Much better than its reputation, this film has been treated rather unfairly by ignorants who haven't bothered to look deeper into it, like also other films of the Russian revolution, especially Sternberg's "The Last Command" and Marlene Dietrich's "Knight Without Armour", perhaps the best film of the Russian revolution. This one however is outstanding for the fact that it deals directly with reality. Bruce Lockhart, who lived through this story himself, happened to be a legate at the British Embassy in Petersburg when the crisis grew crucial, and later was in the thick of things in Moscow. He was the one who told the story of Sidney Reilly and his conspiracies and efforts to save Russia, and he later played an important part in the Second World War as Churchill's right hand in the propaganda war against Germany. He wrote a series of extremely interesting memoirs and was also in the centre of things in Prague 1948 when Jan Masaryk was defenestrated and the communists took over. Leslie Howard makes a very credible and true characterization of Lockhart's critical ordeals in the heart of the revolution at a loss against the lack of initiative, resolution and political insight in London. He and Reilly could have saved Russia from the communists, if London had responded. This film romanticizes the drama, of course, with some exaggerations and focusing too much on Kay Francis, while Lenin's would be murderess was much more interesting - she is only shown in the deed. Although between "Of Human Bondage" and "Captain Blood", "British Agent" hardly deserves to be neglected.

It's always such a pleasure to see Leslie Howard. His acting is superb and his romance with Kay Francis touching. How director Michael Curtiz put so much plot and action into such a short film about the Russian Revolution is impressive.It is interesting to observe that the British Embassy was in Petrograd,and just a British Consulate in Moscow. How the Embassy was able to amass all those guests, in all their finery, in the middle of war torn Russia on the brink of revolution, is surprising.Howard's cohorts, Reed, Gargan, and Romero were immensely enjoyable. Gargan's addiction to gum was amusing and provided a light element to all the drama.When their world is about to blow up around them Howard and Francis are saved by the bell and they ride off into the sunset. A happy ending after much disappointment, failure and sadness.

Here's a side of the Revolution you didn't see in Warren Beatty's love-letter to Lenin, REDS. The protagonists are a group of diplomats who are trying to counter the Red revolution by supporting the White army faction. But they're being undermined by a beautiful Russian woman (Kay Francis) who happens to be having an affair with one of the English agents (Leslie Howard), and passes info on to Lenin himself.It's all kind of a muddle, with historical tidbits mixed in with a maudlin love story. It's hard to think of Francis as a Russian, since she makes no attempt at an accent, and Leslie Howard is one of my least favorite actors of the era (he always seems like a weedy little wimp). There are some nice sets, some war action, and a very young Cesar Romero. Definitely not as good as other international spy pictures of the 30s-40s but it deals with events not often covered in filmdom, so it's worth a look.

Hollywood and the American people seem to know very, very little about the Russian Revolution--I should know, I am a retired history teacher. In particular, few would realize that portions of Russia were occupied by foreign troops to ostensibly guarantee the safety of their nationals--though the US, Britain and others actually helped the White Russians (the anti-Communists) militarily during the period near the end of WWI up until about 1920. So, the fact that "British Agent" is set in Russia during this period makes it very interesting and unique. Aside from the very leftist film "Reds" (don't get me started on my I dislike this dull film) and "Dr. Zhivago", this is the only mainstream film I can think of that actually tries to discuss this period in history.Leslie Howard plays a government agent sent to Russia following their first revolution--the one that preceded the Communist revolution five months later. The brand-new Karensky government replaced the Czars and tried to strike a balance between conservative and liberal camps. Unfortunately, they chose to try to remain in WWI--something that the people just couldn't take, as Russian losses had been staggering and the people were starving. So Howard is given the impossible task to convince this teetering government to stay in the war because the Allied forces were afraid Russia exit would doom them to lose. And, such missions to Russia DID occur--but they had absolutely no effect and the country soon had a new revolt and they simply quit fighting.All this is pretty interesting and here is where the film starts to bog down--even though it's actually supposed to be based on the true story of a lady revolutionary. Kay Francis plays this woman and although Leslie is not in the least sympathetic to the communist cause, they inexplicably fall in love. Perhaps in real life this made sense but in the movie they simply went from point A to point C--skipping the explanation as to WHY they fell in love and why she was suddenly willing to abandon the nation she so loved. Why?! According to this movie, it was almost a whim! My other gripe against the film is small and very typical for movies of the era. This is that no one in the film really looked or sounded Russian! Heck, most didn't even bother to put on a fake Russian accent! Still, if you can ignore these two problems, the film is interesting and informative. And, that makes it worth seeing.