1935 film
Second Bureau (French: Deuxième bureau) is a 1935 French spy romance film directed by Pierre Billon and starring Jean Murat, Véra Korène and Janine Crispin. It is based on the novel "Second Bureau" by Charles Robert-Dumas. The following year it was remade as a British film by Victor Hanbury. The book was one of a spy series Ceux du S. R. published in France by Librarie Arthème Fayard in 1934. The film's sets were designed by the art director Aimé Bazin. It was followed by a sequel "Wolves Between Them" in 1936.
Synopsis.
Capitaine Benoit of the French secret service manages to steal the plans of Germany's new fighter plane. German intelligence assigns one of their top female agents to recover the stolen designs.
Critical reception.
Writing for "The Spectator" in 1936, Graham Greene characterized the film as "a rather dull film, [and as] a long packed melodrama". With the exception of the "sinister and satiric" first scene that was described as "brilliant", Greene took the view that on the whole "the film is too thick with drama". Taking issue with the film's genre, Greene suggests that satire and realism would have been more effective in handling the picture's themes.