The Two-Headed Spy

1958
Approved
1h 33m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Jack Hawkins in The Two-Headed Spy (1958)

A long-entrenched British agent planted in the German Army is urged to continue his work during the Second World War, but struggles to keep secret his true identity from the Third Reich.A long-entrenched British agent planted in the German Army is urged to continue his work during the Second World War, but struggles to keep secret his true identity from the Third Reich.A long-entrenched British agent planted in the German Army is urged to continue his work during the Second World War, but struggles to keep secret his true identity from the Third Reich.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The film was almost complete fiction.

Goofs
Use of reel to reel tape recorder. Whilst Americans may believe tape recording was a post-war development, it is a fact that Germany had built and developed practical tape recorders in the 1940's. They were used in both military and broadcasting situations. After the war, the Ampex corporation was given the German technology as a reward for their war work and they began to manufacture tape recorders in the US. The Ampex model 300 was a very close copy of the German production unit. Some industry journals even suggested that Ampex sold existing units seized from German warehouses before they began manufacture. However, the unit shown in the film is not an Ampex 300 and it is unlikely that German tape would be mounted on plastic reels as shown.

Crazy credits
The credits read inspired by A.P. Scotland's "The London Cage". But in Scotland's own words "I had been a German officer... but that was from 1903 to 1907 during the Hottentot Wars in South Africa. True, also, I had secretly worked and successfully fooled the Germans and worked behind their lines... but that was alongside the Kaiser's Army in 1916." In WW1 & WW2 Scotland served as an intelligence officer interrogating captured German POW's. This culminated in his interrogating suspected war criminals at the end of the war.

Soundtracks
Ich Liebe Dich
Written by Peter Hart

User reviews21

Review

Featured review

8/10

Very exciting and well worth seeing...even if so much of it is fiction.

"The Two-Headed Spy" is a story based on an actual spy within the German high command during WWII. However, according to IMDB, most of the story is sadly fictionalized...making this a not-so-true true story. In fact, when I did read up on the man, I found nearly ALL the film to be made up!! It's a shame, as the story is pretty exciting...just all false.

Jack Hawkins plays General Alex Schottland, a man who has a British and a German parent. During WWI, he served in the German army with distinction and his loyalty to the new Third Reich is unquestioned by nearly everyone...including the Fuhrer. But he hates the Nazis and is working with the British secret service, relaying them information while appearing to be a patriotic German.

I have mixed feelings on this one. The film is exciting, nicely acted and very well made and is a terrific war film. It's just all a giant lie! My suggestion is to by all means watch it...and realize it's just a neat fictional tale.