Operator 13

Operator 13 is a 1934 American pre-Code romance film directed by Richard Boleslawski and starring Marion Davies, Gary Cooper, and Jean Parker. Based on stories written by Robert W. Chambers, the film is about a Union spy who impersonates a black maid in the early days of the Civil War, but complications arise when she falls in love with a Confederate officer. George J. Folsey received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography. The film features the Four Mills Brothers and Davies performing musical numbers and the supporting cast includes Ted Healy, Douglas Dumbrille as Jeb Stuart, Sidney Toler as Allan Pinkerton, Fuzzy Knight, and an uncredited Sterling Holloway as a wounded Union soldier. Plot In the American Civil War, Union forces are reeling after their defeat in the Second Battle of Bull Run. The Pauline Cushman Players are performing for wounded soldiers at a Union military hospital. Pauline, a spy who works for Allan Pinkerton, recommends her close friend and fellow showgirl Gail to become a spy for the Union cause as Operator 13 (the previous Operator 13 having been caught and shot).