A Southern Yankee
| A Southern Yankee | |
|---|---|
1948 Theatrical Poster
|
|
| Directed by | Edward Sedgwick |
| Produced by | Paul Jones |
| Written by |
Melvin Frank Buster Keaton (uncredited) Norman Panama Harry Tugend |
| Starring |
Red Skelton Brian Donlevy Arlene Dahl George Coulouris Lloyd Gough John Ireland |
| Music by | David Snell |
| Cinematography | Ray June |
| Edited by | Ben Lewis |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,482,000 |
| Box office | $2,547,000 |
A Southern Yankee (1948) is an American comedy film, directed by Edward Sedgwick, starring Red Skelton and Arlene Dahl, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is also known as The Spy.
A semi-remake of Buster Keaton's The General (1927), Skelton plays a Union soldier who spies on the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Keaton served as technical adviser on the film.
In 1865, Aubrey Filmore works as a bell boy at the Palmer Hotel in St. Louis. Aubrey wants to work as a spy for the Union Government, and contacts Colonel Clifford M. Baker at the Union Secret Service, to ask if he can be of service in their elite spy unit. Aubrey has asked before, and the answer from Colonel Baker is still no.
Posters are soon put up, warning the public of a particularly cunning spy named The Grey Spider. Aubrey sees the posters, and when Major Jack Drumman comes to stay at the hotel, Aubrey finds out that he is in fact The Grey Spider. Unfortunately Aubrey is discovered by the major, and tries to force him wear Confederate clothes to look like The Grey Spider, in order to shoot him as a spy.
Before the major's plan is realized, Aubrey accidentally knocks him unconscious. Major Drumman's dangerously alluring accomplice, Sallyann Weatharby, enters the room and Aubrey instantly falls in love with her. Since Drumman is knocked out, Aubrey agrees to join Sallyann, posing as the Major, to a meeting with other important Confederate spies.
Before Aubrey leaves the hotel, he leaves a message for Baker, telling him of his plans. Aubrey is then involved in a complicated scheme to intercept the Union forces, and is given the important task of delivering the Union battle plans to the Confederate General Watkins. He is ordered to meet up with Sallyann at a hospital near the front, Morgan's Landing.
Upon returning to Colonel Baker with the plans, Aubrey helps to make fake plans to replace the real ones with, and is ordered by the Colonel, who is very reluctant to involve Aubrey at all, to continue posing as Drumman and also deliver instructions to a Union spy.
...
Wikipedia