Foreign Agent (1942)

A Number of Things Draw Attention to this Billy Beaudine Directed Ultra-Cheapie from Monogram. Every Scene Looks Just as Cheap as it is. The Fight Scenes have the Most Anemic Sound Effects Ever Heard in a Professional Movie. The Punches are Punctuated by a Sort of Clicky, Squishy Sound. The Battle on the Ocean is So Confusing with its Use of Repetitive Shots and Still Photos Foreshadowing Ed Wood by a Number of Years.The Sets are Incredibly Bare and Frumpy Even by Monogram Standards. They Look Thrown Together from what was Lying Around and are Dusty and Dirty Given the Appearance that a Dust Rag or Broom wasn't Available.The Cast, Except for the Glimmering Gale Storm Who Just Radiates, Look and Are, Miscast, Bored, Drunk, and Without Makeup Most of the Time. Everything in the Movie Looks Old, and Worn Out Including the Plot that is Ironically Only a Year or So After Pearl Harbor.There are Subversive Peace Organizations, Good Russian Comrades, Scarface Nazis, and a Jap Played by an Obvious White Actor with a Painted On Mustache. The Crowning Achievement is Miss Storm's Bouncy Performance Singing "Taps for the Japs". Now that's a Precognitive Pop Tune.

I vaguely remember Gale Storm from "My Little Margie," or maybe it was "Oh Susanna," though possibly one or both of these were in syndication by the time I saw it.Here she plays Mitzi Mayo, a Hollywood starlet whose father had plans for a searchlight filter which would be helpful to the Allies. She and her friend Jimmy (John Shelton) attempt to keep both the Japanese and the Germans from getting the blueprints after her father is killed.There is no point going into how dumb this film is, with its bad print, the Germans and Japanese joining forces, and a Hollywood starlet foiling their evil plot.Gale Storm sings a couple of songs. She made a ton of movies of this ilk before turning to television, with two successful series. "My Little Margie" had silent movie star Charles Farrell in it. Both Farrell and Storm lived nice long lives - maybe it was something in the water.Ordinary B, probably made in two days for less than $100.

FOREIGN AGENT - 1942This war time flag-waver was put out by bottom feeder studio, MONOGRAM. If their films look like they were filmed in a week, it was because they were! These low budget efforts were all for the cheaper movie house's double and triple bills.In this one, we have Nazi agents doing what they can to sabotage the US war effort. The main plot revolves around the blueprints of a special searchlight. The Nazi types kill the inventor but fail to find the papers. That is because the inventor's daughter, Gale Storm, has them hidden.Storm, is an actress, and singer who shares an apartment with stunt-woman, Patsy Moran. She is also stepping out with fellow actor and soon to be undercover FBI man, John Shelton. In for comic relief is truck driver Lyle Latell, who is also Moran's squeeze. (The plot holes in this one Latell could drive his truck through) Hans Schumm plays the head of the Nazi spy ring with help from Lithuanian-born Ivan Lebedeff doing a terrible job of pretending to be a Japanese spy. There are also several American criminal types helping the Nazis for cash.The story stumbles along forever with sub plots that go nowhere, and a couple poorly staged fistfights. By the time the end rolls around the viewer is ready to commit hari-kari.If it was not for Moran and Latell, the film would be a total waste of 64 minutes. Though, the 20 year old Miss Storm shows a few flashes of talent. Storm would move up the film ranks to better studios and bigger budget projects. She would really hit it big in the mid 50's with several successful television series. These were, MY LITTLE MARGIE (1952-55) and THE GALE STORM SHOW (1956-60) Film noir fans will recall her from roles in ABANDONED, THE UNDERWORLD STORY and BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN.The director was William "One Shot" Beaudine. There was no such thing as a re-take on a Beaudine production.

With William "One Shot" Beaudine directing, Monogram reacted to the US entry into WWII with its typical style........cheap and cheaper. Starring John Shelton (whoever that was) and Gale Storm (better known as "My Little Margie" from early television), the story, what there is of it, concerns a group of spies ("group" in a Monogram film means two or three individuals) ineptly working at espionage. There are basically two sets, an apartment and the spies' hideout and the acting is what you expect from Monogram Studios.The story is unimportant here......needless to say the spies get caught in the end before any damage is done. But there are a couple of things worth noticing. In the beginning of the film there is a shot of the Hollywood Blvd. and Gower street sign. "Gower Gultch" as it was known was the home of the poverty row studios, Monogram, PRC, etc. It appears Beaudine ran outside the building to take a shot of the street sign as a lead in to the film. Sure beats location work.Secondly, in an earlier part of the film the conversations of the spies are recorded by the good guys. In order to flesh out the film's running time, the recording is played later in the story and we have the chance to hear a total repeat of the earlier scene of the aforementioned conversation. It is this kind of thing that is endearing about the poverty row studios. They found a way to make films on a shoestring using little tricks like that.This film isn't much but it is not as bad as some of Monogram's offerings. So if you are a fan of Monogram, Mascot, PRC or Tiffany studios, give it a watch. You just have to love these little footnotes to Hollywood history.