressburger/2023/10/21/spy-in-black/) • [5](https://www.tcm.com/articles/021941/powell-and-pressburger) Powell and Pressburger re-teamed with Veidt and Hobson almost immediately in *[Contraband](https://www.edgepedia.org/contraband-1940-film)* (1939), released in the United States in 1940 as *Blackout*.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/6049)\n\n## Release and reception\n\nThe film opened in the UK in August 1939, three weeks before the German invasion of Poland, and reached American screens in October 1939 under the title *U-Boat 29*.[8](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-the-spy-in-black-1939-online) • [3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/354732/the-spy-in-black) The American title capitalized on the real German submarine U-Boat 29, which had recently made headlines by sinking a British capital ship off the coast of England.[9](https://powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/HomeVision/P_Pbio.html) The film appeared on the [National Board of Review](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-board-of-review)'s \"ten best\" list of 1939.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/6049)\n\nCritics praised the direction and the acting. The *New York Times* reviewer Frank S. Nugent called it \"the most exciting spy melodrama since the advent of the Second World War,\" and *Variety* found Veidt admirably suited to his strong role.[10](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_spy_in_black) On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 100% Tomatometer rating from 13 critics and a 69% audience score from more than 250 ratings.[10](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_spy_in_black)\n\n## A sympathetic German on the eve of war\n\nReleased on the eve of World War II, the film treats its German protagonist with a humanity that later wartime propaganda did not. The BFI's program notes contrast it with Powell and Pressburger's *49th Parallel* (1941), made as an unambiguous propaganda film: although both feature a U-boat commander, Captain Hardt is shown with an easy friendship with his colleague Schuster (Marius Goring) and is \"altogether a more honourable German\" than his counterpart Lieutenant Hirth.[2](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/cinema%20unbound%3Cbr%3Ethe%20creative%20worlds%20of%20powell%20%2B%20pressburger/2023/10/21/spy-in-black/) The French Cinémathèque describes the film as adopting the enemy's point of view and multiplying plot twists far from any simple moralism.[4](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/42009.html)\n\nThis dimension carried extra weight because of the cast. Veidt, the star of the expressionist classic *The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari* (1919), had fled Nazi Germany for Britain, as had Pressburger, and both men's presence gave the film what the BFI calls an \"undeniable extra frisson.\"[2](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/cinema%20unbound%3Cbr%3Ethe%20creative%20worlds%20of%20powell%20%2B%20pressburger/2023/10/21/spy-in-black/) • [8](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-the-spy-in-black-1939-online) Reviewers have also noted the film's atmosphere: Time Out's Derek Adams wrote that darkness, foreboding, and regret, rather than propaganda, dominate this \"extraordinarily atmospheric\" spy story made on the eve of World War II.[10](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_spy_in_black)\n\nThe film's timing gave it an unintended resonance. Scapa Flow was still Britain's main naval base in 1939, and the real sinking of the battleship HMS Royal Oak by Günther Prien's U-boat in October 1939, in which a German submarine captain had studied the harbor's entrances, made the film's premise, in one scholarly account's words, seem \"weirdly prophetic.\"[6](https://www.classicfilmnoir.com/2025/03/the-spy-in-black-1939.html) • [11](https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10100948/1/The_representation_of_reality_.pdf)\n\n## Versions and running time\n\nSources give slightly different running times: the [American Film Institute](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-film-institute) catalog lists 77 minutes for the US release, the BFI Player lists 1 hour 19 minutes, and the Cinémathèque française lists 82 minutes.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/6049) • [8](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-the-spy-in-black-1939-online) • [4](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/42009.html) The film carries a British U certificate (contains mild threat) and is available on home video and streaming platforms.[8](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-the-spy-in-black-1939-online)\n\n## References\n\n1. [U-Boat 29 (1939), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/6049)\n2. [The Spy in Black, BFI Southbank Programme Notes, Cinema Unbound: The Creative Worlds of Powell + Pressburger](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/cinema%20unbound%3Cbr%3Ethe%20creative%20worlds%20of%20powell%20%2B%20pressburger/2023/10/21/spy-in-black/)\n3. [The Spy in Black, TCM article by James Steffen (2010)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/354732/the-spy-in-black)\n4. [L'Espion noir (Michael Powell, 1939), La Cinémathèque française](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/42009.html)\n5. [Powell and Pressburger, TCM article](https://www.tcm.com/articles/021941/powell-and-pressburger)\n6. [The Spy in Black (1939), Classic Film Noir review](https://www.classicfilmnoir.com/2025/03/the-spy-in-black-1939.html)\n7. [Watch The Spy In Black, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/91168)\n8. [Watch The Spy in Black online, BFI Player](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-the-spy-in-black-1939-online)\n9. [Voyager: Powell and Pressburger Biography, powell-pressburger.org](https://powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/HomeVision/P_Pbio.html)\n10. [The Spy in Black, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_spy_in_black)\n11. [The representation of reality, UCL Discovery (dissertation)](https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10100948/1/The_representation_of_reality_.pdf)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 1920s–1940s films*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-spy-in-black", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-spy-in-black.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Spy in Black\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-spy-in-black. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Spy in Black](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-spy-in-black)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-spy-in-black](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-spy-in-black). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Spy in Black\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-spy-in-black. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Spy in Black is a 1939 British WWI spy thriller directed by Michael Powell, starring Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson, and the first Powell–Pressburger collaboration, set in the Orkney Islands." }