Monday, December 27, 2021

THREE FACES EAST (Roy Del Ruth, 1930)

 

Z-1 sends her own message via morse code, 4 leaden dots and final dash from her own automatic transmitter. This tale of double-agents and double-cross (of the iron kind) reveals its encoded message from the first act by its very point-of-view, as the beautiful Frances Hawtree (code-name Z-1) is portrayed by top-billed Constance Bennett: one would have to believe that an American film about The Great War would choose to sympathize with Axis powers and celebrate the murder of our young men. 

The film is focused upon a duality between Frances and the stoic butler Valdar whose mysterious demeanor and scarred visage is excellently portrayed by the legendary Erich von Stroheim. The subtle wordplay and gestures between the two as they leverage themselves from servility into dominance is enjoyable if not a bit stale with stage-bound dialogue and wordy exposition. Frances is an American nurse captured by the Germans and is revealed to be an Axis spy while Valdar, earning his Medal of Bravery is a Belgian pretending to be loyal to a British General. Frances is sent to this British officer to infiltrate his household and secure orders concerning American troop transports across the Atlantic so they can be devoured by the Wolf-packs before ever landing on English soil. Her cover story is that she fell in love with the General’s son in a German POW camp before he died, and she must deliver his personal items as his last wish. Quickly endeared to the family, she now seeks out her contact, a man named Schiller, who will help deliver her information to the enigmatic Blecher. Her identifying password is “three faces East”. 

The story is full of false leads, shadowy subterfuge, stolen documents and chess-like strategy as the British officers begin to suspect collaboration between the ingenue and the butler. She passes her Turing Test as fully human (not fool-y human) while Valdar is the unemotional Terminator, a computer in a man’s body that is short circuited by his own horny angst. Turns out, Z-1 is a British agent masquerading as a German spy who was embedded in the household to ID Blecher. Valder as the contact Schiller is actually the top-dog Blecher whose bark is silenced permanently. Seems an awfully contrived way to discover what was easily apparent, though somehow British Intelligence was convinced he was their own double-agent. Finally, betrayed and blinded by his lust for Frances he makes a fatal error of judgment. Fortunately for the Allies, Z-1 remains loyal to her country and not her heart. 

Final Grade: C