THEY MADE HER A SPY (1939)

In this RKO B-thriller; Sally Eilers plays the sister of a solider whose death is the latest to be attributed to sabotage. She volunteers to spy for the government and, quite improbably, despite her total lack of experience, is accepted on the spot. She infiltrates a spy ring run out of a Washington restaurant; the leader is Fritz Leiber (father of the famous sf/fantasy writer), but she suspects he is answering to a more powerful boss. Along the way, she meets up with handsome Allan Lane (later known as "Rocky" Lane when he starred in a number of B-westerns, and later provided the voice of Mr. Ed on TV). He seems to be part of the spy ring, but it doesn't take long to figure out from the romantic sparks the two generate that he'll wind up as a good guy. This movie is short and obviously made on a low budget, but nicely acted by Eilers and Lane--although I had never heard of either of them before, they display some good romantic (and, in one scene, comic) chemistry. Eilers manages to add some quirkiness to her otherwise blandly written character. The climax, set at the Washington Monument, is disappointing--it seems to be heading for Hitchcock territory, but with the low budget, that's out of the question, so it ends rather abruptly and unthrillingly. Still, it's worth watching for fans of the simple joys of the B-movie.