Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Confessions of a Nazi Spy

Play trailer Poster for Confessions of a Nazi Spy 1939 1h 42m Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
100% Tomatometer 7 Reviews 60% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
FBI agent Ed Renard (Edward G. Robinson) goes on the hunt for a Nazi spy ring bent on subverting the citizenry of America. Beginning with Nazi rabble-rouser Kurt Schneider (Francis Lederer), Renard uses his well-honed instincts to find his way to the ring leader of the espionage campaign, Dr. Karl Kassell (Paul Lukas). With the Nazi secret police rounding up any security leaks and passing them back to Germany, Renard races to extract the information that will bring down the conspiracy.
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

Confessions of a Nazi Spy

Critics Reviews

View More
Otis Ferguson The New Republic 05/23/2024
This is no “Beast of Berlin,” but a statement of sober inevitable facts, so brilliantly realized that no one can hide from it; it happens before his eyes. Go to Full Review
Matt Brunson Film Frenzy 03/26/2023
3.5/4
A propaganda pic par excellence. Go to Full Review
Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review 03/14/2023
3/4
It continues to be a telling historical marker and evidence of a Hollywood studio taking a moral and political stance when it was unpopular to do so. Go to Full Review
Danielle Solzman Solzy at the Movies 03/31/2020
4/5
Confessions of a Nazi Spy is a film that shows a studio with a conscience and one that uses their platform for the greater good. Go to Full Review
John Kinloch California Eagle 10/22/2019
As motion picture entertainment removed from the sphere of political objections, this courageous Warner Bros. film will stand high when the outstanding pictures of 1939 are heralded. Confessions is pretty nearly tops in screen melodrama. Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 06/12/2011
B
Historically significant, Litvak's sensationalistic political melodrama is considered to be the first Hollywood anti-Nazi film made by a major studio Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
David K 04/20/2023 The Warner Bros style on display. Tough, no nonsense style shot with the feel of a documentary. This was really the first studio-produced film that dealt with the threat of Nazi Germany and resulted in a lot of blowback for the Brothers Warner. If you need any context on the environment this film came out in, you must watch Ken Burns' documentary "The US and the Holocaust". Although my dad, a Jewish man, who was 27 at the time the war started, said some things about this period in time, it was a brief and insufficient overview. Burns paints a far more detailed picture of Nazi sympathies in the US, including in the Roosevelt Administration. What Confessions does is give a contemporary account that appeared 2.5 years before the US entered the war. And, they did a very good job at it. Not the 100 Tomatometer rating from critics, but definitely worth your time. See more j f @LiberteBurrows 04/09/2023 Great picture. Especially for the time. But, it does seem that Warner Bros went out of their way to not mention or insinuate anything that could be construed as referring to a Mr. Heinrich Ford. See more @Jmo54 02/08/2022 Under-rated. The first Hollywood film to tackle the subject of Nazism aggressively in a riveting manner. See more paul d @PaulusLoZebra 01/19/2021 Anatole Litvak's Confessions of a Nazi Spy is a very good movie and an outstanding work of propaganda. It is much more direct and straightforward, and less artistic, than some other famous propaganda films such as Foreign Correspondent, Casablanca and Saboteur. However, those came later than Litvak's and they owe a lot to him and to Warner Brothers for this early and bold attempt to warn America about the Nazi threat. Litvak was highly, personally motivated to make this film, and he knew a lot about the threat, because by 1939 he had already fled Russia because of the Bolsheviks, and Germany and France because of the Nazis. See more 08/29/2019 A wonderful snapshot of cinematic & world history combined. Made BEFORE the US entered WW2 it shows American propaganda at its best. The valid fears of Americans (if somewhat sensationalized) that even translates to TODAYS politics. Robinsin is his usual tough good guy smart self. Paul Lucas is actually believable as the German-American nazi super fanatic. Add a little George Sanders, Henry O'Neill, Sig Ruman & Francis Lederer & it's well worth watching every minute. See more 11/12/2017 It sure is okay if the US puts out propaganda movies ... cough See more Read all reviews
Confessions of a Nazi Spy

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Movie Info

Synopsis FBI agent Ed Renard (Edward G. Robinson) goes on the hunt for a Nazi spy ring bent on subverting the citizenry of America. Beginning with Nazi rabble-rouser Kurt Schneider (Francis Lederer), Renard uses his well-honed instincts to find his way to the ring leader of the espionage campaign, Dr. Karl Kassell (Paul Lukas). With the Nazi secret police rounding up any security leaks and passing them back to Germany, Renard races to extract the information that will bring down the conspiracy.
Director
Anatole Litvak
Producer
Robert Lord
Screenwriter
Milton Krims, John Wexley
Production Co
Warner Brothers/Seven Arts
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 31, 2009
Runtime
1h 42m
Most Popular at Home Now