Alfred Hitchcock did much to popularise a spy film in the 1930s with his influential thrillers The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), Sabotage (1937) and The Lady Vanishes (1938). These typically exposed guiltless civilians existence caught higher within international conspiracies. A select few, notwithstanding, dealt by having broker spies when inside Hitchcock's Secret Agent (1936), based on W. Somerset Maugham's Ashenden stories.

In the 1940s and early 1950s there were several films processed just about a deed of Allied professionals around occupied Europe, which can probably become considered as a sub-genre. 13 Rue Madeleine and O.S.S. were fictional stories about American agents in German-occupied France, and there were a number of films based on the stories of real-life British S.O.E. agents, including Odette and Carve Her Name With Pride. The additional recent fancied lesson is Charlotte Gray, based on a novel by Sebastian Faulks.

A peak of popularity of a spy film is typically considered to become the 1960s when Cold War fears meshed with the want by audiences to watch exciting & cliff-hanging films. A espionage film developed within 2 directions at this instance. On one hand, a naturalistic spy novels of Len Deighton and John Le Carre were adapted into relatively good Cold War thrillers which dealt with a few of the realities of the espionage globe. A select few one films involved The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), The Deadly Affair (1966), and a Harry Palmer series, based on a novels of Len Deighton.

At a equivalent period, a James Bond novels by Ian Fleming were adapted into an increasingly fantastical series of tongue-within-bantering risky venture films by producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli, with Sean Connery as the star. the fantastic profits of the Enthralled series lead to a deluge of imitators, especially from either United states. Among a better known examples were them 'Derek Flint' movie star James Coburn, and a Matt Helm series with Dean Martin. Television also got into a work using series rather The Man from U.N.C.L.E and I Spy in the U.S., and Danger Man and The Avengers in Britain. Spies own remained popular in TV to the present day sustaining series like Callan, Alias and Spooks.

Spy films likewise enjoyed something of the revival in the late 1990s, although these were often action films using espionage elements, or even comedies rather Austin Powers.

'Real life' fictitious spy films include: The 39 Steps (1935) Secret Agent (1936) Cloak and Dagger (1946) Diplomatic Messenger (1952) The Ipcress File (1965), and its sequels Funeral in Berlin (1967) and Billion Dollar Brain (1967) The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965) The Quiller Memorandum (1966) The Deadly Affair (1966) The Black Windmill (1974) Three Days of the Condor (1975) The Fourth Protocol (1987) Spy Game (2001) A "Jason Bourne" series - The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum (2001-2006) The Recruit (2003)

'Fantasy' spy films: A James Bond film series (from 1962 onwards) Our Man Flint and In Prefer Flint by owning James Coburn (1966-1967) A Matt Helm series starring Dean Martin (1966-1969) A updated Bulldog Drummond films of the 1960s, Deadlier Than the Male and Some Girls Do, with Richard Johnson (1967-1968) Modesty Blaise (1966) Fathom (1967) with Raquel Welch If Looks Could Kill (1991) with Richard Grieco The Double 0 Kid (1992) with Corey Haim xXx (2002) with Vin Diesel Mission Impossible (1996) Agent Cody Banks (2003)

These films helped to produce parodies, like:

Casino Royale (1967) Spies Like Us (1985) Spy Hard (1996) Austin Powers series (1997-2002) Johnny English (2003)

Spy films or even television series that include elements of science fiction are sometimes known as SpyFi.