Secrets of Scotland Yard (1944) watch online HD

1944's "Secrets of Scotland Yard" is a forgotten Republic programmer featuring an unusually strong cast for a poverty row studio, and scripted by Denison Clift, best known as both writer and director of Lugosi's "Mystery of the Marie Celeste," shot in England in 1935. The Germans admit that their defeat in WW1 resulted from the clerks working in Scotland Yard's Room 40, successfully decoding German messages, and General Carl Eberling (Louis V. Arco) responds by installing a counterspy to aid the enemy. 20 years later, C. Aubrey Smith plays Sir Christopher Pelt, new head of Room 40, who heads up the investigation when top decoder John Usher (Edgar Barrier) is found murdered in Room 40 by an unknown assailant. Pelt recruits John's twin brother Robert (also Barrier) to secretly replace John in an effort to ferret out the killer amongst the other clerks (Lionel Atwill, John Abbott, Forrester Harvey, Frederick Worlock, and Matthew Boulton, all veterans of Universal's SHERLOCK HOLMES series). The reliable Martin Kosleck makes an all-too-brief appearance as a Nazi villain, Mary Gordon (Mrs. Hudson in the HOLMES films) plays the Usher housekeeper, William Edmunds (Mr. Martini in "It's a Wonderful Life") shows up as a sinister bookstore proprietor. Both C. Aubrey Smith and Stephanie Bachelor would be back the following year in a similar title, "Scotland Yard Investigator," from the same director, George Blair. This was one of the last films for the bespectacled Lionel Atwill, who is seen to great advantage throughout; his career never recovered from the sex scandal at Christmas 1940, the kind of private party that would go completely unnoticed today. Refusing to bow to attempted blackmail, he 'lied like a gentleman' under oath to protect others, paying the price as Hollywood mostly turned its back on him, except for Universal, Republic, RKO, and PRC, their low budget productions given greater stature by his unfailing professionalism. His last film was the Universal serial "Lost City of the Jungle," which only finished after his bronchial cancer forced him to withdraw, dying at age 61 in April 1946.

Twin brothers John and Robert Usher (Edgar Barrier as both) are different as night and day. Robert Usher is a free spirit and unpredictable, while his brother John is a by the books Scotland Yard agent who gets involved too much in the agency's fight against Nazi spies. that cost him his life, and it is up to his brother Robert to take over his life to continue his work, determined to keep his identity secret and thus having to act a certain way. The only ones who know are agency division head C. Aubrey Smith and John's young son (Bobby Cooper) who barely seems to even acknowledge his father's death. Even John's fiance, Stephanie Bachelor, doesn't know and is simply confused by certain elements of changes in his personality. The mystery is here who is the Scotland Yard agent secretly working with the Nazis? Others who work for the agency include Henry Stephenson (an interchangeable actor with C Aubrey Smith, making their presents together somewhat head-scratching), Lionel Atwill and John Abbott. It isn't until the actual bad guy realizes the deception that the film seems to show any purpose, and by that time, it becomes pretty predictable as to who is/are the villains.

A moderately enjoyable Republic War programmer, this film strives to move at a steady speed, intermixing romance in with political and social upheaval and giving insight to each of the major characters including the possible villains. All of the actors give respectable performances, with Barrier most detailed in making the two different characters seem different, even though the character of John is only on the screen for a short period of time. Bachelor, a great femme fatale, plays a truly modern woman who must connect with the old boys club in order to succeed in her new position. Her character is very unique and displays a great deal of strength and determination, standing up to the chauvenism with humor and pride. Not bad for a second feature and unique in a variety of ways.