
The Spy in Black. 1939. Great Britain. Directed by Michael Powell. Screenplay by Emeric Pressburger. With Conrad Veidt, Valerie Hobson, Sebastian Shaw. 35mm courtesy BFI. 82 min.
“This ingenious Second World War spy story, set in the British naval base at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys, pits a brave U-boat captain against a glamorous British counter-intelligence agent. Powell described watching spellbound as Pressburger, who he was meeting for the first time, reworked the adaptation of the J. Storer Clouston novel, more or less on the spot. It gave Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson the roles of a lifetime” (BFI).