Secret Agent Coop Behind Axis Lines

Cloak and Dagger (1946) Reveals Secrets From a Recently Ended War

Gary Cooper as an egghead scientist who becomes James Bond for the Allies when Germans begin trafficking in Atomic secrets. For so much movie depict of Nazis on verge of rockets, jet flight, and A-bombs, we can be glad victory got achieved soon as it did. Another few months and ... who knows? That theme lent urgency to espionage and spy stories of the Now It Can Be Told school, of which Cloak and Dagger was among first, it delving into super-secret OSS, a group few knew existed till surrenders were signed. Cloak and Dagger was a United States Picture produced by Milt Sperling, most of his re-aired on Blu-Ray thanks to Olive lease from owning Paramount. The pic used to come on television, but sparingly, so lots of even hardcore fans haven't seen it. For auteur interest, there is Fritz Lang as director, his always welcome participation when the topic is spy v. spy. "Dirty" combat among operatives, not just theirs but ours, let '46 patronage know that this had been no gentleman's war. Vets coming home, plus those conditioned by four years of newsreel coverage, wanted closer to knuckle stuff than what dream factories gave till then. Cloak and Dagger slows a bit here and there, but a good scene is never far off, and highlights are memorable. Great to have this rarity back in such crystal quality.