The Two-Headed Spy (1959)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Colonel Alex Scotland did serve with the German Army between 1903 and 1907.However during the Second World War he was in charge of the London interrogation centre of Prisoners of war.He wrote about his experiences in The London Cage.So entertaining as this film is it is a fiction.In any event how valuable would such a source be when the Allies had Ultra and were reading the messages from Hitler's headquarters.

I didn't start out thinking I was going to like The Two-Headed Spy. I thought it was going to be another WW2 spy movie that would be too wordy and more boring than exciting. By the time the first half hour had passed, I was positively riveted! Jack Hawkins is a German general, and is very well-respected among his fellow Nazis. Then, he's seen entering an antiques shop and speaking to Donald Pleasance about a rare clock he's looking to buy. The conversation about a clock is merely a ruse until they know they're alone and unobserved—Jack Hawkins is really an undercover British agent! Previously, I'd only seen Jack Hawkins in a supporting role in Ben-Hur, but he carries off the leading role very well, commanding the screen and expressing every emotion with confidence. The Two-Headed Spy is a very riveting spy movie, with countless tension-filled scenes in which someone could—or does—get caught, discovered, and punished for being a spy. It really is an interesting, overlooked film from the 50s. Gia Scala, another of Jack's contacts, is beautiful and strong, rather like a prettier, more likable Ingrid Bergman. Had this film starred more well-known actors, it would probably be a classic. As it is, it's highly entertaining and fun—rent it for a thrilling evening with your sweetie-pie. The ladies won't be bored with this one, I guarantee it. And, if you're looking closely enough, you can see Michael Caine in one of his earliest movies. He's only on the screen for a couple of minutes, but when you hear the Nazi speaking with a Cockney accent, you can tell it's him!

First of all, thanks to DavidGPS of GB for rectifying what we already knew - that Germany pioneered magnetic tape in the late 1930s. Now lets get to this little-known Jack Hawkins film. Andre DeToth made some excellent movies in his time, but this true story was as gritty as it got in 1958. There are some very hard to stomach scenes of a tyrannical and evil police state at war - not for the squeamish or children, by any means. Among the greatest of WWII movies, Hawkins depicts General Schottland, a British native of German decent who came back to the Fatherland during WW1 and fought in the German ranks. As a result, he was able to infiltrate the German High Command and even became trusted by Hitler. As he became a valued and important source of information to the British, he also endangered himself and all those who helped him. There were some really great WWII movies, but this one has you on the edge of your seat and riveted to the screen for the entire duration. Definitely my favorite Jack Hawkins movie of all time, and hats off to DeToth for daring to be so bold as to show how ruthless these bastards really were.

**SPOILERS**Having been planted in the German Army by British intelligence back in 1914, some 20 years before the Nazis took control of Germany, Alex Schottland, Jack Hawkins, was in the unique position, even though being a former British citizen, to work his way up the ladder. Scottland worked his way up to the point where he became in charge of supplies for the German Army without the slightest suspicion of German Furuer Adolph Hitler, Kennith Griffih, and his dreaded secret police the Gestapo.After the German conquest of Poland in 1939 Scottland is promoted to general for his excellent efforts in suppling the German Military in its 34 day blitzkrieg. The Nazi blitzkrieg on Poland stunned the world who thought that the war would last some six months well into the winter of 1939. Working behind the scenes Schottland with the help of his contact British Secret Agent Cornaz, Felix Aylmer, who poses as a inconspicuous old watchmaker gets the information back to MI5, the British version of the CIA, that the long expected invasion of Britian, Operation Sea Lion, was called off! Hitler and his General Staff decided instead to launch a massive 3 million man invasion of Soviet Russin the following summer. This gave the battered British Army and Navy breathing room to recover from the beating they took in the Nazis conquest of Western Europe in the spring and early summer of 1940. Britain who was being supplied with huge amounts of much needed war material by the US, who at the time considered itself to be neutral in the war, hoped that the Soviet Red Army would do what the allies, Britian & France, were unable to since the war began ;Stop the then unstoppable Nazi Juggernaut!As the war progresses and the Nazis start losing it becomes apparent to their high command that someone high up is giving the Allies secret information on their military planning! That's when things start to go sour for Gen.Schottland and those whom he's secretly working with. The first shoe to drop is on Gen. Schottland secret British contact in Berlin watchmaker Cornaz. Caught red-handed, in sneaking out information to Britain, by the Gestapo Cornaz is tortured to death but keeps his mouth shut not revealing his fellow spy Gen. Schottland.Having Cornaz replaced by the British with Italian singing sensation Lili Geya, Gia Scala, doesn't help Gen, Scottland much either. Gen. Scottland, who knew Lili before the war, was too busy keeping his eyes on the beautiful Lili more then his work leading to a number of major screw-ups on his part. All that eventually leads to Lili's unfortunate death in the dying days of WWII. Lili was shot by Gen, Schottland Aid-de-camp Lt. Reinisch, Erik Schumann, who recognized her when she tried to cross over to the British lines with a secret map, provided to her by Schottland, about future German troop movements.***SPOILER ALERT*** The both sly and slippery Gen. Schottland is so good at his work that he manages to outfox the Nazis at their own game, trickery and deception, by getting Nazi Generals loyal to the Fuhrer arrested and executed by the Gestapo for treason and disloyalty. Gen Schottland even goes so far as getting German Generals, one of them Gen Hartz played by Donald Pleasence, who are secretly in league with the allies like himself, to do in the Fuhrer, exposed and summarily executed just to keep the Gestapo from suspecting him!I don't know if the story about Gen Schottland is real but if it is the guy made legendary British Secret Agent James Bond look like a rank armature. Always a step ahead of the Nazis Gen.Schottland seems to be the luckiest man on the face of the earth in all the escapes he makes from being caught, at the expense of his fellow British spies, that he comes across not only as being unbelievably lucky but both omnipresent and prophetic, in him knowing what the Nazis are to do ahead of time even before the Nazis do, as well!P.S Look for an uncredited and young 25 year old Michael Cain in the movie playing a Gestapo Agent.