Operator 13

Name: Operator 13
Released: 1934-06-08T00:00:00.000000Z
Rating: 5.9

A TRICK OF FATE MADE THEM BOTH ENEMY AND LOVER.

1934 • 82 min • ★ 5.9 (17) • Released

Drama Romance War

American Civil War, 1862. After the disaster of the Second Battle of Bull Run, Major Allen, chief of the Secret Service of the Union, asks actress Gail Loveless to become one of his operators and infiltrate enemy territory.

IMDb ↗

Original title: Operator 13
Language: EN
Country: US
Budget: —
Revenue: —

Reviews & Ratings 1

CinemaSerf

Jul 4, 2025 · via TMDB

★ 6.0

Well if you thought that “Batman” had a poor disguise, just wait to you see Marion Davies in this quite entertainingly predictable American Civil War adventure. “Gail” has been recruited by the original Mr. Pinkerton to act as a spy for the Yankees down amongst the Johnny Rebs and so blackens up, sports a washer-woman’s garb and adopts an accent that is supposed to help her pass as a serving wench. Luckily for her, those she is spying upon are not the sharpest bayonets on the gun, and pretty swiftly she has ingratiated herself with their deadly foes but along the way taken a bit of a shine to “Capt. Jack” (Gary Cooper). When she returns for a second bite at this intelligence gathering cherry, only this time looking more like something from a Parisian ballroom, she realises that her enemies are not quite so thick as she’d thought. Can she escape in time? Can she ever be with her true love? Unless you don’t actually know who won this particular conflict then there’s precisely no jeopardy at all here, but along the way there are some daft escapades, a few musical numbers and just enough romance to give Cooper a chance to show he’s not quite as wooden as the picket fences they are shooting from. Davies is game, especially at the start but like most of the rest of the cast here, is rather swimming against a tide of low-budget blandness and some 1930s racist stereotypes. These don’t sit so well nowadays, but watching near century old films with modern day attitudes can often be unrewarding, so it’s best to remember that if you’re going to give this mediocre ninety minutes a go.

User reviews courtesy of TMDB.

Keywords 6

19th century american civil war based on short story confederate spy female spy pre-code

Cast 26