NathanMcDunnough You can get the plot details somewhere else, bub. Marion Davies plays the part of Gail Loveless, who becomes a Union spy, and once in Confederate territory disguises herself as a black slave. She goes undercover as a slave, performing the services of a maid, doing laundry. She somehow passes for a biracial woman. To disguise herself she wears a lightly toned blackface. She looks like a woman with a spray tan. Her blackface makeup never wears off—Never! —Not when she washes clothes, not when she is splashed by water as a horse stomps in a creek, not when tears roll down her cheeks. The only thing worse than Marion Davies's blackface is her black-voice. It makes you cringe. I had a strong urge to turn the TV off, but I watched on.There are many black actors in the film and the Mills Brothers perform the best musical acts, although, the songs they sing have racist lyrics. During Jungle Fever, the black actors, who portray the black folks in the town, look saucer-eyed, tranced and spooked, as they dance and jive to the music—it will make you queasy. And like many movies of that time, the black characters are happy and content (what could be wrong?), laughing and smiling, whether they are singing, dancing, cooking, serving, doing laundry, or helping a bride with her wedding dress. Don't they know there's a war on? The North won the Civil War and Hollywood made movies like Operator 13, which makes you wonder about what kinds of movies they'd have made if the South had won.

ksf-2 SPOILERS -- Annoying. Some annoying things in this film... I'm sure some of that is the black-face, the white person imitating a black person in such a racial, stereo-typed manner. But it's a little insulting that just everyone buys into the silly make-up and silly accent on Marion Davies, as she plays Lucille, the black maid, who is really a spy. As someone else pointed out, they break into song every couple of minutes. ( "Sleepy Head" by the Mills Brothers is actually quite well done.) The plot here is secondary... every now and then they stop singing to pretend the the Civil War is going on around them. Dramatic scene where "the maid" has to give evidence against a fellow spy, her friend, in the name of duty. Gary Cooper is in here, ostensibly co-starring. Some other fun cameos in here -- Sidney Toler, Hattie McDaniel, Sterling Holloway, Curly Howard. There's a skeleton of a plot in here, but I wish they had used more plot and less music. Davies, singing "Once in a LifeTime" as she swings, is just ridiculous. She did successfully jump from silents to talkies, but only made a couple more films after Operator 13. Much debate over whether the Hearst connection actually helped or hindered Davies' career. This one is okay. I was pretty surprised at the high rating, but it is only the result of 1000 votes so far. Gets better as it goes along. Directed by Richard Boleslawski, who died young a couple years after making this.

montypython10 I'll give this move one thing-- it's pungent enough to cease being background noise and have me watch it. Other reviewers have explained the not-at-all intricate plot so I won't rehash it here (I'm a spy for the union, but I've fallen in love with a rebel!) but suffice to say, it's 80 minutes of disposable dialog and wooden acting interspersed with songs about "jungle fever" and "darkies in de Congo." Oh, and Marion Davies' terrible blackface disguise and scenery-chewing acting.This is a fine example of the time when movies were churned out like stamped sheet metal. It has worth if one considers using it as a part of a larger effort to explore historical depictions of race in American cinema, but otherwise it's a waste of time-- and an offensive one at that.

mountainkath I can't believe this movie was only 85 minutes long. It felt much longer.My dislike of this film is not due to the racist stereotypes or Marion Davies in black-face. I disliked this film because it's just not a good movie.While the story is an interesting concept, the movie did not pull it off at all. The whole film feels very disjointed and poorly put together.I usually like Davies, but I could see her acting (and over acting) in Operator 13. She is not convincing as a northern spy.Gary Cooper did a good job with the material that he was given. He was completely underutilized in this film but that is understandable: this movie was a Marion Davies movie. If Cooper had been given a better part he would have easily overshadowed her.Operator 13 really tried to be a good movie. It cast good actors as the leads, the costumes were fabulous and the battle scenes were well done. Nothing though, could save the movie from a horrible script.