Under Secret Orders

Under Secret Orders
Theatrical release poster
Directed byEdmond T. Gréville
Written byAdaptation:
Marcel Achard
Screenplay byErnest Betts
Jacques Natanson
Story byGeorges Hereaux
Irma von Cube
Produced byMax Schach
StarringErich von Stroheim
John Loder
Dita Parlo
Claire Luce
CinematographyAlfred Black
Edited byRay Pitt
Music byHans May
Production
companies
Grafton Films
Trafalgar Film Productions
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release dates
  • December 1937 (1937-12) (UK)
  • 1 July 1943 (1943-07-01) (US)
Running time
84 minutes
66 minutes (US)
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Under Secret Orders, also known as Mademoiselle Doctor, is a 1937 British spy film directed by Edmond T. Gréville and starring Erich von Stroheim, John Loder, Dita Parlo and Claire Luce.[1] It is an English-language version of the French film Mademoiselle Docteur, also known as Salonique, nid d'espions, and released in the United States as Street of Shadows, which was filmed at the same time under the direction of G. W. Pabst. Both films have exactly the same plot, but there were differences in the cast between the two: in particular, von Stroheim was not in the French version.[2]

Premise

During the First World War, a woman doctor falls in love with one of her patients who turns out to be a German spy. She herself ends up working for German intelligence.

Cast

Cast notes:

Reception

Writing for Night and Day in 1937, Graham Greene gave the film a poor review, summarizing it as more movie than cinema. Greene described the writing as "a really shocking script, with childish continuity" and criticized the dialogue as "it ambles flatly along".[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ BFI Database entry
  2. ^ Thames, Stephanie. "Stamboul Quest (1934)" (article) on TCM.com
  3. ^ Greene, Graham (16 December 1937). "Monica and Martin/Mademoiselle Docteur/Eastern Valley". Night and Day. (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. Oxford University Press. p. 186. ISBN 0192812866.)