Above Suspicion (1943 film)

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Above Suspicion
Bronislau Kaper
Production
company
Distributed byLoew's Inc.[1]
Release date
  • May 1943 (1943-05)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Above Suspicion is a 1943 American

Helen MacInnes, which is loosely based on the experiences of MacInnes and her husband Gilbert Highet
.

The plot follows two newlyweds who spy on the

British secret service
during their honeymoon in Europe.

Plot

In the spring of 1939 in England,

British secret service to find a scientist who has developed a countermeasure against a new Nazi secret weapon, a magnetic sea mine.[2]
Without knowing his name, what he looks like or where to find the scientist, the couple look upon the search as an adventure and cross Europe seeking clues from clandestine contacts.

In

Tyrol, where they should inquire about a doctor who collects chess pieces
.

Some days later, Richard and Frances attend a performance of Liszt's music. During a passage that Thornley had been practicing earlier, a Nazi commandant is shot and killed. Officials insist on questioning each member of the audience. Richard and Frances are rescued by Gestapo chief Count Sig von Aschenhausen, a former Oxford schoolmate of Richard's. Thornley killed the Nazi colonel as revenge for the torture and murder of his Austrian fiancée.

Frances and Richard visit the home of chess collector Dr. Mespelbrunn and von Aschenhausen is there. They notice sheet music for "My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose" on the piano. But when von Aschenhausen fails to respond to a code signal that Richard gives him, the couple become suspicious. They hear thumping noises upstairs and discover that von Aschenhausen is holding Mespelbrunn prisoner. Mespelbrunn tells them to run and that they are being hunted by the Gestapo. Frances and Richard leave the house just in time, and Count Seidel arrives to help them free Mespelbrunn. He is revealed as the missing scientist, Dr. Smith. All four head for Innsbruck, and Mespelbrunn gives Richard the plans for the countermeasure.

The couple obtain counterfeit passports from the Schultzes, an elderly couple. They are planning to catch the train to Milan at separate stations, but, when the Schultzes are arrested by the Gestapo, the police are on the lookout for the Americans. Frances is detained and questioned by the Gestapo, but Thornley, in Innsbruck to catch the same train, finds Richard. Richard, Thornley and Seidel gain entry to where Frances is being held and kill her captors, including von Aschenhausen, but Thornley is also killed. After fooling the Nazi border guards, Seidel and the American newlyweds reach freedom in Italy.

Cast

This film marked the end of Crawford's 18-year career with MGM before she signed with

Warner Bros.[3] It was Veidt's last role, as he died from a heart attack several weeks after shooting had ended.[4]

Reception

Variety wrote: "Both MacMurray and Miss Crawford completely handled their roles, despite drawbacks of script material", and T.S. in The New York Times commented, "Joan Crawford...is a very convincing heroine."[5]

Critic Howard Barnes wrote in the

passwords in the film's plot that the whole show becomes a sort of super treasure hunt... Unfortunately, neither Joan Crawford nor Fred MacMurray looks quite bright enough to unravel the tangled skeins of this screen melodrama."[3]

Home media

The film was released on Region 1 DVD on April 6, 2010, as part of the Warner Bros. Archive Collection.

References

  1. ^ Above Suspicion at the American Film Institute Catalog
  2. .
  3. ^ a b "Above Suspicion". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  4. , pp. 149–151
  5. ^ Quirk, Lawrence J.. The Films of Joan Crawford. The Citadel Press, 1968.

External links