Dark Journey

Amiable espionage thriller set in Sweden during the First World War and starring Vivien Leigh and Conrad Veidt. Produced by Alexander Korda’s London Films, the romantic spy story is sharply-directed by Victor Saville and boasts splendid cinematography from Georges Périnal and Harry Stradling. The film, based on a play by Lajos Biró, was reissued in 1943 as The Anxious Years.

Spring 1918. Madeleine Goddard (Vivien Leigh) runs an elite fashion boutique in neutral Stockholm – a job that often takes her to Paris. She is also a high-ranking Allied double-agent that carries secrets sewn into the stitching of the latest Parisian fashions. Complications ensue when she becomes emotionally involved with the charming aristocratic German spy Baron von Marwitz (Conrad Veidt), head of Section 8 counter-intelligence. When her spy cell appears to have been compromised, Madeleine pleads to be relieved of her duties. She is handed one final mission – to learn the identity of a German spy in Sweden. Unsurprisingly, Marwitz is the man. —Britmovie.co.uk