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Arriving in Orkney, German U-boat captain Ernst Hardt (Conrad Veidt) — stern, confident, and implacable — embarks on an act of espionage with his local contact, the charming yet unyielding Fraulein Tiel (Valerie Hobson). Conceived as a vehicle for Veidt, The Spy in Black simmers with layered sexual tension and shifting dynamics between Hardt and Tiel, for her ambiguity suggests that there might be more than what appears to be. Made on the verge of WWII, and set during WWI, the filmmaking duo Powell and Pressburger’s first collaboration is a modern spin on the familiar war/espionage narrative, in which they uproot notions of identity, enemy, and patriotism — a critical ideological practice that recurs throughout their filmography. With Pressburger’s romanticism and Powell’s sense of cruelty, their subversiveness are already unmistakably present.

The Spy in Black will screen from an imported 35mm print.

Ages 15+