Inside the Lines
Brief Synopsis
During World War I, German spies stop at nothing to spy on the allied war plans stored at Gibraltar.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Roy J. Pomeroy
Director
Betty Compson
Jane Gershon
Ralph Forbes
Eric Woodhouse
Montagu Love
Governor of Gibraltar
Mischa Auer
Amahdi
Ivan Simpson
Capper
Film Details
Genre
Drama
Spy
War
Release Date
Jul
20,
1930
Premiere Information
New York opening: 5 Jul 1930
Production Company
RKO Productions
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play Behind the Lines by Earl Derr Biggers (New York, Jan 1915).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 12m
Sound
Mono (RCA Photophone System)
Color
Black and White
Film Length
6,652ft
(8 reels)
Synopsis
Jane Gershon and her fiancé, Eric Woodhouse, separate in Germany upon the outbreak of war. Later, they meet in the British fortress at Gibraltar as German spies, Jane posing as the daughter of a friend of the governor's family and Woodhouse as a British officer. Eric surprises Jane trying to obtain the key to the mine-control field in the harbor; she tries to dissuade him from destroying the British fleet; and noticing a gun covering her, he surrenders and feigns suicide. A trusted Hindu servant, Amahdi, denounces her for being a traitor to the Fatherland, threatens to kill her, and is shot by Eric before he can destroy the fleet. Jane discovers that her lover is a British agent, like herself, and they are united under one flag.
Director
Roy J. Pomeroy
Director
Cast
Betty Compson
Jane Gershon
Ralph Forbes
Eric Woodhouse
Montagu Love
Governor of Gibraltar
Mischa Auer
Amahdi
Ivan Simpson
Capper
Betty Carter
Lady Crandall
Evan Thomas
Major Bishop
Reginald Sharland
Archie
William Von Brincken
Chief, Secret Service
Crew
Film Details
Genre
Drama
Spy
War
Release Date
Jul
20,
1930
Premiere Information
New York opening: 5 Jul 1930
Production Company
RKO Productions
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play Behind the Lines by Earl Derr Biggers (New York, Jan 1915).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 12m
Sound
Mono (RCA Photophone System)
Color
Black and White
Film Length
6,652ft
(8 reels)
Articles
Inside the Lines
While Betty Compson was one of the most hard-working and persistent actresses of early film, with a career that spanned silent and sound (as well as big studios and Poverty Row) she was never enshrined with the same reverence as other stars. That's a shame, because her screen presence, as seen through modern eyes, is refreshingly unfussy and sensual compared to other, more theatrically rigid contemporaries of the early sound era. In this film, made during a well-deserved fruitful stretch of her career, she plays one of a pair of betrothed lovers forced apart at the dawn of World War I, only to be thrown together again while under separate deep cover as spies -- she posing as a friend in the governor's inner circles, her fiancé (Ralph Forbes) posing as a British officer. This is of the few movies directed by Roy Pomeroy, a special effects technician whose previous work included first Best Picture winner Wings (1928) and DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1923). In 1927 Pomeroy was one of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that bestowed a Best Actress nomination upon Compson for her work in The Barker (1928).
Inside the Lines
While Betty Compson was one of the most hard-working and persistent actresses of early film, with a career that spanned silent and sound (as well as big studios and Poverty Row) she was never enshrined with the same reverence as other stars. That's a shame, because her screen presence, as seen through modern eyes, is refreshingly unfussy and sensual compared to other, more theatrically rigid contemporaries of the early sound era. In this film, made during a well-deserved fruitful stretch of her career, she plays one of a pair of betrothed lovers forced apart at the dawn of World War I, only to be thrown together again while under separate deep cover as spies -- she posing as a friend in the governor's inner circles, her fiancé (Ralph Forbes) posing as a British officer. This is of the few movies directed by Roy Pomeroy, a special effects technician whose previous work included first Best Picture winner Wings (1928) and DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1923). In 1927 Pomeroy was one of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that bestowed a Best Actress nomination upon Compson for her work in The Barker (1928).
